Many of you may be asking yourselves, “Why is Lou Rawls being paid a remembrance tribute on a site dedicated to SciFi/Fantasy and Horror?” Lou, mostly known for that smooth, velvety jazz and blues style voice of his was no stranger to film and TV. He starred in over 32 feature motion pictures and countless TV appearances.

Lou lent those golden vocal cords of his to a great deal of voice-over work in fantasy films, children’s TV cartoon characters and a stint doing various roles on the critically acclaimed Garfield the Cat TV show.

My wife and I had the sheer pleasure of seeing Lou perform live in September at the Lied Center for the Performing Arts. You would have never known from the pure essence that poured forth from his voice for 2 solid hours that he was suffering from lung cancer and that just 4 short months later he would be gone forever.

Low Rawls was a man of class and distinction of whose likes we will never see again. Once, when Frank Sinatra first heard Lou sing on stage many years ago, Frank turned to his friends seated with him and said, “Now that is The Voice.” Quite an accolade coming from someone with the stature and vocal chops of Sinatra.

For all you trivia buffs out there see if you can remember these few SciFi/Fantasy and Horror films that Lou Rawls had roles in:

The Code Conspiracy, Watcher’s Reborn, Morella, Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Angel, Angel Down We Go.

So Long Lou!