[msb-alumni] TV Announcer Don Pardo Dies at 96

From: Steve <pipeguy920@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 15:50:21 -0400
BlankTV announcer Pardo dies at 96

Six-decade career included 'Jeopardy,' 'SNL' voicework By Frazier Moore 
Associated Press

NEW YORK Don Pardo, the durable television and radio announcer whose booming 
baritone became as much a part of the cultural landscape
as the shows and products he touted, died Monday. He was 96. Pardo died 
peacefully at his home in Tucson, Arizona, where he moved after retiring 
from "SNL" in 2006, said his daughter, Dona Pardo. Few recognized the face 
of Pardo, a handsome man with a
strong chin and confident smile. But Pardo's majestic delivery, with its 
swoops in pitch and pregnant pauses, graced newscasts, game shows and TV 
programs for more than 60 years. During the original version of "Jeopardy! 
," his answers to the question,
"Tell 'em what they've won, Don Pardo," became a memorable part of the 
program. And he was an integral part of "Saturday Night Live" for more than 
three decades in his role heralding the cast's names to kick off each show, 
which led former cast member
Jimmy Fallon to comment later, "Nothing is like the moment when Don Pardo 
says your name. "SNL" creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels has said 
that he originally chose Pardo to announce the comedy show because he "was 
very much an announcer" and
he wanted "that authority voice. During his career, Pardo's resonant 
voice-over style was widely imitated and became the standard in the field. 
His was no ordinary voice and he guarded it closely, with cough drops always 
at the ready. "My voice is my
Achilles' heel," Pardo said in a 1985 interview with the Associated Press. 
"When I get sick, it's always my voice. Dominick George Pardo was born in 
Westfield, Massachusetts, on Feb. 22, 1918, and grew up in Norwich, 
Connecticut. One of his first jobs
was that of ticket-taker at a local movie theater; even then, his voice was 
commanding. "I'd go out there with a cape and say: 'Standing room only in 
the mezzanine. Immediate seating in the balcony.'? His father, Dominick, 
owned a small bakery and had
wanted his son to join the business. But Pardo followed his own dream and, 
after graduating from Boston's Emerson College in 1942, began his vocal 
career at radio station WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island. Two years later, 
he met a supervisor at NBC who
hired the young Pardo immediately upon hearing his voice. He moved to NBC's 
New York affiliate, and never left the network. In 2010, Pardo was inducted 
into the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame. .
[msb-alumni] TV Announcer Don Pardo Dies at 96

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