Bill Wendell; Announcer on ‘Letterman’

Bill Wendell, the veteran radio and television announcer who was probably best known for his longtime association with “Late Night With David Letterman,” has died.

Wendell died Wednesday of complications from cancer at a hospice in Boca Raton, Fla. He was 75.

In a career that spanned 40 years, Wendell worked with some of the giants in comedy, including Jack Benny, Bob Hope and Ernie Kovacs. A native New Yorker, he served in the Army during World War II. Wendell began his radio career in the late 1940s, after studying announcing and English at Fordham University and graduating with a degree in speech. He joined the DuMont television network in the early 1950s and it was there that he met the brilliant Kovacs. When Kovacs went to NBC in the mid-1950s, Wendell went along as his sidekick and stayed with the “peacock network” for 37 years.

His television career included a 1969-1978 stint with Garry Moore on a syndicated version of “To Tell the Truth,” a show he once told a Times reporter was one of his favorites.

Wendell’s sepulchral tones resonated through a number of programs over the years. In 1980, he landed with Letterman’s morning program, “The David Letterman Show,” which lasted one season. In 1982, Letterman bounced back with “Late Night With David Letterman,” and Wendell went along for the ride, delivering the lineup of guests and the opening joke that was part of the distinctive introduction of Letterman’s name.

Wendell stayed with Letterman when the comedian moved to CBS in 1993, but decided to retire from the program in 1995.

“The fun had kind of diminished,” he said in explaining his departure.

Once asked by a reporter for the Chicago Tribune what he brought to the show, Wendell responded:

“What I did, I think, was to give that opening and any other little things I did during the show a dryness, a tongue-in-cheek flavor to them that maybe they couldn’t find everywhere else in the world.

“I was kind of proud of what I did.”

Wendell is survived by his wife, Anne Wenzel, three daughters, two sons and 14 grandchildren.