Ralph Gunderman, the suave voice artist and actor who spent more than a decade as an NBC broadcaster. Dateline While contributing to the comedic bits Late Show with David LettermanHe died. He was 77 years old.
A family spokesman announced that Gunderman died on March 1 at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York due to complications from pneumonia.
The Cleveland native moved to New York in 1981 and worked as a freelance national voice-over artist until his retirement in 2021, and has been heard in thousands of commercials, promos and narrations over those four decades.
On CBS Late showGunderman often provided the voice of fake “ads” and “commercials” during Letterman’s monologues as a member of a small ensemble cast that included Sarah Krieger, Sam Fried, Rob Webb, and J.R. Horn.
It can also be heard in films (2003 Red Betsy), animated series (Our cartoon president) and video games )Star Wars: The Old Republic).
The fourth of seven children, Gunderman was born in Cleveland on September 6, 1948. He developed a love for radio and performance while working in college radio at WRHA at the University of Akron.
While still in school, he got a gig in the summer of 1969 as a deejay at WING in Dayton and then returned to Akron at WCUE. After graduating in 1970, he moved to television in Cleveland at WKBF and as an announcer at WEWS.
Gunderman has served on the national boards of both SAG and AFTRA.
His voice work supported Gunderman’s first love: performing in live theatre, where he enjoyed lead roles in plays such as… Serrano, ruling class, El grande de coca cola and Next crap.
His family said he found great pleasure singing in cabaret and during retirement as part of a monthly group cover group held at An Beal Bocht, an Irish café in the Bronx. He was also quite a crucifixionist.
His family noted that “as a complete believer in the power of negative thinking, he desperately wanted a Cleveland baseball championship, because their last championship was the year he was born.”
Survivors include his second wife, Pamela (married in April 2022), his son Benjamin, and his siblings, Anne, Ruth, Colette, Claire, and Joseph.
A celebration of his life is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday at the Unitarian Universalist Community Congregation in White Plains, New York, with a second celebration taking place at 2 p.m. August 1 at Olmsted Community Church in Olmsted Falls, Ohio.
Donations in his memory can be made to WNYC Radio, to the National Resources Defense Council and to Feeding Westchester.
