RIP Don Pardo 96...

Don Pardo, longtime 'SNL' announcer, dies at 96

You may not have known him to look at him, but you most certainly would have recognized
his voice. Don Pardo, the velvet-toned television announcer famous for having introduced the
lineups on Saturday Night Live since its premiere, died Monday at the age of 96, according to
multiple media reports.

Pardo died peacefully at his home in Tucson, Arizona, where he moved after retiring from SNL
in 2006, said his daughter, Dona Pardo. Creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels asked
him to continue with the show, and for many weeks he recorded his introductions from his
Tucson home, she said.

Those introductions and his voice were so distinctive that longtime fans of the late-night sketch
comedy series immediately noticed when he missed the opening of the March 2, 2013 episode;
it was later reported that he had suffered a broken hip.

Pardo, who began his career at NBC Radio in 1940 and switched to television in the 1950s,
worked as an announcer on numerous game shows including The Price is Right and the original
Jeopardy! in the mid-1960s.

He was Jeopardy!'s announcer from 1964 until the original version, with host Art Fleming,
ended in 1975. A decade later, in 1975, he turned to late night work, becoming the voice over
announcer for the hit comedy series Saturday Night Live.

The program's sole announcer except for one season (1981–1982), Pardo's famous SNL voice-over
boomed over microphones after one of the participants in the show's opening sketch cried out,
"Live, from New York ..." Pardo then announced the show's title, names of cast members and
musical guests.