Michael Douglas named ‘Nightly’ announcer

updated 4:57 p.m. ET Dec. 26, 2007

NEW YORK - Michael Douglas has a new role on TV five nights a week.

NBC chose the 63-year-old actor-producer as the announcer to introduce Brian Williams on the "Nightly News" each night. His recorded introduction was first heard Monday. (MSNBC is a joint venture between Microsoft and NBC Universal.)

For 25 years, Howard Reig introduced the broadcast live each night, through the anchorships of John Chancellor and Tom Brokaw. Reig retired two years ago, but "Nightly News" had been using tapes of his voice ever since.

"I appealed to Michael's sense of romance and sentimentality and his love of the industry," Williams said Tuesday. "I called him and said, ‘On top of all you've done as an actor, producer and Academy Award winner, this will mean a small slice of immortality in our industry. It also means wherever you are on Earth, at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time, you'll know your voice is on the air.'"

That sold him, apparently. Douglas fills a role that on CBS is handled by Walter Cronkite, whose taped voice introduces Katie Couric each night.

Douglas won a best actor Oscar for 1987's "Wall Street." He won a best picture Oscar for 1975's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."

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