Don Pardo: Original "Jeoporardy," "Price Is Right" announcer dies in Arizona

[FredLeonard]

Don Pardo: Original "Jeoporardy," "Price Is Right" announcer dies in Arizona

Don Pardo became an NBC staff announcer in 1944 and began his broadcasting career in 1938. He announced the classic sci-fi radio dramas "Dimension X" and "X-Minus One" and was the announcer for "Live At Five" on WNBC-TV. He read NBC's first bulletin that Kennedy had been shot in Dallas.

Don Pardo, ‘Saturday Night Live’ announcer, dies at 96

Don Pardo, the “Saturday Night Live” announcer whose career spanned the history of television and who made memorable appearances in skits and music videos that played the booming cadence of his voice for laughs, died Aug. 18 at his home in Tucson. He was 96.

Pardo’s daughter, Dona Pardo, confirmed the death to the Associated Press but did not report the cause.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/enter...e1-c5afa35a9e59_story.html?wprss=rss_homepage

He also was the announcer for NBC's "Saturday Night" when it was funny.

 

[Ccook55]

It's been told that when Don refused to join The Price Is Right when it moved from NBC to ABC in 1963, his wife was so angry she refused to speak to him. But the fences were soon mended when Don landed the Jeopardy! job.

A truly irreplaceable voice.

 

[ixnay]

J! is the first time I heard (or heard of) Pardo. RIP, Don

ixnay

 

[FredLeonard]

Pardo also announced "The Colgate Comedy Hour," "The Kate Smith Evening Hour" and "Caesar's Hour." The latter two were referenced in "My Favorite Year," although Pardo's voice was not used in the film. He did appear in Woody Allen's "Radio Days" and in Weird Al's "I Lost on Jeopardy" music video.

He was the last of the NBC staff announcers from radio's and from television's "Golden Age," a group that included Ed Hurlihy, Hugh Downs, Dave Garroway, Frank Gallop, Jimmy Wallington, Ben Grauer, Wayne Howell, Bill McCord and Bill Wendell.

Among other things, at their auditions, prospective NBC staff announcers had to read this cold, and perfectly.

One hen
Two ducks
Three squawking geese
Four Limerick oysters
Five corpulent porpoises
Six pairs of Don Alverzo's tweezers
Seven thousand Macedonians dressed in full battle array
Eight brass monkeys from the ancient, sacred secret crypts of Egypt
Nine apathetic, sympathetic, diabetic old men on roller skates with a marked propensity for procrastination and sloth
Ten lyrical, spherical, diabolical denizens of the deep who haul stall around the corner of the quo of the quay of the quivery, all at the same time on Tuesday or Thursday, it really doesn't matter.

NBC had a pronunciation "handbook" published for announcers, which they had to follow exactly, including "harass" (HARRIS) and "sacrilegious" (SACK-RA-LEE-JUS). NBC's West Coast programs mostly came from Los AnJeles. CBS' from Los AnGeles. They had a handbook, too.

 

[HamptonRoadsMediaFan]

Farewell to one of the all-time greatest voices in all media (not just television)

 

[FredLeonard]

When SNL premiered in 1975, it was intended to recreate and capture the look, feel and spirit of "Golden Age" TV comedy, specifically sketch comedy shows like "Your Show of Shows" and "Caesar's Hour." With that in mind, it was broadcast live (as the classic shows were) and from New York (when almost all TV production had moved to LA). They used the studio built for live broadcasts of the NBC Symphony Orchestra and later used for live TV dramas like "Kraft Television Theater." And they hired a staff announcer from TV's "Golden Age" who had worked on some of those classic live comedy shows: Don Pardo. At the time "Saturday Night" launched, Pardo was 57 years old and had been an NBC staff announcer for 31 years (and a professional broadcaster for 37 years). But at that point he had not yet reached the half-way point of his career.

 

[crainbebo]

RIP to an NBC legend! Saturday Night Live will not be the same without Mr. Pardo announcing the names of the comedians and musical guests. Lived a long, great life. Condolences to his family.

-crainbebo

 

[rnigma1]

Pardo retired from NBC in 2004 after 60 years, but Lorne Michaels kept him on as the SNL announcer (he would literally phone it in from Arizona). NBC was phasing out its announcing staff; Howard Reig was the last when he retired in 2007 or '08.

 

[bpatrick]

Isn't Hugh Downs still living? I think he's about 93 now.

The only other announcer who came out of radio that I believe is still with us spent his career at CBS--Bern Bennett, who started there about the same time Don Pardo did at NBC (1944). Bennett is probably most familiar as the announcer on "The Young And The Restless" and "The Bold And The Beautiful," but he had a long association with Bud Collyer as announcer on "Winner Take All," "Beat The Clock," and "To Tell The Truth" before the Eye Network transferred him to California in 1960.
He retired in 2003 and will turn 93 in October.

 

[Ccook55]

Hugh's still around, all right. Speaking of which, next Monday, August 25, marks 56 years ago Concentration premiered.

Johnny Gilbert, who took over announcing The Price Is Right when it moved to ABC in 1963, is up there as well, at 90 years of age.

 

[ixnay]

Pardo retired from NBC in 2004 after 60 years, but Lorne Michaels kept him on as the SNL announcer (he would literally phone it in from Arizona). NBC was phasing out its announcing staff; Howard Reig was the last when he retired in 2007 or '08.

What shows did Reig do?

ixnay

 

[JeffM]

Howard Reig was the announcer on NBC Nightly News beginning in 1983; he retired in early 2005, but his recorded voice was still heard on the news until the end of 2007. He started with NBC in 1952, and announced local news, station breaks, etc. on WNBC in addition to his network duties.

 

[bpatrick]

Don Pardo wasn't the only one of the "old-school" announcers to work on a hip late-night show; another NBC veteran, Bill Wendell, was David Letterman's announcer and moved with him to CBS, where he remained until his passing and Alan Kalter became the new voice of the Letterman show. I think that since Pardo was under contract to NBC in 1963, it may have led to his not wanting to move to ABC when "The Price Is Right" changed networks (and, frankly, "Price" had a less-than-stellar run on ABC; the nighttime version lasted a year; the daytime version, two years). Contrast that with George Fenneman, an ABC staff announcer when Groucho hired him in 1947; he went with Groucho first to CBS (1949), then NBC (1950) and achieved everlasting fame; otherwise, he might have spent his career as an anonymous voice on ABC, who knows?

I've probably mentioned this before, but at one time on the Bill Cullen "Price Is Right," Pardo was the announcer and Don Morrow did some of the live commercials. The two Dons took a lot of ribbing from people who worked on the show about the sound-alike last names.