Hal Douglas
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Hal Douglas (born 1924) is an American voice actor best known for his work on movie trailers and television commercials.
[edit] Biography
Douglas was born in Connecticut, served in World War II, and attended the University of Miami, Florida as a drama major. He began a career in radio in the 1950s. By the 1960s he had become a producer for several prominent advertising agencies in New York City. He finally moved into doing voiceovers for commercials, promos and trailers by the early 1970s, and has continued in that line of work ever since.
Douglas is known in the film industry as the "In a world ..." guy because many of his trailers have begun with these words, and his voice has immortalized them (although Don LaFontaine claims to have actually created the catchphrase). In addition, Douglas has been the promotional voice for the former WB, A&E and The History Channel. As of 2007, Douglas records promotional narrations for ABC along with theatrical trailers, but since the WB and UPN merger, he has not done voiceovers for their successor network, the CW. His voice can also be heard as the "trailer announcer" in the 2006 movie, The Holiday. [1]
Because he has recorded so many trailers through the years, he has sometimes been mistaken for Don LaFontaine, although they sound considerably different. Douglas specializes in a more lighthearted and warm delivery and LaFontaine has more attitude. Douglas also has a more gravelly voice. Unlike most movie trailer announcers, Douglas lives in Northern Virginia and his agent is based in New York City instead of Los Angeles.
He can be seen parodying himself in the trailer for Jerry Seinfeld's film Comedian.
Hal Douglas has been described by a Miramax publicist as "perhaps the most recognizable trailer voice in the business." audio clip (MP3)
[edit] Radio
Hal also does voice imaging for I95.5 FM in Trinidad and Tobago.[citation needed]
