Lorne Greene
Toronto Daily Star, 5 October 1950
Lorne Greene (1915-1987) started his career as a CBC radio announcer before becoming a U.S.-based television actor. He was called "The Voice Of Doom" because of his stern-sounding baritone and because he was given the unfortunate job of reading the names of Second World War dead.
Something I didn't know: he invented a stopwatch that counted down to zero, which enabled announcers to quickly see how much time they had left to speak.
In the 1950 Toronto city directory, the Academy Of Radio Arts is listed with "Lorne Green" as its president. (His name at birth was Lyon Himan Green, which may or may not explain this.) The academy appears in the 1952 city directory but not the 1953 directory; this might be when Mr. Greene left Canada in search of fame and fortune in the U.S.
Created May 6, 2025.