January 24, 2012

This WAS Dick Tufeld Speaking... One of TV's most ubiquitous voices has passed away at the age of 85. From scores of commercials to awards shows to the 'brought to you by's. Most notably, he was the identity voice for all of Irwin Allen's '60s sci-fi shows where he also provided the voice to Lost In Space's most beloved non-human.

(It was appropriate that the first notification of his passing came from one of his co-stars... scroll down)

posted by oneswellfoop 12 years ago
  • Interesting work. Did he ever do any of those movie previews that begin, "In a world...."?
  • In a world... Not the same guy. They're both amazing talents.
  • Hal Douglas is the "East Coast" voice, but in Hollywood, it was Don LaFontaine until his death in 2008. What happens when you bring FIVE of the most talented (and well-paid) voice-over artists together? (with a quick cameo by Hal, who is on the wrong coast) But Dick Tufeld was mostly using his voice on TV, with a lot of his credits not even listed in IMDb - I'm positive I heard him announce for the Oscars more than once. My other favorite 'Hollywood Insider Blogger' also has a tribute. (My personal interest in 'voice-over guys' came from my exposure to many of them in my brief tenure in L.A.'s radio biz. My favorite, and the one who bought my jokes and almost got me a job that would've kept me in the radio biz, is Gary Owens, whose role as 'Announcer in Booth' on "Laugh-In" is the archetype even today.)
  • I would like to see someone list five of the most talented female voice-over artists.
  • I need one of these guys to do the voice work for a GPS system. I might even buy one then.
  • I have a bunch of sci-fi sound bites on my computer that I use for error messages. My favorite is Robot going "What you have done, is wrong!"