Bill Wendell
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Bill Wendell (born 22 March 1924; died 14 April 1999) was an NBC television staff announcer for almost his entire professional career. During the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, Wendell formed part of a quintet of network voice-over artists who held lifetime contracts; his compatriots were Don Pardo, Wayne Howell, Fred Facey, and Howard Reig.
Wendell provided voiceovers for a number of NBC's game shows, and announced the syndicated version of To Tell The Truth from 1972 through 1977, succeeding Johnny Olson, who left New York City to assume the job on CBS' then-new version of the The New Price Is Right, based in southern California, in the summer of 1972.
His most notable stint on television was as the regular announcer for NBC's Late Night with David Letterman, on which he appeared from 1982 until 1993, the entirety of the show's NBC run. He moved with Letterman to CBS in 1993, picking up where he left off as the announcer on The Late Show with David Letterman. His final show was on Friday, August 18, 1995, when he retired. Alan Kalter succeeded him as announcer on Monday, September 4, 1995, after the show took a two week hiatus. In a strange coincidence, Kalter also succeeded Wendell on Truth 18 years earlier, announcing that show's final season.
Wendell's last major job was as the original voiceover announcer in Old Navy's famous "fashion show" commercial campaign.
He died from cancer in 1999 at the age of 75.
