The man behind the voice of 750,000 commercial spots and 5,000 movie trailers that usually start with ‘In a world…’ has passed away a couple of days ago at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Don LaFontaine, aged 68, died of a collapsed lung due to build up of air in the pleural cavity.

LaFontaine started doing voice over work in the 1960’s while working as a recording engineer. His strong, deep, and slightly gravelly voice brought a style of authority to thousands of movie trailers. LaFontaine’s claim to fame was for popularizing the phrase ‘In a world…’ for blockbuster event movies. Whenever his voice would come in at the start of this type of movie trailer, you just know something visually exciting is about to happen onscreen. That’s the power of his voice.

Check out a video of LaFontaine below and visit his official site.

It’s a sad time indeed for film fans all over the world. Millions have heard LaFontaine’s voice in the hush darkness of a movie theater. From now on, when the lights go down and a voice goes ‘In a world…’, it just won’t be the same.

R.I.P. Don.