Melville Brandt (June 18, 1919 – March 14, 2008) was an actor and

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

staff announcer. Born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, Brandt joined NBC around 1948. His

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

announcing credits included ''

The Adventures of Frank Merriwell ''The Adventures of Frank Merriwell'' first ran on NBC radio from March 26 to June 22, 1934 as a 15-minute serial airing three times a week at 5:30 pm. Sponsored by Dr. West's Toothpaste, this program starred Donald Briggs as Frank Merriwell. Harl ...

'', ''

Author Meets the Critics ''Author Meets the Critics'' was an American talk show which was broadcast by the National Broadcasting Company, American Broadcasting Company, and the DuMont Television Network. The series began as a mid-season replacement on NBC on April 4, 19 ...

'', and ''

The Eternal Light ''The Eternal Light'' was an American radio and television program on the NBC Radio Network, produced in conjunction with the Jewish Theological Seminary, that was broadcast between 1944 and 1989. Featuring interviews, commentary, and award-winn ...

''. In 1975, he announced for a syndicated

radio program A radio program, radio programme, or radio show is a segment of content intended for broadcast on radio. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series. A single program in a series is called an episode. Radio networ ...

called ''Faces of Love''. He was one of the stars of the first television

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

, ''

Faraway Hill ''Faraway Hill'' was the first soap opera broadcast on an American television network, airing on the DuMont Television Network on Wednesday nights at 9:00 PM between October 2 and December 18, 1946. A ''Variety'' article stated the Caples advertis ...

'', broadcast in 1946 on the

DuMont Television Network The DuMont Television Network (also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, simply DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being ...

. His familiar voice was heard over the second animated version of the

NBC Peacock The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ar ...

from 1962–75, announcing that "the following program is brought to you in 'living color' on NBC." He announced the opening of the television soap opera, '' The Doctors''. His introduction was ''"The Doctors: The

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

winning program, dedicated to the brotherhood of healing."'' Brandt was the series announcer for other NBC-TV programs including ''

The Bell Telephone Hour ''The Bell Telephone Hour'' (also known as ''The Telephone Hour'') is a concert series that began April 29, 1940, on NBC Radio, and was heard on NBC until June 30, 1958. Sponsored by Bell Telephone as the name implies, it showcased the best in c ...

'' from 1959 through 1968, and ''

GE College Bowl ''College Bowl'' (which has carried a naming rights sponsor, initially General Electric and later Capital One) is a radio, television, and student quiz show. ''College Bowl'' first aired on the NBC Radio Network in 1953 as ''College Quiz Bowl'' ...

'' on NBC from 1963–70, in which his introduction was ''"Match wits with the champions in America's favorite question and answer game, live from New York, the General Electric College Bowl,"'', and after a brief plug for General Electric would introduce ''"the man with the questions, Robert Earle."''Mel Brandt's obituary
ocregister.com; accessed August 19, 2014. Brandt replaced

Don Pardo Dominick George "Don" Pardo (February 22, 1918 – August 18, 2014) was an American radio and television announcer whose career spanned more than seven decades. A member of the Television Hall of Fame, Pardo was noted for his 70-year tenure with ...

as the announcer on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

'' during the 1981-82 season – except for two episodes from that season in which Brandt was replaced by

Bill Hanrahan William A. Hanrahan (September 14, 1918 – August 7, 1996) was an American radio and television announcer, perhaps best known as the "Voice of NBC News." Hanrahan's broadcasting career dated back to the 1940s, when he worked at WELI radio in New H ...

, better known then as the voice of ''

NBC Nightly News ''NBC Nightly News'' (titled as ''NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt'' for its weeknight broadcasts since June 22, 2015) is the flagship daily evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program for NBC News, the news division of the NB ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brandt, Mel 1919 births 2008 deaths People from Brooklyn American male soap opera actors Male actors from New York (state) American male voice actors NBC network announcers Radio and television announcers Place of death missing 20th-century American male actors