It’s always sad to hear about the passing of someone working in this voiceover industry. So I was saddened and slightly confused to hear about the death of the US voiceover man associated with the deep voiced “In a World..” movie trailers that used to be so popular.

Hal Douglas passed away this week aged 89.  My confusion came from the fact that it was only a few years ago that we were mourning the passing of the “In a World..” movie trailer voice over man.
So did Hal die twice?

Well no – the VO man we lost a few years ago was Don LaFontaine and it seems, according to an article in The Guardian that both Don and Hal claimed the “In a World..” device as their own.  Maybe Hal was the originator, maybe Don was – but they both did their share of that kind of VO.

Here’s a video where he talks about his work – there’s also some great examples of his craft too.

I love it where he says he never thought he had a great voice – he always thought it sounded “chesty” like he needed to really clear his throat – but actually when he didn’t do that everyone else thought he sounded the best.
Seems a pity that on the video that the mic is closer to the camera operator than to Hal – why didn’t they record him properly?

In the video Hal says of his voice:
“It’s a unique sound, it’s my sound and for a lot of stuff it’s OK”
I like that attitude.
And if i’m still working as a MVO in my 80’s that’ll be great too!