Henry Fry Simms (born May 23, 1913 in Tulsa, Oklahoma; died August 7, 2013 in Hot Springs, Arkansas), professionally known as Hank Simms, was an announcer and occasional actor, primarily in television.
After serving in the Air Force in World War II (he worked his way through the ranks to Squadron Engineering Officer and then Captain), Simms attended Oklahoma University and later Tulsa University, taking up broadcasting at the urging of his older brother. Hank later did radio jobs in Tulsa, Wichita, Dallas, Los Angeles and Honolulu.
He was recalled to the Air Force for The Korean War and eventually made the rank of Major. After meeting the woman he married while in Honolulu, the couple settled down in Los Angeles.
His career began in the 1950's, with one of his longest-running gigs being the Academy Awards Ceremonies, which he announced for 25 years. He also did movie trailers around this time and also announced for The Tonight Show.
On September 15, 1965, Hank Simms began his most famous professional relationship. That was the day that The F.B.I. debuted. Quinn Martin hired Simms to do the announcing duties over the series' Title Sequence. From that moment on, Hank's voice became one of the most recognized voices in television, as almost every QM series from that point on featured Simms's razor-sharp voice announcing the stars, guest stars and episode titles.note From Fernando Lamas to Kevin O'Brien, from Joan Fontaine to Lori Lethin, dozens of actors had the honor of having their names called out in the opening credits to QM series by Hank Simms.
Viewers learned how to pronounce many actors' names via the stellar announcing of Hank Simms. A few examples:
- Clu Gulager: last name pronounced 'GYOO-lah-gur'.
- Miiko Taka: Me-EEK-oh TAH-ka
- Charles Cioffi: Hank pronounced it two different ways...initially, he pronounced the last name 'Chee-OFF-ee', then later pronounced it 'CHOFF-ee'.
- Ramon Bieri: pronounced RAY-mon BEER-eye.
- Michael Baseleon: last name pronounced 'Bosley-OWN'.
- Michael Hershewe: last name pronounced 'HURSH-away'.
- Lori Lethin: rhymes with 'machine'...'La-THEEN'.
- Cesare Danova: two different pronunciations...on Cannon, Simms called him 'CHEZ-a-ray Dah-NO-va'. Eight years later, on Barnaby Jones, he pronounced it as 'Chez-a-RAY DAN-uh-va'.
- Alf Kjellin: last name pronounced 'Zha-LEEN'.
- Taylor Lacher: last name pronounced 'Locker'.
- Vincent Baggetta: last name pronounced 'Buh-JET-tah'.
- Robert Loggia: last name pronounced 'LOW-ja'.
- Robert Drivas: last name pronounced, very simply, 'DRIVE-us'.
- John Colicos: last name pronounced 'COH-la-cos'.
- Alice Hirson: last name pronounced 'HEAR-son'.
- Linda Cristal: last name pronounced 'Cree-STAHL'.
- Donna Baccala: Most times, Hank pronounced it as it looks...Buh-CAH-la. In one of her FBI episodes, however, he pronounced her name 'BAH-ca-la'.
- James Houghton: last name pronounced: 'HOE-ton'
Hank Simms was involved with other shows as well. If you have the DVD set of Honey West, there's a teaser for the episode "The Abominable Snowman", where he narrates the clip of that episode. He also did the sponsor's intro for The Felony Squad, the 'will continue after station identification' announcements for Mission: Impossible, Mannix, Police Woman and Baretta, to name a few, and the intro for The NBC Mystery Movie, where he announced the night's star and their role (i.e., 'Tonight, starring Peter Falk as Columbo!').
After Quinn Martin sold his company, Simms continued to work as an announcer on Barnaby Jones and later replaced William Conrad as narrator for Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. His last project was announcing the parody series Police Squad!, where his serious narration contrasted brilliantly with all the lunacy in the opening credits, culminating with him announcing a Special Guest who was always killed off and finally announcing a different title than the one pictured on screen.
After Police Squad, Hank Simms and his wife Moe retired to Florida, where they lived for a number of years, and then to Arkansas, where he passed away on August 7, 2013.
Compare with other famous announcers such as Ernie Anderson and Don LaFontaine.
The Shows of Hank Simms...a TV Tropes Production!!!
- Ichabod and Me (opening credits announcer, 36 episodes, 1961-62)
- The F.B.I. (opening credits announcer, 241 episodes, 1965-74)
- Honey West (announcer over next week's teaser, 1965-66)
- The Felony Squad (sponsor intro announcer, 1966-69)
- The Fugitive (uncredited role as radio newsman, one episode, 1966)
- The Invaders (1967) (one uncredited role as Edward McKelvey, one credited role as a newsman, both 1967)
- Marcus Welby, M.D. (as newscaster, one episode, 1970)
- Dan August (opening credits announcer, 26 episodes, 1970-71)
- Cannon (opening credits announcer, 120 episodes, 1971-76)
- The Streets of San Francisco (opening credits announcer, 120 episodes, 1972-77)
- Barnaby Jones (opening credits announcer, 178 episodes, 1973-80)
- Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (narrator, 13 episodes, 1980)
- Police Squad! (opening credits announcer, 6 episodes, 1982)
- Mission: Impossible (commercial break announcer)
- Mannix (commercial break announcer)
- Police Woman (commercial break announcer)
- Baretta (commercial break announcer)
