Elwood Edwards, who voiced AOL’s “You’ve Got Mail” greeting, has died at age 74.
Edwards died Tuesday at his home in New Bern, North Carolina, his daughter Heather said. The cause was complications from a stroke late last year, he added.
Edwards recorded his AOL greeting on a tape recorder while sitting in his living room in 1989. “You’ve Got Mail” became a catchphrase in the late 1990s and served as the title of the 1998 film starring Tom Hanks. and Meg Ryan.
“He still blushed every time someone brought it up,” his daughter said. “He loved the attention, but he never got used to it.”
He was also the voice of AOL’s “Welcome,” “Goodbye,” and “File Finished” messages. He earned $200 from the recordings.
Edwards got the job while working at an independent television station in Washington, DC. His second wife, Karen, was a customer service representative for the Internet provider that later became known as AOL. She heard the company was looking for someone to be the voice of its software and suggested her husband.
Heather Edwards said: “They were so shocked they didn’t put him in a recording booth.”
While few people knew Edwards’ face, millions of people heard his voice every day. “For a while, America Online (AOL) kept it a secret, which made me a man of mystery. But it was finally released and there you have it,” Edwards said in 1999.
He appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2015 to repeat the catchphrase, smiling widely and chuckling as the studio audience cheered. He also added his voice to an episode of The Simpsons in 2000.
Edwards first worked in radio and then moved into television. He had a brief stint as a weather anchor and worked as an announcer, but mostly spent his time behind the camera, Heather Edwards said.
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“He would say, ‘I have a face for radio,'” she said, adding that her father “always had a ready smile every time you saw him.”
He later worked at WKYC-TV in Cleveland as a “graphics guru, camera operator and jack of all trades,” the station said. Edwards also did freelance voice-over work for radio and television commercials.
She is survived by another daughter, Sallie, a granddaughter, Abbie, and her brother, Bill.
The family plans to hold a memorial service Monday in New Bern.
