Dominick George "Don" Pardo Jr. (February 22, 1918 – August 18, 2014) was an American radio and television announcer whose career spanned more than seven decades.
Pardo was born in Westfield, Massachusetts to Dominick George Pardo Sr. and Valeria "Viola" Rominak-Pardo, who were Polish immigrants who owned a bakery.[2] He spent his childhood in Norwich, Connecticut and Providence, Rhode Island and graduated from Emerson College in 1942.[3] Pardo was married to Catherine Lyons from 1938 until her death in 1995 and had five children: Donna, Karen, Paula, David and Michael.[2]
Career
Radio
Pardo was hired for his first radio position at NBC affiliate WJAR in Providence in 1938.[4]
For most of 30 years, Pardo's recorded voice was one of the announcer introduction inserts for "Ten at Ten", the KFOGSan Francisco radio show appearing at 10 a.m., and in syndication with Dave Morey on KFOG HD Radio, although a few years featured Monty Hall and Larry "Bud" Melman.[10][11]
Television
In the early 1950s, he served as announcer for many of RCA's and NBC's closed-circuit color television demonstrations.[12]
Pardo made his mark on game shows for NBC in 1952 as the announcer on Winner Take All, and as the voice of the original The Price Is Right from 1956 until it moved to ABC in 1963. Pardo's next show was Jeopardy!, which he announced from 1964 until the original version of the series ended in 1975.[12] Pardo also announced New York-based NBC game shows such as Three on a Match, Winning Streak, and Jackpot!, all three of which were Bob Stewart productions.[13]
Pardo was the on-duty live booth announcer for WNBC-TV in New York and the NBC network on November 22, 1963, and he was the first to announce to NBC viewers that President John F. Kennedyhad been shot in Dallas, Texas.[17]
In December 1976, Pardo participated in a musical performance by Frank Zappa, reciting a verse of the song "I'm the Slime". Pardo reprised this role on the live-recorded version of the song for the Zappa in New York album[14] (it was not featured on the first release in 1978, but it appears on the 1993 CD re-release). He also provided narration for the songs "The Illinois Enema Bandit" and "Punky's Whips". A business dispute between Zappa and his record company of the time led to "Punky's Whips" being removed from the 1978 album, but the song was reinstated on the 1993 CD.[citation needed]
In 2009, he appeared in an episode of 30 Rock ("Cutbacks") as Sid, TGS's announcer.
Last years
Pardo nominally retired from NBC in 2004. However, he continued to announce for Saturday Night Live at the behest of executive producer Lorne Michaels, initially under the assumption that a permanent replacement would be found quickly.[20] In 2006, he began prerecording his announcements from a studio in his Arizona home. That arrangement lasted only a few episodes before producers insisted that they needed him in Studio 8H, and he resumed weekly flights to New York.[21] On Saturday, February 23, 2008, Pardo appeared at the closing of Saturday Night Live to blow out the candles on his 90th birthday cake. During this period, Pardo missed about five episodes due to illness; cast member Darrell Hammond (who would succeed Pardo after his death) filled in for him but was uncredited.[22]
Upon his induction into the Rhode Island Radio Hall of Fame on May 14, 2009, Pardo suggested that the May 16, 2009, episode of Saturday Night Live would be his last.[23] However, he subsequently returned for the show's 35th season. Starting with the 36th season, Pardo once again began pre-recording his parts from his home in Arizona instead of performing live in New York City.[21]
^Baysinger, Tom (August 19, 2014). "'SNL's Don Pardo Dies at 96". broadcastingandcable.com. Future Publishing Limited Quay House. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
