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Celebrating Peter Thomas (updated to restore audio)

 
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Mike Harrison
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Joined: 03 Nov 2007
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Location: Equidistant from New York City and Philadelphia, along the NJ Shore

PostPosted: Mon May 02, 2016 11:42 am    Post subject: Celebrating Peter Thomas (updated to restore audio) Reply with quote

On Saturday, April, 30, 2016, our community lost one of its most-heard voices; that of the legendary Peter Thomas. He was 91.

For the younger folks among us, Peter had been the narrator of TV's "Forensic Files" since 1996.

Peter's parents taught him as a youngster in Florida the importance of education and communication, with an emphasis on enunciation and mental imagery. Every night, he read stories aloud to his family to practice his technique. This led him to begin his career as a local radio announcer at age 13.

Five years later, in 1943, Peter joined the U.S. Army during World War II and proudly served his country. Despite being offered a deferment due to his station’s involvement with Armed Forces Radio, Peter instead chose active duty, and participated in five major campaigns, including the Battle of Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge, with the First Infantry Division.

When he returned home in late 1945, Peter was home only one day before he went back into local radio. But it was just three years later that he arrived in New York and began doing commercials, including dozens of on-camera spots. He was also being hired to narrate documentaries and tedious medical educational material. In 1950, Peter was made anchor of the local New York portion of the morning news on CBS Television, while Walter Cronkite anchored the network portion.

It wasn’t long, though, before the increasing demand for his voice in commercials, documentaries and corporate projects caused him to leave broadcasting and focus on voice-over full-time. Beginning in the early 50s, Peter spent about 25 years as the spokesman for Coca Cola. Fifteen years doing spots for American Express; he landed the gig because he was able to read the tag smoothly in five seconds. The phrase “Get Peter Thomas” was soon on the lips of producers around the country.

The voice of Peter Thomas has been described as “…a voice that spans generations. It’s a measured, reassuring, emphatic voice that enunciates each word clearly, and pauses in all the right places for dramatic effect.” And that voice had barely changed at all over the years. Since the 1970s, Peter’s voice has guided visitors on a historical tour of Gettysburg. And when the producers needed revisions to two paragraphs more than 30 years later, Peter was able to match his original delivery perfectly.

The list of commercials, documentaries, training programs, guided tours and other projects Peter Thomas had voiced over the past 60-some years would be mind boggling. And he continued to work from his home studio in Naples, Florida even after the passing of his wife, Stella, two years ago. As voice-over talent who are also audience members, we are very fortunate indeed to be essentially following in the footsteps of the man who, for all intents and purposes, wrote the book on voice-over. And then told the story like nobody’s business. And mesmerized us.

From the 1964 episode of the Ed Sullivan Show where the Beatles made their US TV debut, here's Peter doing the VO for a commercial for Pillsbury, just before they introduced us to their Dough Boy character.

UPDATE: (Feb 17, 2018) After it being accidentally removed from the server, here again is the audio from the Travelers Insurance Company exhibit at the 1964-65 NY World's Fair, coupled with an artist's rendering of each of the life-size dioramas seen while hearing Peter's narration. https://mike-harrison.com/media/The-Triumph-Of-Man.mp4
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Last edited by Mike Harrison on Sun Nov 11, 2018 5:27 am; edited 4 times in total
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Ed Fisher
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Joined: 05 Sep 2012
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PostPosted: Mon May 02, 2016 3:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is sad to hear.

But, I must admit the radio spot you linked to did not ring familiar.

However, hearing him on a Nova Documentary SURE DID. Oh my God...he's THAT guy!

Here is an interview I found with Peter featuring a Nova sample in the very beginning. What an epic voice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N567W1tzVw4

(Forgive me if it seems like I'm trying to hijack your beautifully written thread. That certainly is not my intention)
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bobsouer
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PostPosted: Mon May 02, 2016 7:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If ever the word legend applied to anyone in voiceover, Peter Thomas is the guy to whom it did. Though I didn't have the pleasure of meeting him in person, he has been one of my most important mentors my entire life, even before I knew that making a living with my voice was what I wanted to do. Truly a sad day in our world. And, as far as I can tell, he was the answer to the question "Who is the nicest guy in voiceover?"
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DougVox
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PostPosted: Mon May 02, 2016 8:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

bobsouer wrote:
...as far as I can tell, he was the answer to the question "Who is the nicest guy in voiceover?"


Quite the beautiful (and accurate) tribute.

A great loss indeed.
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Michael Schoen
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PostPosted: Mon May 02, 2016 8:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Peter Thomas was one of my inspirations -- starting with his great narration of "The Triumph of Man" at the Traveler's Insurance Company pavillion of the 64-65 World's Fair.
I had a 7 inch 33.3 disc and played it many, many times.
RIP.
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Dayo
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PostPosted: Tue May 03, 2016 6:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I discovered Peter Thomas through this very forum only a few months ago. Truly one of a kind.
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Mike Harrison
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 17, 2018 6:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oooops! A 404 server error just alerted me that the audio in this post (from the 1964-65 World's Fair) had gone missing. It has been restored.
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Mike
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