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Don Pardo in 1983
Don Pardo (1918-2014) was a venerable radio and television announcer and one of the signature voices of the NBC network, with whom he had a life-time contract. Pardo's association with the National Broadcasting Company stretches to the days of old-time radio, serving as a New York staff announcer from the 1940s through the late 1950s on such varied programs as The Catholic Hour, the sitcom The Magnificent Montague (with Art Carney), the soap opera Just Plain Bill, and the science fiction series X Minus One. In television, Pardo became particularly identified for his multi-decade stints announcing Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and Saturday Night Live, providing the atmospheric narration for "The Land of Gortch" sketches.
Equally active as a commercial and promo announcer, Pardo lent his distinctive tones to a 1994 promo spot for the album Kermit Unpigged (included on the video release Muppet Classic Theater and elsewhere), and narrated a 1996 series of PSA announcements produced by Sony Theaters, in which Sesame Street characters demonstrate pro-social behaviors.
Other TV stints included announcing the early versions of The Price is Right and Jeopardy!, where he would often be introduced with the phrase, "Tell them what they won, Don Pardo!" He was one of several radio veterans to appear on-camera in Woody Allen's 1987 film Radio Days and reprised his role as Jeopardy! announcer with a cameo voice-over in "Weird Al" Yankovic's 1983 song "I Lost on Jeopardy" (he also appeared on-camera in the song's music video).