By James Furbush | September 2nd, 2008 | 5:25 am PDT
Though you might not recognize his name, you certainly would recognize the voice of Don LaFontaine. The man who makes everything exciting, the man who has provided his voice to more than 5,000 trailers and 350,000 commercials.
Yes, Don LaFontaine is best known as “the movie voiceover guy” but also as the man who coined the phrase “In a world…” but that’s probably not the best thing to put in an obituary. He died of complications from pneumothorax yesterday at the age of 68.
LaFontaine most recently spoofed his own image for Geico, perhaps lending himself the most notoriety of his career. It is said he would record about 60 promotions in a week, sometimes as many as 35 in one day. The guy was a beast, the highest compliment I could give someone.
His deep and thrilling voice and particular diction could make any crap movie seem important and the good ones seem legendary. His voice was one of the reasons to watch and love trailers in the first place. Not surprisingly, he narrated a video about his own biography.
Dave Freeman, 47, co-author of the popular and much imitated book 100 Things to Do Before You Die, has in fact died after banging his head after falling in his home last week. “This life is a short journey,” the book says. “How can you make sure you fill it with the most fun and that you visit all the coolest places on earth before you pack those bags for the very last time?” Indeed, for Freeman, the journey was a short one. He visited about half the places on his list. Interestingly, Freeman, who grew up in California, moved to New York. He watched both airplanes crash into the World Trade Towers from his apartment only blocks away. Soon after he moved back to California to be closer to his family. [Washington Post]
I know he passed on Tuesday night, but it’s still hard to believe that he’s gone. Everyone went through a DMB phase at least for a few years in high school and then in college. I can’t say I’ve listened to them much since the album after Crash, but they are consummate musicians. Leroi Moore, the saxophone player, was one of the most enjoyable parts of the band.
Here’s the band performing Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer” in what would be Leroi’s final concert. Listen to the way the saxophone on the song just hits all the right moments.
Soul legend Isaac Hayes was found dead today at his home in Memphis, TN. He was 65. His wife found him unconscious next to his treadmill, which was still running. Paramedics could not revive him and he was pronounced dead shortly after 2:00 p.m., according to the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department. There is no foul play, but cause of death details are not known.
He was the larger than life soul singer, perhaps best known as the composer for the blaxploitation flick Shaft, for which he won an Oscar and recently as the voice of Chef on South Park. His passing somehow seems more sad and devastating than yesterdays passing of comedian Bernie Mac.
Hayes was a longtime songwriter and arranger for Stax Records in Memphis, playing in the studio’s backup band and crafting tunes for artists such as Otis Redding and Sam and Dave in the 1960s.
He released his first solo album in 1967, and his 1969 follow-up, “Hot Buttered Soul,” became a platinum hit.
In 1971, the theme from “Shaft” topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks and won an Academy Award for best original theme song. The song and the movie score also won Grammy awards for best original score and movie theme.
Hayes won a third Grammy for pop instrumental performance with the title track to his 1972 “Black Moses” album.
From the late 1990s through 2006, Hayes provided the voice of “Chef” for Comedy Central’s raunchy animated series “South Park,” as well as numerous songs.
The role introduced him to a new generation of fans, but he left after the show lampooned his own religion, the Church of Scientology.
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. In a CNN interview at the time, Hayes credited his success to “adjusting and constantly evolving, expanding and trying to stay as young as I can.”
The new generation of popular musicians, he said, “could use a little more substance like we had in the day.”
“They’re standing on our shoulders. Some of them don’t realize [it] because they sample me so much,” he said.
His soundtrack for Shaft is perhaps one of the greatest things in life, a record that is constantly on at parties, while I’m cleaning, driving through town. There is no end to how much that record owns, just straight kills almost anything released currently. Isaac Hayes you will be missed.
Also, the track he did on South Park for “Chocolate Salty Balls” is one of the funniest thing that show has ever done. I think it was the same episode Cartman found out his mom was a German porn star because she was sleeping with everyone including Chef.
The obviousness of Chef singing about the recipe for his chocolate salty balls and how we should suck on them and put them in our mouths. Genius. They weren’t even trying to hide the subtext, which would have been one way to go, but going for the obvious sexual innuendo put it over the top. There is no denying this. There is no way you can say this song is not funny.
I was more of a Betty White kind of kid, but Estelle Getty and the feisty character of Sophia always made me laugh. Of course she made Stop or My Mom Will Shoot um, well, not even she couldn’t make that movie bearable. Still, though, she’ll be missed. Thank goodness for reruns. And though I can’t quite eulogize everyone’s television grandma the guy below I think captured what we’re all feeling.
“I’ve played mothers to heroes and mothers to zeroes. I’ve played Irish mothers, Jewish mothers, Italian mothers, Southern mothers, mothers in plays by Neil Simon and Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams. I’ve played mother to everyone but Attila the Hun,” she said famously about her career. It was the role of Bea Arthur’s mother that made us fall in love with.
I might be able to think of a reason or two why you’re crying buddy. And it doesn’t have anything to do with Brittany Spears playing as background music. Dude, man up. I know we’re all gonna miss Estelle Getty, but seriously. He’s probably crying because we’re about seven days too late with this lame obituary.
Damn. Just damn. Maybe he’ll get showered with the love Tim Russert did. His cantankerous old man routine never got old. He was 71.
Carlin was to be awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on November 10th.He’s the award’s 11th recipient and it should be a teary affair.Previous winners include Richard Pryor, Carl Reiner, and Bob Newhart.
Carlin will best be remembered for his “Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television” routine. Of course, those seven words, still to this day can’t be uttered, I think. Though I could be wrong. Regardless, he was full of piss and vinegar and the world loved him for it.
“When he uttered all seven at a show in Milwaukee in 1972, he was arrested on charges of disturbing the peace, freed on $150 bail and exonerated when a Wisconsin judge dismissed the case, saying it was indecent but citing free speech and the lack of any disturbance.
“When the words were later played on a New York radio station, they resulted in a 1978 Supreme Court ruling upholding the government’s authority to sanction stations for broadcasting offensive language during hours when children might be listening.
Stan Winston, 62, an Oscar-winning special and practical effects wizard, died today from Cancer at his home in Malibu.
Winston learned from the great Ray Harryhausen and brought to life the creatures in people’s favorite movies. Whether it was the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, the robots in The Terminator, the aliens in Alien, the monsters in Monster Squad and many many more Winston managed to make the unbelievable not just believable but terrifyingly real.
“The entertainment industry has lost a genius, and I lost one of my best friends with the death Sunday night of Stan Winston,” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement. “Stan’s work and four Oscars speak for themselves and will live on forever. What will live forever in my heart is the way that Stan loved everyone and treated each of his friends like they were family.”
Sadly, Winston along with his team of coworkers from the Winston Effects Group were hard at work helping to bring alive G.I. Joe, Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, Martin Scorcese’s Shutter Island and James Cameron’s Avatar. His most recent work was on this summer’s smash hit Iron Man.
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