In Remembrance: Norman Rose

     Norman Rose, the actor perhaps best known for his rich baritone voice, has passed away on November 12, 2004 in Upper Nyack, NY. He was 87.

     Born on June 23, 1917 in Philadelphia, PA, Rose started acting while a student at George Washington University in Washington, DC. He performed on stage, radio and television in addition to his film appearances.

     Nicknamed by colleagues “the Voice of God” because of his deep, recognizable voice, Rose actually supplied the voice of God in Woody Allen’s 1975 comedy Love And Death. Rose’s other film voice over work includes the opening narration for director Kinji Fukasaku’s Message From Space (1978), narrating the English dub of the 1968 Soviet Union production of War And Peace and as a newsreel announcer in Mike Nichols’ Biloxi Blues (1988). On screen he was seen in The Violators (1957), Sidney Lumet’s The Anderson Tapes (1971), Who Killed Mary What’s Her Name? (1971) and The Front (1976).

     Rose was also an accomplished stage actor appearing in Broadway productions of Richard III and St. Joan and off-Broadway in The Brothers Karamazov. Rose utilized his voice on radio on such series as The Martian Chronicles and Dimension X. He supplied assorted voices for the 1963 cartoon television series Tennessee Tuxedo And His Tales and served as the narrator in the long running series of commercials for Columbian coffee featuring the fictional character Juan Valdez. He also appeared in the soap operas The Edge Of Night, One Life To Live, All My Children and Search For Tomorrow.