Elwood Edwards, Voice of AOL's 'You've Got Mail,' Dead at 74

Flying Squid@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 275 points –
Elwood Edwards, Voice of AOL's 'You've Got Mail,' Dead at 74
tmz.com
25

His tombstone had better say “Goodbye.”

Imagine being such a legendary part of computing history just because you recorded a few voice lines for some upstart that sold internet access by the hour.

He didn't even work for the company, his wife did. She had him record the lines on a tape recorder in their livingroom. She sold it to the company for a few hundred dollars.

I can’t unhear that sound.

Imagine how he felt.

You have to think that line would be used humorously pretty frequently in his life. Like, every time he got the mail and brought it back in the house, he’d just whip it out and his kids would just go “daaaaad!!!”

I don’t know anything about him, but I hope he’s that guy.

Ripppppp :(

Thank you for providing us with so many memories esp in the 90s/early 2000s!

we had friends who had an African Grey that mimicked him perfectly every time she heard the modem sound...

Those birds are crazy. My dad and I painted our neighbor’s house one summer when I was a kid, and at the end of each day I’d call her name out and let her know the status. After we finished, her African Grey would call her name in my voice every day so well that she thought we were still there.

It somehow absolutely did not occur to me that was a recorded voice.

I'm guessing I thought it was magic?

I've been using that sound bite as the notification sound when I get an email on my phone for years.

Wow so he was only in his thirties. I really tiny he sounded older.