Losing a Legend

As you well know, I work with authors, illustrators, and publishers to lift their stories and their voices. That work was often done with, well, voice. And that Voice was my fierce-hugging-hiya-of-a-friend and beloved studio collaborator William “Bill” Dufris.

He is being remembered this week by the book and children’s media industries for his work producing and narrating over a 1000 audiobooks, voicing Bob the Builder, and creating immersive audio experiences for graphic novels like Joe Hill’s Locke & Key.

While Locke & Key clocks in at over 13 hours of astonishing sound production and narration, the work Bill and I did together clocked in at about 3 minutes. Bill wove the sound beds and narration for Curious City’s children’s book trailers.

These were how our conversations tended to start, “Bill, so, I want to do this film noir treatment of a duck adoption story…” And, suddenly, we were in the studio with my script and Bill’s whole Pandora’s box of sound marvels. And, impossibly, Bill put in as much dedication and perfection into “Duck Noir” than he did into his X-Files: Cold Cases radio plays with Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny. Just listen:

His infatuation with a goofy voice was legendary. Here, he and narrator Michael Rafkin slap the stick of friendship mishaps:

But when a project called for far less levity, Bill could bring all the solemnity of a newsreel narrator to bear:

Bill could have an open-mouthed, eye-popping childlike glee for the world and because of it, could always drag children and teens into the power of narration. Here he teaches a “chorus” young voices how to narrate a group of scared, startled bird pirates:

He loved and lifted talent at any age. Five years after he taught this one-day course at a local school, the Kindergarten student in the front row of the class became one of his voice actors and beloved young friends:

Narrated by Maia Koloski
Sound by William Dufris

When students (from elementary to college) were collaborating with Curious City, Bill invited them into the sound studio as a fresh, professional voice and coached them with both guffaws and great gentleness:

Voiced by Sam, Marcel, and Catherine Anderson
Sound by William Dufris

Voiced by Sophia Sturtevant
Sound by William Dufris & Fred Ben

Voiced by Amelia Waltz & William Dufris
Sound by William Dufris

Voiced by Sophia Richards, William Dufris, Kirsten Cappy
Sound by William Dufris

Some strangers who walked into the studio became life-long friends. Abdelaziz Rhazalli would become my stalwart friend and steadfast board member at my non-profit, I’m Your Neighbor Books:

Voiced by Abdelaziz Rhazalli
Sound by William Dufris & Evan Turk

Bill’s love and respect for these astonishing narrators — each of whom he brought in to voice the books we celebrated — was a joy to witness. All of them have lost far more than a colleague:

Narrated by Paula Andreas
Sound by William Dufris

Narrated by Dion Graham
Sound by John Marshall Sound & William Dufris

Narrated by Michael Rafkin
Sound by William Dufris

Narrated by Phillip Hobby
Sound by William Dufris

Narrated by Brent Askari
Sound by William Dufris

Narrated by Kate Davis
Sound by William Dufris

Narrated by Kate Davis
Sound by William Dufris

Narrated by Christopher Price
Sound by William Dufris

Bill and I both created companies the same year. Each of us, I think, had an unvoiced business imperative and personal need to surround ourselves with astonishing people. I surrounded myself with children’s books authors and artists — amplifying their creations to teachers, librarians, and readers. Bill surrounded himself with actors and sound professionals — amplifying their creative voices into the reading universe.

I learned so much at his feet — often literally as the guest studio headphones could not stretch to a chair. The most important lesson may have been that the utter joy of working, our love of humans, and the lifting of said talented humans could all be woven into business. I learned from Bill that I did not want a business without it. And somewhere, some time in those studio adventures, we became friends. In there, somewhere, the fierce hugs all came to include, “I love you, buddy.”

He prepared us for his departure, but I still cannot face that he is not there, earphones on, anti-Trump t-shirt on, and joy on, waiting to tell the next story.