Don Pardo Dead At 96

Don Pardo, Legendary 'Saturday Night Live' Announcer, Dead At 96

Don Pardo, the legendary radio and TV personality, and the man who introduced the cast of “Saturday Night Live” every weekend since the show began, died Monday, NBC officials confirmed. He was 96.

Pardo died Monday evening, according to NBC spokesman Rich Licata. The cause was not given, but Pardo reportedly broke a hip last year.

Pardo was a part of “SNL” for every single season except one since it premiered in 1975, according to tv.com. In addition to the comedy show's opening montage, Pardo occasionally lent his unmistakable booming vocals to sketches.

Since his official retirement from NBC in 2004, Pardo would often pre-record the "SNL" intros from his home in Arizona.

Pardo was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 2010, for his work on shows like "SNL," "The Price Is Right," "Jeopardy," as well as "NBC Nightly News" and the network's coverage of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

After launching his broadcasting career at a small radio station in Providence, R.I., Pardo began his six-decade tenure as a staff announcer at NBC in New York City in 1944.

He was an announcer for radio shows such as "Front Page Farrell" and "Pepper Young's Family" before moving into the new medium of television, where he was an announcer for shows ranging from "Caesar's Hour" and "The Kate Smith Evening Hour" to the original versions of "The Price is Right" and "Jeopardy!"

On Nov. 22, 1963, it was Pardo who delivered the audio news bulletin to NBC TV viewers, first locally in New York and then nationally, that President Kennedy had been shot in downtown Dallas.

Lorne Michaels, "SNL's" creator and executive producer, has said that he originally chose Pardo to announce the youthfully irreverent comedy show because he "was very much an announcer" and he wanted "that authority voice."

In the process, the already well-known announcer became something of a celebrity himself, appearing occasionally on screen, including joining musical guest Frank Zappa on the song "I'm the Slime" in 1976.

Pardo, whose career included countless commercial voiceovers, also made a cameo appearance in the Weird Al Yankovic music video for his 1984 song "I Lost on Jeopardy," and he had a bit part as the "Guess That Tune" host in Woody Allen's 1987 movie comedy "Radio Days."

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