The voice that introduced the cast of "Saturday Night Live" for nearly four decades has gone silent. NBC officials confimred that legendary announcer Don Pardo passed away Monday at the age of 96. The cause of death was not immediately available.

Born in 1918 in Westfield, MA, Pardo got his start in the radio business in the late 1930s when he joined a local station in Rhode Island. But Pardo made the move to television in the 1950s.

Photo of Don Pardo 1945 Courtesy of NBC/Getty Images
Photo of Don Pardo 1945 Courtesy of NBC/Getty Images
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He was the voice of game shows like "The Price Is Right" and "Jeopardy" before he singed on as an announcer for NBC's "SNL" in 1975. He helped open the show for all but one of its 39 seasons.

Here's his classic SNL intro.

Pardo was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame in 2010.

[Metro Networks]

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