• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Mark Elliott (KFRC, KHJ, KIIS, Disney)

michael hagerty

michael hagerty

Sorry to report that Mark Elliott died this week at the age of 81. Stage four lung cancer.

Mark was Sandy Shore at KIOA in Des Moines and Ed Mitchell at CKLW Windsor/Detroit. There was already a Mitchell at KFRC in San Francisco, so he became Marc Elliott and changed the "c" in the first name to a "k" when he arrived at KHJ later the same year.

Mark was at KHJ twice, 1970-73 and 1975-77. He spent some time at KIIS in between, and he began his voiceover career about that time, too. His first gig? Voicing the "Star Wars" trailer. By the mid-late 1980s, Disney had hired him to be their sole voice on movie previews and promos (if you had kids from that point until the 2000s, you know his voice from the VHS tapes and DVDs they watched).
 
I'm sorry to hear that as well. Elliott's voice was a very familiar one because as you state, his voice work was featured on many a Disney movie promo. From what I recall, even when Disney had others do VO work, they tried to have them emulate Elliott's upbeat demeanor and cadence.

One of my favorite vids from back in the day was the "5 Men and a Limo" video in the link below. It featured 5 of the most well-known "who's who" from the VO world, riding in LaFontaine's infamous limo (he was supposedly in such high demand, jumping from one studio to the other to record tracks before the days of VoIP and quality home studios that he had a limo and driver to take him from one VO appointment to the next), on their way to the Key Art Awards. Sadly at least 2 of these giants (the late Don LaFontaine and now Mark Elliott) are gone.

 


I remember Mark Elliot as the VO of KRON4 San Francisco right before NBC decided to move it's affiliation to KNTV San Jose back in 2001-2002 timeframe. This is one of the most notable cases of Mark Elliott's non Disney VO credits in this case its KRON-TV in San Francisco.

RIP to a legend
 
Last edited:
Here's an in-depth, 35 minute long interview with Mark from about 6 years ago on the "VO Buzz Weekly" site on Youtube. Sadly, though so many know his voice, especially from Disney, there doesn't seem to be much publicity or knowledge of his passing on the web.

 
The ultimate TV/movie announcer is gone (well, we've long lost Don LaFontaine...but that's for another day). Every '80s and '90s child grew up with this voice. I did. And so did everyone from my generation.
That means we've lost both of the major Disney announcers from the Gen-X era. Jerry Bishop, who did thousands of promos for The Disney Channel; and now 'the voice of Walt Disney Home Video'.

He also did hundreds of promos for CBS shows, in the 1985-95 period. Mostly sitcoms and specials.
I will miss his presence. RIP Mark. The microphone, and maybe ole' Walt himself, wait for you up in the skies. :cry::cry:
 
I first heard him in 1970 at KHJ (I was 14 at the time and a year away from starting my own radio career). The guy was just so good on the air.

There are airchecks of him from that era, but none streaming for free on the web, so here he is in 1976 at KHJ, on his second tour. He starts at 5:25 in, though his friend and mine, Charlie Van Dyke, who worked with Mark at CKLW, KFRC and KHJ and remained close to him through the decades, is absolutely worth your time as well:

Charlie Van Dyke & Mark Elliot, 93/KHJ Los Angeles | June 18, 1976

Courtesy of BigAppleAirchecks, here’s a wonderful taste of 93/KHJ during the Charlie Van Dyke era. KHJ is full of excitement and personality oozes out of the very pores of this radio station.…
airchexx.com airchexx.com
 

Warner Brothers got Mark Elliott to do promos for the syndicated broadcasts for Perfect Strangers in the 1990's. This has to be some of the rare VO work where Mark Elliot is not doing VO work for Disney,
 
As Ed Mitchell on CKLW:

and:
michael hagerty said:
I first heard him in 1970 at KHJ (I was 14 at the time and a year away from starting my own radio career). The guy was just so good on the air.

There are airchecks of him from that era, but none streaming for free on the web, so here he is in 1976 at KHJ, on his second tour. He starts at 5:25 in, though his friend and mine, Charlie Van Dyke, who worked with Mark at CKLW, KFRC and KHJ and remained close to him through the decades, is absolutely worth your time as well:

Click to expand...
 
RadioPatrol said:
Here is a confirmed article on Mark Elliott's death.
Click to expand...
As I posted above (#6), when I first did a Google search for his name over the weekend, there was no information or news items at all about his passing. I see that's now changed and I'm happy that he and his body of work are getting the recognition they deserve.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom