Don LaFontaine, who died on 1 September, 2008, was one of the best known stars of Hollywood, but it was not his face that you would recognise.

He enjoyed a glamorous lifestyle with huge fees, a Hollywood Hills mansion and his own chauffeur to transport him between studios, yet never saw his name on a poster.

And he helped make thousands of films successful, but was never listed on the credits of any of them.

That's because, in a world where film-makers needed a commanding voice for their trailers, Don LaFontaine was the best man for the job.

He lent his sonorous tones to more than 5,000 movie and television trailers, from action blockbusters like Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), through high dramas like The Godfather (1972), to family comedies like Chicken Run (2000) and Cheaper by the Dozen (2003).

His voice became synonymous with the movie trailer and was mimicked and parodied many times. He invented the opening line 'In a world where…', a cliché of movie parlance that became his calling card as much as his thunderous voice.

Donald LaFontaine was born on 26 August, 1940, in Duluth, Minnesota. His voice broke when he was 13. He entered the film business as a sound engineer, then a writer, editor and a producer. But movie history was made in 1964 when the voice-over guy failed to show to record the narration for the Western Gunfighters of Casa Grande and Mr LaFontaine stood in. His fee was $82.

To say that LaFontaine was successful simply because he had an appealingly deep voice - he helped revolutionise the art of making a trailer. Pre-LaFontaine, trailers had been an afterthought, usually a hotchpotch of clips edited clumsily together incongruously while the chirpy voice-over bleated superlatives. Using his experience as a writer and producer, he introduced ideas that the trailer should convey some kind of narrative that mirrored the film itself. The line 'In a world…' might have evolved into a cliché but to LaFontaine it simply served the same purpose as the shots a director uses to set the scene of his action.

His longevity over more than 40 years of voicing trailers was down to his versatility. He could range from a grim whisper (this, he said, helped him "cut through" explosions and music of action films) to a more a jovial, self-parodying style for comedies. There was a natural melodrama to his voice that was suited to satire and he lent his talents to both The Simpsons and Family Guy, both of which lampooned him and subsequently used him on their movie trailers, an odd paradox which exemplifies his quintessence.

He was known throughout the industry as being a great professional who understood that the trailer was rarely anyone's biggest concern but nevertheless approached his task with the care needed. He had a great self-deprecating humour, a quick wit and was generally amiable - fans would lately ask him to record their answer phone messages and, time permitted in his busy schedule, he would frequently oblige.

He could record as many as 35 voice-overs a day and could receive as much as $2000 per session. His yearly earnings frequently topped seven figures. He described himself in an interview as "the luckiest man on earth", before adding, "I'm just doing this until that cashier's job at Denny's opens up, actually."

Don LaFontaine, known universally as 'The King of Voice-overs', died aged 68 in hospital in Los Angeles after suffering a collapsed lung. He was survived by his wife, singer and actress Nita Whitaker, and three children, Christine, Skye and Elyse.