Remembering Don LaFontaine: A Look Back At The Late Voiceover Legend's Finest Work

Posted at 9:00 AM Sep 03, 2008

By Kenny Herzog

On Monday, September 1, the world lost one of its most ubiquitous voices. Don LaFontaine, the man whose dramatic baritone supplied annotated narratives for thousands of coming attractions and TV shows over 40-plus years, died at 68 due to complications from a persistent illness.

And while LaFontaine finally stepped in front of the camera and sent up his faceless persona in a 2006 GEICO ad (and, more recently, a New York Lottery spot), he will always be remembered for his work behind the microphone, introducing us to a seemingly limitless "... world where..." He filled the same crucial role for moviegoers that a fluffer provides on a porn set, getting us aroused and ready for action. Or comedy. Or drama. Below is just a small sample of some of his finest work, and here's to hoping someone eulogizes LaFontaine as eloquently as he voiced over the following five films:

5. The Simpsons Movie, 2007

Extent Of Contribution: Brief but purposeful. He's there primarily to satirize other movies' self-importance.
Tone Of Voiceover: Sarcastically serious.
Best Line: "In a time where computer animation brings us worlds of unsurpassed beauty, one film dares to be ugly."

4. Fatal Attraction, 1987

Extent Of Contribution: Minimal but impacting. Subtle and to the chase is all it takes to put the fear of castration into men who watch it.
Tone Of Voiceover: Cautionary, melodramatic
Best Line: "A look that led to an evening. A mistake he'd regret all his life."

3. The Terminator, 1984

Extent Of Contribution: Looms over the bulk of the trailer. Very much the opposite of today's action films, which allow teased moments of violence to speak anticlimactically for themselves.
Tone Of Voiceover: Serious, urgent, intimidating.
Best Line: "One came to protect her, the other to kill her."

2. Friday The 13th, 1980

Extent Of Contribution: Essential. LaFontaine spends most of the trailer simply counting the murder tally, in what could be viewed as the horror-movie antithesis of a Sesame Street numbers lesson.
Tone Of Voiceover: Ominous, threatening
Best Line: "You may only see it once, but that will be enough."

1. The Godfather: Part II, 1974

Extent Of Contribution: Dominant. Transforms the trailer into a mini-feature film of its own.
Tone Of Voiceover: Regal, authoritative
Best Line: "The drama of absolute power and the men who violate it."