Hal Douglas

Hal Douglas (born September 1, 1924, died March 7, 2014) was an American voice actor best known for his work on movie trailers and television commercials.

Life and career
Douglas was born in Connecticut, served in World War II, and attended the University of Miami in 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 voice-overs for commercials, promos, and trailers by the early 1970s, and had continued in that line of work ever since.

Because many of his trailers have begun with the words "In a world", there was controversy over whether his voice has immortalized them (Don LaFontaine claimed to have actually created the catchphrase). In addition, Douglas had been the promotional voice for the former WB, A&E, Disney Channel's "Vault Disney" (1997–2002), and The History Channel. From 2007 until his retirement in 2010, Douglas recorded promotional narrations for ABC along with theatrical trailers, but since the WB and UPN merger, he had not done voiceovers for their successor network, the CW.

He did the voiceover narration for the Detroit Red Wings 1997 championship documentary film.

Because he had recorded so many trailers through the years, he had sometimes been mistaken for Don LaFontaine. He can be seen parodying himself in the trailer for Comedian, a documentary that features Jerry Seinfeld.

Douglas provided narration for the trailer for the novel All The Talk Is Dead by Michael Ebner.

Unlike most movie trailer announcers, Douglas lives in Northern Virginia and his agent is based in New York City instead of Los Angeles. Hal Douglas had been described by a Miramax publicist as "perhaps the most recognizable trailer voice in the business."

As of 2010, Hal Douglas completely retired from voiceover work altogether.

Personal life and death
In 1988 Douglas moved from Pawling, New York, to a 40-acre farm in Lovettsville, Virginia, where he pursued organic gardening and his wife took up competitive horse riding. He had a small recording studio built there that allowed him to do his work at home, sometimes in pajamas. Douglas died at his home on March 7, 2014, of pancreatic cancer, at the age of 89.

5 Men and a Limo
Douglas's voice briefly appears in the skit 5 Men and a Limo, featuring other notable voiceover recording artists, such as Don LaFontaine,John Leader, Nick Tate, Al Chalk, and Mark Elliot.