Louis J. "Lou" Steele (March 7, 1928 – February 25, 2001) was an American

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

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 transmi ...

, and

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

announcer An announcer is a voice artist who relays information to the audience of a broadcast media programme or live event. Television and other media Some announcers work in television production, radio or filmmaking, usually providing narration ...

Career

Born Louis Ferraioli in 1928, he was an announcer on

Armed Forces Radio The American Forces Network (AFN) is a government television and radio broadcast service the U.S. military provides to those stationed or assigned overseas. Headquartered at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, AFN's broadcast operations, which i ...

during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

, and was the voice who informed the troops that their commander, General Douglas MacArthur, had been recalled by President

Harry S Truman Harry may refer to: TV shows * ''Harry'' (American TV series), a 1987 American comedy series starring Alan Arkin * ''Harry'' (British TV series), a 1993 BBC drama that ran for two seasons * ''Harry'' (talk show), a 2016 American daytime talk show ...

. Beginning in the 1950s, Lou was an announcer on

WNEW-TV WNYW (channel 5) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Secaucus, New Jersey–licensed MyNetworkTV flagship ...

Channel 5 out of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Prior to this, he was a staff announcer on

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

WPAT in Paterson, New Jersey. In the late 1980s, Steele was an

anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal , used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ''ancora'', which itself comes from the Greek ἄ� ...

of a nightly

newscast News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or telev ...

on a low-power

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the eart ...

in New York. Steele voiced the

catch phrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

, coined by his announcer-booth colleague Tom Gregory: ''"It's 10 P.M. Do you know where your children are?"'' In addition, in the early 1980s Steele voiced another brief

public service announcement A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge to raise public awareness and change behavior. In the UK, they are generally called a public information film (PIF); in Hong Kong, ...

for the station, ''"It's 7 P.M. Did you hug your child today?"'' While on at WNEW-TV Lou was also the host for the local horror show ''

Creature Features ''Creature Features'' is a generic title for a genre of horror TV format shows broadcast on local American television stations throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. The movies broadcast on these shows were generally classic and cult horror ...

'' (1969–1973). Known as "The Creep," Lou would appear without the normal make-up or costume typical of horror hosts of the day. He wore sunglasses and a tuxedo and appeared on a plain studio set with harsh lighting. At various times, Lou would conduct contests that involved coming up with trivia questions, made-up quotes spoofing notable horror film titles, or flashing parts of a title at select times throughout that night’s movie. Contest winners were announced on air.

Death

Steele died on February 25, 2001, in his home in Paterson, New Jersey, of a heart attack, aged 72.

Filmography

* '' Some of My Best Friends Are...'' (1971) * ''

The Pawn ''The Pawn'' is an interactive fiction game for the Sinclair QL written by Rob Steggles of Magnetic Scrolls and published by Sinclair Research in 1985. In 1986, graphics were added and the game was released for additional home computers by Rai ...

'' (1968) * ''

September Affair ''September Affair'' is a 1950 American romantic drama film directed by William Dieterle and starring Joan Fontaine, Joseph Cotten, and Jessica Tandy. It was produced by Hal B. Wallis. Plot Marianne "Manina" Stuart (Joan Fontaine), a prominent c ...

'' (1950) * ''

The Furies The Erinyes ( ; sing. Erinys ; grc, Ἐρινύες, pl. of ), also known as the Furies, and the Eumenides, were female chthonic deities of vengeance in ancient Greek religion and mythology. A formulaic oath in the ''Iliad'' invokes ...

'' (1950)

References

External links

*
Obituary in ''Variety'', March 11, 2001

1983 video clip of Lou Steele announcing, "Did you hug your child today?"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steele, Lou American radio personalities American television personalities Horror hosts 1928 births 2001 deaths