Saturday Night Live Announcer Don Pardo Dies At 96

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 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.