Shaaron Claridge (born Shaaron Lee Cooper; later Snead; October 1, 1938 – September 15, 2021) was an American second-shift radiotelephone operator or police radio dispatcher at the

Van Nuys Van Nuys () is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Home to Van Nuys Airport and the Valley Municipal Building, it is the most populous neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. History In 1909, ...

Division of the

Los Angeles Police Department The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-lar ...

best known for her voice work on the ''

Adam-12 ''Adam-12'' is an American television police procedural crime drama television series created by Robert A. Cinader and Jack Webb. The series follows Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers Pete Malloy and Jim Reed as they patrol the st ...

'' television series. Claridge was born in

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the List of the most populous counties in the United States, most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, ...

. At the time of her appointment, women were primarily desired as police radio dispatchers because LAPD psychologists thought that women's voices would have a more soothing and calming effect over the airwaves. The idea was that, should an officer (male) have been pinned down by gunfire and/or wounded, yet was still within radio contact, hearing the female dispatcher's tone would help keep the officer from panicking until back-up arrived at the scene. Her husband was an

LAPD The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...

motorcycle officer. For a time from the late 1960s into the late 1970s, Claridge was a

voice actress Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...

credited with primarily providing police dispatch voice work for ''

'' and also a few other television shows (i.e., '' Dragnet'', '' Lou Grant'' and ''

Columbo ''Columbo'' () is an American crime drama television series starring Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo, a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. After two pilot episodes in 1968 and 1971, the show originally aired on NBC fr ...

''). Her voice work as the police dispatcher ("1-Adam-12, 1-Adam-12, see the man . . .") was featured in all but three episodes of Adam-12 (''

Elegy for a Pig This is a list of episodes for the 1968–1975 television series ''Adam-12''. The first season was released on DVD in 2005 by Universal Home Entertainment, while all remaining seasons were released by Shout! Factory.Clinic on Eighteenth Street This is a list of episodes for the 1968–1975 television series ''Adam-12''. The first season was released on DVD in 2005 by Universal Home Entertainment, while all remaining seasons were released by Shout! Factory.Martin Milner Martin Sam Milner (December 28, 1931 – September 6, 2015) was an American actor and radio host. He is best known for his performances on two television series: '' Route 66'', which aired on CBS from 1960 to 1964, and ''Adam-12'', which a ...

). However, it appears that certain steps were taken to ensure that she would not be recognized, such as the camera angles used in the sequence: when Milner first walks into the room, the camera is across said room and only her left profile is seen at a distance. But for the close-up, the camera is positioned above Claridge's head, over her left shoulder, and aimed down and diagonally to make it hard for the viewer to make out much in the way of her facial features. In the 1983 suspense/action movie ''

Blue Thunder ''Blue Thunder'' is a 1983 American action thriller film from Columbia Pictures, produced by Gordon Carroll, Phil Feldman, and Andrew Fogelson and directed by John Badham. The Blue Thunder helicopter itself did exist as two copies of modifie ...

'', starring

Roy Scheider Roy Richard Scheider (; November 10, 1932 – February 10, 2008) was an American actor and amateur boxer. Described by AllMovie as "one of the most unique and distinguished of all Hollywood actors", he gained fame for his leading and supporting ...

, Claridge's voice was again heard as an LAPD dispatcher in an uncredited role. She also voiced police dispatch in the 1970 Disney film "The Boatniks". Following Milner's death on September 6, 2015, Claridge broadcast the "End of Watch" transmission over the LAPD radio recognizing Milner's performance as Officer Pete Malloy in ''Adam-12''.

Marriages

On January 12, 1963, she married Frank Walter Claridge. That marriage was later dissolved. On March 17, 1980, she wed Rodney Snead, to whom she remained married until his death.

Death

She died at age 82 of complications from liver cancer at Minden, Nevada, on September 15, 2021.

References

External links

LAPD "End of Watch" Broadcast for Martin Milner
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Claridge, Shaaron American voice actresses Dispatchers 1938 births People from Los Angeles County, California 2021 deaths 21st-century American women Adam-12