Elwood Edwards
Biography and cause of death of Elwood Edwards
Elwood Hughes Edwards Jr. (November 6, 1949 – November 5, 2024) Elwood Edwards was an American voice actor. He was best known as the voice of the Internet service provider America Online, which he first recorded in 1989.
Elwood Edwards Career
Elwood Edwards started in radio while in high school. After high school, he continued into television, working as a live booth announcer. Despite some on-air work, including a car commercial, reporting news or sports, and a short stint as a weatherman, Elwood Edwards focused mainly on off-camera work. He latterly worked at WKYC in Cleveland, until his retirement in 2016.
In 1989, Edwards’ wife, an employee for online service Q-Link, over heard company CEO Steve Case describe how he wanted to add a voice to its user interface.[1] She recommended Edwards for the job, and he was paid $200 (equivalent to $492 in 2023) to record the lines. In October, his voice premiered on AOL’s new program. His greetings include “Welcome”, “You’ve got mail”, “You’ve got pictures”, “You’ve got voicemail”, “File’s done”, and “Goodbye”, all recorded in his own living room on a cassette deck.
His voice has also appeared in a 2000 episode of The Simpsons, “Little Big Mom” (where he provided the voice of a virtual doctor, saying “You’ve got leprosy”), and in advertising for the 1998 movie You’ve Got Mail.
Retired, he used to sell personalized .wav files through his website.
On the March 4, 2015, episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Edwards appeared on screen to read phrases which were meant to be humorous. As of November 2016, Edwards was seen on Instagram and YouTube working as an Uber driver. On September 16, 2019, Edwards and his AOL story were featured on the podcast Twenty Thousand Hertz in an episode entitled “You’ve Got Mail”.
In October 2022, Edwards appeared in a television ad for the e-commerce platform Shopify, in which he announced “You’ve got sales” to sellers on the platform. In his later years, he worked as an Uber driver to make extra income.
Elwood Edwards Personal life and death
Elwood Hughes Edwards Jr. was born in Glen Burnie, Maryland on November 6, 1949, and grew up primarily in North Carolina, first in Beaufort and then in New Bern.
Edwards and his wife, Karen, had two children.[3] A resident of New Bern, North Carolina, he died from complications of a stroke at home, on November 5, 2024, at the age of 74.
Elwood Edwards Other jobs
News graphics supervisor, WKYC-TV
General manager, KVVV 1998
Production manager/senior director, WCTI-TV
Announcer/director, WNBE-TV
Uber driver
Source: Wikipedia