CURTAIN CALL

The Voice of 'Saturday Night Live' Dies

Don Pardo was 96 years old.

The man who was the voice of Saturday Night Live since its first episode in October 1975 has passed away. Don Pardo died Monday at age of 96. His time on SNL was just one chapter of his 70 years in show business, beginning a career in radio at NBC in 1944. Pardo was hired by SNL creator Lorne Michaels to introduce the Not Ready for Primetime Players and his voice was a part of of the show except for one season. He moved to Arizona after his wife died in 1995 but flew back to New York each week to do do the show. “It was always exciting,” Michaels said of Pardo. “Whatever montage we did to open the show, whatever pictures we used it didn’t really come alive till you heard him say it.”