THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
7A
PEOPLE
Former meth addict dies
James A. Finley/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Shawn Bridges rests in his hospital bed in the living room of his father's house April 14, 2006, in of Cape Girardeau, Mo. Bridges, a southeast Missouri man whose documentary about how methamphetamine hopelessly ravaged his body drew global attention, died Monday.
Missouri man was focus of 2006 southern Illinois documentarv
BY JIM SUHR ASSOCIATED PRESS
ST. LOUIS — A former trucker whose documentary chronicated an agonizing descent as methamphetamine ravaged his body has died, optimistic to the end that his story would keep others from the highly addictive stimulant.
"He was extremely satisfied, wanting to do more in getting the word out and showing kids what meth harm does. We didn't get to that point," his father, Jack Bridges, said shortly after the 35-year-old died Monday at a hospital in Cape Girardeau, Mo.
"He didn't want anyone to go through what he did," his father said.
Shawn Bridges drew global attention last year for "No More Sunsets," a 29-minute film shot by a former southern Illinois television videographer at Bridges request.
By his family's account, Bridges already had died at least twice, his heart so damaged by years of using meth — a concoction that can include toxic chemicals such as battery acid, drain cleaner and fertilizer — that it stopped and had to be
shocked back into beating.
The documentary shows Bridges mostly bedridden, his constant companions a catheter and feeding tube.
"I'd say he's got a 34-year-old body on the outside with a 70- to 80-year-old man on the inside." his father told The Associated Press last May.
Roughly 28,000 people sought treatment for meth addiction across the country in 1993, accounting for nearly 2 percent of admissions for drug-abuse care, according to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Just a decade later, the meth-related admissions numbered nearly 136,000 — more than 7 percent of the national total for drug-abuse treatment.
Family members have said Bridges had been haunted by the dreary day in 1976 when his younger brother Jason, barely a year old, died in a car wreck. Bridges was 4 and nowhere near the accident but still blamed himself, wanting to trade places with his dead sibling, his father said.
A lenient upbringing set Bridges on the road to becoming "a little monster," his father said. "By 16, the kid was a high school dropout and partner."
At 26, Bridges had a heart attack that his father blamed on mets' ability to damage a chronic user's heart and other internal organs. Bridges learned he had congestive heart failure. Twice, he tried to kill himself, according to family members.
During his final months in a hospital bed, Bridges' words slurred to guttural sounds when he tried to talk. At times, he spit up blood, and his weight fell dangerously when he couldn't keep food down. His father said Monday that Bridges developed a urinary tract infection shortly before he died.
"I don't think people will forget what got him to this point," said Chip Rossetti, who filmed the documentary. "But what he did with his condition is really the amazing thing."
Rossetti said 500 to 600 copies of the documentary had been sold, some going as far as Australia. Bridges was also profiled on German television. Rossetti said Monday he plans a sequel, chronicling Bridge's final year and testimonials by people touched by his awareness effort.
"We wanted to keep him with us a lot longer, but we appreciate God's good grace," Jack Bridges said.
UMM NASEB Gaza Strip
A huge sewage reservoir in the northern Gaza Strip collapsed Tuesday, killing five people in a frothing cascade of waste and mud that swamped a village and highlighted the desperate need to upgrade Gaza's overburdened infrastructure.
Rescue crews and Hamas gunmen rushed to the area to search for people feared buried under the sewage and mud. Dressed in wet-suits, they paddled boats through the layer of foam floating on the green and brown rivers of waste. Others waded up to their hips into the sewage.
SPECTACULAR SUMMER SESSIONS
Associated Press
CHOOSE FROM MORE THAN THAN 300 SUMMER COURSES
Announcer gains popularity
WORLD Reservoir collapse kills five, swamps village in Gaza Strip
ASSOCIATED PRESS
EARLY SESSION:
May 29-June 28
FULL SESSION:
May 29-July 19
LATE SESSION:
July 2-August 2
BY PAULINE ARRILLAGA
MOVIES
LOS ANGELES — There was a moment at one of those Hollywood awards shows recently that seemed finally to cement Don LaFontaine's place in television and film history, sort of like a star on the Walk of Fame, only, not.
(What's that? Don't recognize the name Dan LaFontaine? Hold on ... It's coming ... )
He walked over to introduce himself to lan McShane, star of the HBO drama "Deadwood!" But before LaFontaine could open his mouth, McShene smiled, dropped his voice to a timbre that seemed a cross between Darth Vader and Dirty Harry, and intoned: "IN A WORLD..."
...men are slaves and women are the conquerors," is so universally known.
No, it's because LaFontaine — "That Announcer Guy From the Movies" — hadn't uttered a word.
"The Voice" had not spoken.
This is big, reaaally big — not because it showed that LaFontaine's trademark movie-trailer catchphrase, as in "In a world where ... violence rules" or "In a world where
Googling "voice-over guy," they eventually found LaFontaine.
www.washburn.edu/schedule/summer
This is especially telling, considering the cliche so commonly used in describing LaFontaine: "You may not know his face, but you certainly know his voice."
"Somebody blurs out, 'Hey, what about that movie announcer guy?' The other one goes, 'Well, what's his name? What does he look like? Who is that guy?' That's how it all started!" explains Dean Jarrett of the Martin Agency.
Recognition, in all forms,
just isn't a part of the voice-over
world, where an artist's "stage" is
an isolated sound booth and performers
are known more for their voice-over pseudonyms than their given names. There's "The Voice of Porky Pig" (Bob Bergen), "The Voice of Zatarains" Cajun foods (Rodney Saulsberry), "The Voice of Food Network" (Joe Cipriano) and so on.
But even the Geico advertising folks didn't have a clue who he was when they were brainstorming "The Testimonial Campaign," a series of spots featuring real customers and B-listers such as Little Richard and Charo.
Truth be told, there was one guy, behind the counter at a book store in Chapel Hill, N.C., who discerned LaFontaine's location as that from the "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" television promos.
"The Voice" asked, quite politely, that this story NOT start that way.
LaFontaine is often referred to as "The Voice of God." But you won't find his moniker on a film credit alongside "best boy" and "production caterer".
Who's in your Fave 5?
There are no Oscars for voice-over work. An annual event dubbed the "Golden Trailer Awards" does honor the movie preview medium, including a category for "Best Voice Over." Still, film actors who lend their voices to trailers tend to take home the prize (a hefty trophy topped with a miniature trailer, as in Winnebego) rather than voice-over professionals like LaFontaine.
It couldn't possibly. McShane did know the face. Chances are you do, too — now. Think Geico commercial. The bald guy with sandy mustache and headphones standing in the kitchen of a "real Geico customer," orating, "In a world where both of our cars were totally under water..."
"Expect anonymity," LaFontaine once wrote in a book about the business of voice-over work. Never mind recognizing him, he went on. "Strangers never recognize my voice when I'm out in public."
LaFontaine has worked in Hollywood for decades, reached the top of his craft, earned plenty and won accolades. And yet, as he might say himself: In a world where exposure is everything, putting a face to the voice behind 5,000 movie trailers can give a guy a whole new perspective.
Suddenly this fixture of show business — one of its hardest working, albeit obscure, artists — became something else: a kind of celebrity. Visibility brought newfound admiration to a behind-the scenes star and his rather invisible industry.
1. ___
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