Douglas began a career in radio in the 1950s. By the 1960s, he had become a producer for several prominent advertising agencies in
New York City. He finally moved into doing
voice-overs for commercials, promos, and trailers by the early 1970s, and would continue doing so until his retirement in 2012. Because many of his trailers have begun with the words "In a world", there is controversy over whether his voice has immortalized them. (
Don LaFontaine claimed to have actually created the catchphrase.) In addition, Douglas has been the promotional voice for
The WB,
ABC,
A&E, ''
Disney's Halloween Treat, A Disney Halloween'',
Disney Channel's "Vault Disney" (1997–2002), and
The History Channel. He did the voiceover narration for the 1997
Detroit Red Wings, the 1994 and 1995
Houston Rockets and the 1992, 1993, 1996 and 1997
Chicago Bulls championship documentaries. He also did voiceover narrations of other NBA documentaries of the 1990s. Because he recorded so many trailers through the years, he was sometimes mistaken for
Don LaFontaine. He can be seen
parodying himself in the trailer for
Comedian, a documentary that features
Jerry Seinfeld. Douglas provided narration for the trailer for the novel
All the Talk Is Dead by Michael Ebner. Unlike most movie trailer announcers, Douglas lived in
Northern Virginia and his agent was based in
New York City instead of
Los Angeles. Hal Douglas was described by a
Miramax publicist as "perhaps the most recognizable trailer voice in the business". Douglas's voice briefly appears in the skit
5 Men and a Limo, featuring other notable voiceover recording artists, such as
Don LaFontaine, John Leader,
Nick Tate, Al Chalk, and
Mark Elliot. As the skit was filmed in California, and as Douglas was primarily based in the East Coast, he was unable to make a physical appearance, and only is heard in a brief recording. ==Personal life and death==