User blog:ARTaylor/RIP Joseph Sirola

Joseph Sirola, who was once dubbed "The King of the Voice-Overs" by The Wall Street Journal, passed away yesterday at the age of eighty-nine. He had been hospitalized following complications from respiratory failure in New York City. He is survived by his partner Claire Gozzo; daughter Dawn; granddaughters Eva, Isabel, and Sofia; goddaughter Curran; nephew Stewart; and nieces Susan and Andre.



He was born on October 7th, 1929, the son of Croation immigrants, in Carteret, New Jersey. His father was a carpenter while his mother ran a boarding house. After he graduated Columbia University in 1951 he spent fifteen months fighting in the Korean War. He was noticed by The New York Times during his first professional acting debut off-Broadway who said, "Joe Sirola played the part of the gassed-up landlord vigorously, alternating between tender remorse and brutishness."

Sirola had a long illustrious career in Hollywood. He played in major motion pictures such as Bedfellows alongside Rock Hudson, The Greatest Story Ever Told, and Hang 'Em High with Clint Eastwood. He had recurring roles on The Andy Griffith Show as bandleader Freddy Fleet and Hawaii Five-O as spy Jonathan Kaye. He had a staring role on The Montefuscos as the family patriarch as well as a recurring role on The Magician alongside Bill Bixby. He produced for stage, winning a Tony award in 2014 for A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder.

It was his voice that most people knew him for. He was the spokesman for numerous products including NyQuil, Wendy's, Mobil, General Electric, Ford, and Hertz. He lent his voice to the iconic I Love New York campaign during the Empire State Building tour. It was in 1970 when The Wall Street Journal featured a cover story about Sirola dubbing him "The King of the Voice-Overs." "Not knowing any better, I used the mic as a person. I spoke to the audience rather than at them. I went from thirty-two thousand dollars a year to a million a year for twenty years." Marvel fans would know him as the voice of Doctor Doom in the 1967 series Fantastic Four.