Dwight Weist, Jr. (January 16, 1910 - July 16, 1991) was an actor and
announcer in the era of old-time radio.The son of Mr. and Mrs. Dwight
W. Weist, he was born in Palo Alto, California, but was raised in
Scranton, Pennsylvania. He attended Scranton's Central High School,
where he participated in dramatics. He was a 1931 graduate of Ohio
Wesleyan University, where he participated in debate, and he acted in
the Cleveland Play House theater company.Weist debuted on radio in
Columbus, Ohio, working as an announcer on WAIU while he was a college
student. He also worked on WGBI in Scranton, relating instructions
about playing bridge.Weist was called "the man of 1,000 voices,"
primarily as a result of his work on The March of Time. His obituary
in The New York Times explained, "Mr. Weist, who played Adolf Hitler
and Franklin D. Roosevelt, among many others, received his nickname
because of his ability to imitate a broad range of accents and ages."
Weist even made an adjustment in 1935 after Hitler had surgery to
create a milder, more soothing vocal tone. Some of Weist's friends
watched as he listened to a speech by Hitler and immediately afterward
spoke in the newer tone himself. When he was assigned roles of people
with whose voices he was unfamiliar, he listened to them in newsreels
and on radio to develop his impersonations.
announcer in the era of old-time radio.The son of Mr. and Mrs. Dwight
W. Weist, he was born in Palo Alto, California, but was raised in
Scranton, Pennsylvania. He attended Scranton's Central High School,
where he participated in dramatics. He was a 1931 graduate of Ohio
Wesleyan University, where he participated in debate, and he acted in
the Cleveland Play House theater company.Weist debuted on radio in
Columbus, Ohio, working as an announcer on WAIU while he was a college
student. He also worked on WGBI in Scranton, relating instructions
about playing bridge.Weist was called "the man of 1,000 voices,"
primarily as a result of his work on The March of Time. His obituary
in The New York Times explained, "Mr. Weist, who played Adolf Hitler
and Franklin D. Roosevelt, among many others, received his nickname
because of his ability to imitate a broad range of accents and ages."
Weist even made an adjustment in 1935 after Hitler had surgery to
create a milder, more soothing vocal tone. Some of Weist's friends
watched as he listened to a speech by Hitler and immediately afterward
spoke in the newer tone himself. When he was assigned roles of people
with whose voices he was unfamiliar, he listened to them in newsreels
and on radio to develop his impersonations.
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