FRED FOY, announcer, dies at age 89

Fred Foy, an announcer best known for his booming, passionate lead-ins and narrative to "The Lone Ranger" radio and television series, died Wednesday, 22 December 2010, of natural causes at his Woburn, Mass., home, his daughter said. He was 89. He landed the job as the announcer and narrator on "The Lone Ranger" radio show in 1948. The show's live lead-in introduced its masked cowboy hero and his trusted horse with the line: "A fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust and a hearty 'Hi-Yo Silver!' ... The Lone Ranger!" [video below] Foy was born in Detroit in 1921, graduated from that city's Eastern High School in 1938 and landed a job on the announcing staff of radio station WXYZ in Detroit in 1942. He was drafted into the Army that year and served in an Armed Forces Radio unit in Cairo during World War II. Foy returned to WXYZ in 1945, then three years later won the job on "The Lone Ranger," even stepping into the lead role for one radio broadcast when actor Brace Beemer had laryngitis. The introduction's signature opening line, "Hi-Yo, Silver!" was done by an actor on the radio show. He belted it out for the TV series. [Also done by actor Gerald Mohr] Foy also performed on radio series including "The Green Hornet" and "Sgt. Preston of the Yukon." In 1960, Foy began working for the ABC network. He spent five years as an announcer on the "The Dick Cavett Show" and narrated documentaries. He left ABC in the mid-1980s and later retired to Woburn.

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