Actor and Car Buff Edward Herrmann dies at 71

"Gurney for President" (holderofthehouse) 12/31/2014 at 16:59 • Filed to: edward herrmann, jalops, video, history channel, 90s television, ultimate autos, car collectors

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I'm sure many of you heard about the passing of esteemed actor Edward Herrmann earlier today. It was posted over on !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and other sites, TMZ appears to be the first to have the news.

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While most know Herrmann from his roles on Gilmore Girls and The Lost Boys, I wanted to take a minute and recognize him for being a huge Jalop.

For some people my age (mid-to-late 20s) you may remember him from hosting a show on the History Channel in the late '90s called "Ultimate Autos." Herrmann narrated that show and for me, being a young car enthusiast, it was my first introduction to the names of the great pre-war car brands and their history; Bugatti, Dusenberg, Cord, Packard, etc.

Herrmann's voice always became recognizable to me and no matter what other role I saw him act in I always remembered him as a car guy.

And he wasn't merely signing up to read a script someone else wrote about cars. He actually loved these cars. I found an interview with him from another late '90s-early 'aughts show "Barry Meguiar's Car Crazy"

Herrmann had an affinity for those pre-war machines but he owned an Austin Healy and plenty of other cars as well. He talks about MCing the Pebble Beach Concours and growing up in Detroit.

Herrmann also acted as a spokesperson for Dodge back in the '90s, starring in their commercials for the then-new Durango and Intrepid models, among others.

Here is one of those Dodge spots:

And finally, here is an old episode of Ultimate Autos:

RIP Edward Herrmann, a great actor and car guy. He will be missed.

stuttgartobsessed > Gurney for President 12/31/2014 at 17:04

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NO! I will never get to hear him MC Pebble Beach! I was so looking forward to listening to him in August 2015. He will be sadly missed.

RedPir8Roberts > Gurney for President 12/31/2014 at 17:45

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Thanks for posting this, I was hoping that his passing would not go unmentioned on Oppo / Jalopnik. I recall Hermann narrating a documentary about the restoration of one of his own cars, I think it was a 1930s Packard (an Ultimate Autos episode, maybe?). I did have the pleasure of hearing him at Pebble once or twice, his rich, trained voice gave his intros the right tone and his enthusiasm for the cars was obvious. He'll be hard to match in that role. He was also a very believable actor.

Brian Stieh > Gurney for President 12/31/2014 at 19:02

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I loved watching Automobiles at 8am on Saturday mornings!

Chaparral2F > Gurney for President 12/31/2014 at 19:02

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What a shame. The man personified classiness. He was epic in "Eleanor and Franklin" as well as the History Channel. The fact that he was a car guy was just icing on the cake. Rest in Peace Edward. You were legendary.

Wave Motion Gun > Gurney for President 12/31/2014 at 19:10

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I'll always remember him from The Man With One Red Shoe. What a great life to have lived. May he find Cab Forward Design wherever he is now...

tm6t9 > Gurney for President 12/31/2014 at 19:33

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He had great roles in "Lost Boys" (where I first remember him), "Soul of the Game" and my personal favorite in "Intolerable Cruelty" as a silly man who loved trains. But he will always be the voice of damn near 20 years worth of History Channel Docs. I can't watch a new one now and not think to myself, why isn't Herrman narrating this?

factsonly1 > Gurney for President 12/31/2014 at 19:34

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Omg now lorelai will be even more messed up

flabberboozled > Gurney for President 12/31/2014 at 19:37

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Could you imagine what TGAmerica would've be like if you replaced %insert the host you hate the most% with Edward Hermann? The voice over at the beginning would be amazing.

"Tonight, on Top Gear. Hipster-southerner buys JDM. East-coast wise ass buys a tank. California-boy drifts everything. And I drive a Dusenberg...on the moon."

So long Mr Hermann.

longdx > Gurney for President 12/31/2014 at 19:38

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A real shame. He seemed to be a class act. BTW, the Dodge Intrepid ad that he was involved in actually sold my father into purchasing the exact car (color and all). To bad, Dodge couldn't do the quality control at that time to back up its groundbreaking designs.

If I remember correctly, he owned a (maybe more than one) Packard. He really had an affinity to pre war cars.

Scrape > Gurney for President 12/31/2014 at 19:45

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He WAS practically the narrator for the entire History Channel in the 1990's.

ranwhenparked > Gurney for President 12/31/2014 at 19:45

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I totally remember those Dodge commercials, they ran all the time, and were, frankly, far more effective and memorable than any campaign they've done since, but we'll see if the Dodge Brothers have staying power.

I've been trying to find the Ultimate Autos Austin-Healey episode for a while now, never connected the two, but obviously in retrospect the voice is the same. Oh for the days when the History Channel actually had real history related content, instead of pawnbrokers and junk dealers 24/7.

Wagonboy > Gurney for President 12/31/2014 at 19:59

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Class act in any venue. Especially in Hollywood, where is style of grace always stands out like a rose in a weedy field. I enjoyed his History Channel narrations, (when the channel covered history) and the many documentaries he hosted. Good guy.

Johnny Utah > Gurney for President 12/31/2014 at 20:01

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R.I.P. Richard Rich, Sr.

whoarder is tellurium > Gurney for President 12/31/2014 at 20:03

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I remember his voice and watching post-war BMW's being assembled on the History Channel with every little detail of the company being discussed.

RIP Ed Herrmann

boobytrapsandtreasure > Gurney for President 12/31/2014 at 20:18

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this stinks.

Wampa > Gurney for President 12/31/2014 at 20:22

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Sad to hear, I was introduced to him this past Summer at the Concours d'Elegance. Never knew much of his prior work but he was a true car guy through and through. He will sorely be missed.

KillerBee > Gurney for President 12/31/2014 at 20:48

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Hermann was the host of pretty much everything on the History Channel back when the History Channel was mostly shows about, you know, history, instead of pawn shops and junk dealers.

norbertfilling > Gurney for President 12/31/2014 at 20:54

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This is so sad, saw and heard him at Greenwich Concours a few times. Such a well spoken guy.

McPherson > Gurney for President 12/31/2014 at 21:12

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Crapola, I really liked Mr. Herrmann on many levels. Too young, much too young. You will be missed.

batchtots > Gurney for President 12/31/2014 at 22:05

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Does that mean Kiefer Sutherland and the rest of the gang will turn back to normal now?

JeepJeremy > KillerBee 12/31/2014 at 22:25

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truth!

F1NY > Gurney for President 12/31/2014 at 22:39

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I recall seeing him multiple times at The Greenwich Concours d'Elegance in CT, and he was always nice, willing to chat, and genuinely enthusiastic to be there each year.

Wolfgang-Gullich > Gurney for President 12/31/2014 at 23:41

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Volunteering at Pebble Beach in 2013, I got to meet Mr Hermann. A very gracious guy who wasn't so famous he couldn't say hi and nice to meet you...he'll be sorely missed around these parts in the Monterey area :*(

TrojanBMW > Gurney for President 01/01/2015 at 00:20

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He was also the announcer at the Pebble Beach Concours.

El-Verde > Gurney for President 01/01/2015 at 00:32

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Wow, excellent article. One of the best pieces I've read in a while, and written by someone who truly appreciated the subject.

Thank you.

Detroit 9000 > Gurney for President 01/01/2015 at 01:59

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Was he the prick husband from Overboard? ;)

Icarus8 > Gurney for President 01/01/2015 at 02:13

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Showing my age. I'll always remember him as the rich, spoiled yachting husband of Goldie Hawn in the movie "Overboard". He was hilariously fun to loathe in that role.

"Do you know what I've been doing while you were gone? Whacking the donkey with painted ladies."

I've always wanted to be that guy.

matt.mara > flabberboozled 01/01/2015 at 02:28

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That...that might actually have made TG:USA watchable. Not nearly as entertaining as the original, but watchable, funny, and hilarious.

And now I'm imagining how an interview between Piers Morgan's Gob-Puncher-in-Chief and Hermann would have gone down.

matt.mara > Detroit 9000 01/01/2015 at 02:30

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Why yes, yes he was. (But that film was unbearable to watch.) He was also Richie Rich's dad, as someone else already pointed out.

Detroit 9000 > matt.mara 01/01/2015 at 02:47

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I almost mentioned Richie Rich...he was also the mom's boyfriend and a vampire if I remember correctly on The Lost Boys.

matt.mara > Detroit 9000 01/01/2015 at 02:49

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I never saw The Lost Boys (it was released the year after I was born...and now I feel old), but like a few other people I'm going to remember Edward Hermann as essentially the narrator for the History Channel back in the days where they actually had history programming.

Detroit 9000 > matt.mara 01/01/2015 at 03:01

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Haha. Animal House was released the year after I was born...and I saw it many times before college!

Just Cars for Joe Bryant > Gurney for President 01/01/2015 at 06:10

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Well this is just a crap way to start the new year. I didn't know about his love for the automobile until I saw Ultimate Autos. I also remember seeing him getting a car restored (may have been on U.A.), and the look on his face when he received the finish car you just knew he was one of us. That is not counting his years at Pebble. Yep crap day indeed.

God speed Mr. Herrmann you were truly one of the greats. You will be missed.

dfgghfhg > Gurney for President 01/01/2015 at 07:24

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AEARONJER > Gurney for President 01/01/2015 at 08:36

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Another piece of child hood swallowed by history, as time marches inexorably on.

RIP Ed.

Bluekuruma > El-Verde 01/01/2015 at 08:53

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here here! Couldn't have said that better myself.

bfisch1629 > RedPir8Roberts 01/01/2015 at 10:24

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They did an episode about Packard while his own personal Packard was undergoing a full restoration. It was so awesome and I remember his face when they rolled the finished car out of the garage. He was a true car guy and his love of putting things back to stock made him a man to my own heart.

You had fordboy357 at "meat tornado" > Gurney for President 01/01/2015 at 10:42

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He will always be Richard Rich Sr. to me

Jcarr > Gurney for President 01/01/2015 at 10:42

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He also had a pretty funny role in the film Intolerable Cruelty.

west-coaster > KillerBee 01/01/2015 at 10:46

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I had heard somewhere that he had actually co-founded the History Channel way back when, but can't find any reference to it. Perhaps that was just folklore.

HughMagnusJohnson > matt.mara 01/01/2015 at 11:53

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dude it has Vampires, Blossom's Grandfather, and both Coreys...totally worth 105 minutes of your time

Rock517 > KillerBee 01/01/2015 at 12:53

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I loved his narration on The History Channel. Pawn Stars is still about history; almost every item has a historical back story. I find it interesting.

Gurney for President > El-Verde 01/01/2015 at 14:33

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Oh, well thank you for the kind words!

David S. Thomas > Gurney for President 01/01/2015 at 21:08

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Start working at home with Google! It's by-far the best job I've had. Last Wednesday I got a brand new BMW since getting a check for $6474 this - 4 weeks past. I began this 8-months ago and immediately was bringing home at least $77 per hour. I work through this link, go to tech tab for work detail

———————————> http://www.jobs700.com

venivelovici > ranwhenparked 01/01/2015 at 22:40

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I really don't understand the Dodge Brothers print ads. And the SRT poster insert from this month's issue of Automobile is straight rubbish. What the hell.

ranwhenparked > venivelovici 01/01/2015 at 22:47

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Dodge Brothers might have potential, I kind of want to see where they take the concept.

Of course, the ads make zero sense for anyone remotely familiar with Dodge history though (they both died within months of each other in 1920, and thus were never around for the Roaring '20s social scene, and at any rate, were in their 50s at the time, so by no means young playboys).

They're at east better than the Harley Earl ads Buick ran in the early '00s, with an actor that looked and sounded nothing like Harley Earl promoting cars that the real Earl would have never let out of his studio.

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Pomorza > KillerBee 01/02/2015 at 00:40

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Wait the history channel used to show actual history? Preposterous!

angusparvo > matt.mara 01/02/2015 at 08:21

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You need to check out Lost Boys, it's pretty awesome. Funny and scary, plus young Kiefer Sutherland.

In other news, did anyone else click on the "Car Crazy" video and get a pre-roll ad for the Alfa 4C ? Wowza.

Miata2016GT > Gurney for President 01/02/2015 at 09:36

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Sad day. Ed Hermann was a fantastic actor. For fun, try to find an obscure movie he did in the 1970's for Disney... "North Avenue Irregulars"... it's about him (a young reverend) and a bunch of "church ladies". It's hilarious, has Cloris Leachman in it, has several funny car chases and a demo-derby scene at the end. It's worth the watch, and brings back memories of how silly the 70's American vernacular were!

RazoE > Gurney for President 01/02/2015 at 09:40

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RIP=(

He was also Richie Rich's dad in the movie...

so so sad..