Hite, Bob

(1913?–2000)

   The narrator of STANLEY KUBRICK’s second short, FLYING PADRE, Bob Hite was best known as the announcer for radio’s Lone Ranger series, a job that he began in the 1930s at Detroit station WXYZ. There, he also announced other shows, including The Green Hornet. During World War II, Hite worked for CBS Radio in New York, where he read news reports from war correspondents overseas. Around that time he met Walter Cronkite, who became a lifelong friend. To the narration of Flying Padre, Hite brings a crisp, matter-of-fact, journalistic style, with a flair for drama at key moments. In a similar vein, he provided narration for several other short documentaries and narrative films for the RKO Screenliner series in the early- and mid-1950s.

   Hite retired from CBS in 1979 and moved to Florida with his wife, Nancy. Upon Hite’s death in 2000,Walter Cronkite told the Tampa Tribune, “He was a wonderful, generous man. I considered him one of my very closest friends. ”

   References

   ■ Associated Press,“Bob Hite, Announced ‘Lone Ranger’ on Radio,” Newsday, February 21, 2000, p. 162 n Hite, Bob A-17;

   ■ “Bob Hite Sr. , 86,Voice on ‘Lone Ranger,’” New York Times, February 22, 2000.