Don LaFontaine, voiceover king, dies

Ben Child

Don LaFontaine, the voice of a thousand trailers. Photograph: Damian Dovarganes/AP

You may not know the name, but you'll have heard the voice hundreds, if not thousands of times. Don LaFontaine, king of the movie voiceover, has died at the age of 68.

LaFontaine, who was known for habitually using the words "in a world" to preface his work on trailers, died at Cedar-Sinai medical center in Los Angeles of complications from a collapsed lung on Monday, according to ETonline. However that cause of death was not official at the time of this report.

LaFontaine's powerful tones appeared on more than 5,000 movie trailers and nearly 350,000 commercials. His website lists voiceovers for Terminator II: Judgement Day, Shrek, Minority Report and Dodgeball among his most famous work, and he had also worked as the in-house announcer at the Oscars and the Screen Actors Guild awards. He was credited as being the busiest ever member of the latter, based on the number of contracts signed in his working life.

LaFontaine had recently parodied himself on a series of US TV commercials for Geico. He was referred to as "that announcer guy from the movies" and stood in the background translating in LaFontaine-speak while a customer revealed her wonderful experience at the hands of the insurance company.

LaFontaine, who was born in Duluth, Minnesota, bgan his career as a recording engineer, but got his big break when he filled in for an absentee voice artist on the 1964 western Gunfighters of Casa Grande.

At his peak, he is said to have recorded more than 60 voiceovers in a week, and sometimes as many 35 in a single day. So busy was he that he employed a full-time chauffeur to ferry him from gig to gig. This, he said, saved him time as he didn't have to worry about parking in between jobs.

In latter years, with the advent of ISDN, LaFontaine recorded almost exclusively from a home studio at his estate in the Hollywood hills.

He is survived by his wife, the singer/actor Nita Whitaker and three children, Christine, Skye and Elyse.

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Calif. man tries to amputate own arm

Police say a man tried to cut off his own arm at a restaurant in Modesto, Calif., because he thought he had injected air into a vein while shooting cocaine and feared he would die unless he took drastic action.

Authorities say 33-year-old Michael Lasiter rushed into the Denny's restaurant late Friday and started stabbing himself in one arm with a butter knife he grabbed from a table.

They say that when that knife didn't work Lasiter took a butcher knife from the kitchen and dug it into his arm.

Police Sgt. Brian Findlen says Lasiter told officers he thought he needed to amputate his arm to keep himself from dying from the cocaine injection.

Lasiter was taken to a hospital for treatment of severe cuts.

Chemical 'risk' to future fertility

The first three months of pregnancy are vital to future fertility

Chemical compounds could play a role in causing unborn boys to have fertility problems in later life.

Edinburgh University researchers claimed a crucial window between eight and 12 weeks of pregnancy determined future reproductive problems.

They believe that exposure to chemicals found in products such as cosmetics during this period may affect later sperm production.

But they stressed there was not yet conclusive proof this was the case.

The research team was led by Professor Richard Sharpe of the Medical Research Council's Human Reproductive Sciences Unit, based in Edinburgh.

Testicular cancer

During tests on rats, they blocked the action of androgens, which include male sex hormones such as testosterone, for a short period in the womb.

The experiments confirmed that if the hormones are blocked, the animals suffered fertility problems.

Some of the chemicals which can block the hormones are widely used in items such as cosmetics, household fabrics and plastics.

Prof Sharpe said the chemicals may also increase the risk of baby boys developing other reproductive conditions in later life, including testicular cancer.

He added that if women planning on becoming pregnant were anxious about such issues they could avoid putting any cosmetic products on their skin which could then be absorbed into their bodies.

There are lots of compounds in perfumes that we know in higher concentrations have the potential to have biological effects Prof Richard Sharpe

He told BBC Scotland's news website: "There are lots of compounds in perfumes that we know in higher concentrations have the potential to have biological effects, so it is just being ultra safe to say that by avoiding using them your baby isn't at risk.

"If you are planning to become pregnant you should change your lifestyle. Those lifestyle things don't necessarily mean that you are going to cause terrible harm to your baby, but by avoiding them you are going to have a positive effect.

"We would recommend you avoid exposure to chemicals that are present in cosmetics, anything that you put on your body that might then get through your body into your developing baby.

"It is not because we have evidence that these chemicals categorically cause harm to babies, it is only based on experimental studies on animals that suggest it is a possibility."

However, Prof Sharpe said women were exposed to many of the chemicals he was concerned about through many other routes, as they are widespread in the air and in the fabrics of their homes.

He is due to unveil his findings next week at the Simpson Symposium in Edinburgh, a gathering of fertility experts organised by Edinburgh University.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform said all cosmetics undergo testing and current legislation ensures public safety.

She added: "All cosmetic products including perfume undergo a rigorous safety assessment by manufacturers.

"The government's primary concern is the safety of the public. The current regulations achieve this."