Farewell to El Fiendo
January 20th, 2012 Comments Off
It’s always hard when a sound man goes silent. But unfortunately, this is the case today, January 19, 2012, as the audio book and audio drama communities are learning of the passing (the evening before) of the audio producer/director/writer we affectionately called “El Fiendo,” better known to the world as Yuri Rasovsky. He was 67, and had been battling cancer for some time. Over the course of three decades, “the nation’s most decorated audio dramatist” was honored with The Grammy, two Peabody Awards, five Ohio State awards, nine APA Audie Awards, four Major Armstrong awards, two CPB awards, The Independent Publishers Audio Award, The Gabriel Award, The Joseph Jefferson Award, the NFCB Golden Reel, the Mark Time Lifetime Achievement Award, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Bradbury Award, and on a personal note, I’m proud to say that he was the third-ever recipient of the National Audio Theatre Festivals Norman Corwin Award for Excellence in Audio Theatre, but more on that one later.
Yuri was the founder of the National Radio Theater in Chicago, and led that organization from 1972-1987, moving on to create the Hollywood Theater of the Ear in 1993 in Los Angeles, where he produced and directed (and usually served as writer) at least one full-length audio drama a year in between audio book recordings. His work has been published by Blackstone Audio, and presented on NPR, the BBC, the CBC, and radio stations around the country. His shows include, many of which you can find via Blackstone Audio, include The Mark of Zorro with Val Kilmer and Elizabeth Pena, Black Mask Audio Magazine Vol. 1, Black Mask Audio Magazine Vol. 2: The Maltese Falcon with Michael Madsen as Sam Spade, and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari with John DeLancie.
Yes, his nickname was “El Fiendo.” Yes, he came across as an irascible curmudgeon, but one with a heart of gold. He could motivate any actor to put their best foot forward, and never ever compromised when it came to the finished product. Don’t believe me? Take a listen to any one of those pieces mentioned above. What you hear is quality, no fluff.
In October, I journeyed to Los Angeles as part of the aforementioned-on-this-blog Audio Art of Animation Workshop, where as part of our weekend, the National Audio Theatre Festivals, with our friends Phil Proctor (of the Firesign Theatre), Melinda Peterson (his wife), and Helen Engelhardt, formally presented him with the Corwin Award at Post Creations near Hollywood, where he was completing work on Measure for Measure for Blackstone and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. While he chose to keep the award at home because it was “so damn heavy,” he accepted with grace and humility. I’m glad I got to shake his hand, if only once.
I can’t remember what we were looking at, but it must have been interesting.
The tributes are pouring in on Facebook, but I think Phil and Melinda put it best in a recent e-mail: “God knows, we will really miss the dear old bastard.” With a smile and a tear we toast to Yuri’s memory, and send our best to his “Lorna Doone,” Lorna Raver. RIP.
