--- title: Saturday Night Live Announcer Don Pardo Dies At 96 description: Don Pardo, who had been the announcer on Saturday Night Live since 1975, died on Monday evening at the age of 96. canonical: https://time.com/3141928/saturday-night-live-don-pardo-dead-at-96/ author: Nash Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-19T05:21:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:44:12.882Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Saturday Night Live Announcer Don Pardo Dies At 96 og:description: The man whose effusive baritone rang in the show's weekly episodes since 1975 died on Monday evening at the age of 96. og:url: https://time.com/3141928/saturday-night-live-don-pardo-dead-at-96/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4df5d2a784899d9/69869ffd3617600adf90d840/141437777.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Saturday Night Live og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Saturday Night Live Announcer Don Pardo Dies At 96 twitter:description: The man whose effusive baritone rang in the show's weekly episodes since 1975 died on Monday evening at the age of 96. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4df5d2a784899d9/69869ffd3617600adf90d840/141437777.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # _Saturday Night Live_ Announcer Don Pardo Dies At 96 by [Nash Jenkins](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Aug 19, 2014 5:21 AM CUT  Saturday Night Live announcer Don Pardo on December 11, 1993. Saturday Night Live announcer Don Pardo on December 11, 1993.NBC/Getty Images by [Nash Jenkins](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Aug 19, 2014 5:21 AM CUT Don Pardo, the _Saturday Night Live_ announcer whose effusive baritone ushered in the show’s weekly episodes since 1975 — either live or as a prerecording — died on Monday evening at the age of 96. [The _Hollywood Reporter_ says](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/don-pardo-dead-booming-voice-720129?utm%5Fsource=twitter "undefined") that the longtime showman and media personality — who announced on NBC the breaking news of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963 — broke his hip last year, but it is unclear if related health issues were factors in his death. Pardo was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 2010 for a lifetime’s achievement in broadcasting. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3141928/saturday-night-live-don-pardo-dead-at-96/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3141928/saturday-night-live-don-pardo-dead-at-96/"},"headline":"Saturday Night Live Announcer Don Pardo Dies At 96","datePublished":"2014-08-19T05:21:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:44:12.882Z","description":"He spent nearly four decades with SNL and seven at NBC","url":"https://time.com/3141928/saturday-night-live-don-pardo-dead-at-96/","keywords":["Television","NBC","Saturday Night Live"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4df5d2a784899d9/69869ffd3617600adf90d840/141437777.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nash Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4df5d2a784899d9/69869ffd3617600adf90d840/141437777.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Saturday Night Live","caption":"Saturday Night Live","creditText":"NBC/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3141928/saturday-night-live-don-pardo-dead-at-96/","name":"Saturday Night Live Announcer Don Pardo Dies At 96"}}]}] ```