Don LaFontaine 1940 - 2008

Let me first say that Don and I were not friends in the “hey everybody, look who I know..” kind of way. I refer to Don LaFontaine as a friend of mine because of the way we conversed in emails to one another, the way we saw eye-to-eye on a few topics, and the way he treated me like a professional and a man even though I amounted to little more than a fly on his ass.

Don LaFontaine was my friend because he didn’t judge me as a fan, he didn’t judge me as a star struck idol. In fact, he didn’t seem to judge me at all. He seemed to simply respect me as a man with an opinion, and a guy who enjoyed the craft of voice over and the creative process that went with it.

Don and I were not buddies, we did not golf with one another. In fact, we had never physically met. We had only talked back and forth via email for a while, a time that amounts to a gnats life in the swath of his great career. Simply said, I was just a fan, and he, an idol of mine… Now I am faced with the disemboweling reality of one of the greatest pioneers of my chosen profession, and one of the greatest idols I have ever had no longer sitting at the helm, and it saddens me in a way that I am at a loss for words for when it comes to describing.
Continue reading Sharing a beer with my friend, Don LaFontaine