Elwood Edwards, who voiced AOL’s “You’ve got mail” greeting, has died, aged 74.
Edwards died on Tuesday at his residence in New Bern, North Carolina, his daughter Heather stated. The trigger was problems from a stroke late final 12 months, she added.
Edwards taped his AOL greetingon a recorder whereas sitting in the lounge of his residence in 1989. “You’ve got mail” grew to become a catchphrase within the late Nineteen Nineties and served because the title of the 1998 movie starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.
“He would still blush any time someone brought it up,” his daughter stated. “He loved the attention, but he never got used to it.”
He was additionally the voice of AOL’s “Welcome”, “Goodbye” and “File’s done” messages. He made $200 from the recordings.
Edwards received the gig whereas working at an unbiased tv station in Washington DC. His second spouse, Karen, was a customer support consultant for the web supplier that later grew to become often known as AOL. She heard the corporate was searching for somebody to be the voice of its software program and instructed her husband.
Heather Edwards stated: “They were so impressed, they didn’t have him go in a recording booth.”
Whereas few folks knew Edwards’ face, his voice was heard by thousands and thousands of individuals each day. “For a while, America Online [AOL] was keeping it a secret, making me a man of mystery. But finally it was released, and there you go,” Edwards stated in 1999.
He appeared on The Tonight Present Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2015 to repeat the catchphrase, smiling broadly and chuckling because the studio viewers cheered. He additionally added his voice to an episode of The Simpsons in 2000.
Edwards first labored in radio after which moved into tv. He had a short stint as a climate presenter and labored as an announcer, however principally he spent his time behind the digital camera, Heather Edwards stated.
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“He would say: ‘I have a face for radio,’” she stated, including that her father “always had a ready smile any time you’d see him”.
He later labored at WKYC-TV in Cleveland as a “graphics guru, camera operator, and general jack of all trades”, the station stated. Edwards additionally did freelance voiceover work for radio and tv commercials.
He’s survived by one other daughter, Sallie, a granddaughter, Abbie, and his brother, Invoice.
The household plans to carry a memorial service on Monday in New Bern.
