NORWICH — For almost 40 years, Don Pardo’s voice signified the career peak for hundreds of comedians with his baritone voice opening episodes of “Saturday Night Live” since its 1975 premiere on NBC.

“There was no greater thrill than hearing Don Pardo bellow your name for the first time in the opening credits of ‘Saturday Night Live,’ ” longtime cast member and former lead writer Tina Fey said. “It meant you were officially ‘on television.’ ”

But Pardo, who died Monday at the age of 96, may never have reached the heights he did if weren’t for a Norwich Bulletin paper route he picked up as a child.

Born in Westfield, Mass., Pardo moved to Norwich in his youth and worked as a paperboy. It was then that he met Harold Pavey, a silent film star who recognized and nurtured Pardo’s ambitions.

“That was just a tremendous influence for him,” said Richard Curland, a member of the Norwich Historical Society and acquaintance of Pardo’s. “Harold took him under his wing.”

Pardo died peacefully at home Monday afternoon, his daughter Dona Pardo said.

After attending Elizabeth Street School, Pardo went to Norwich Free Academy where he distinguished himself in chorus and the Academy Playshop, NFA’s drama group.

In a statement, NFA said it is mourning the loss of Pardo, a member of the class of 1936.

“Pardo, like all NFA Wildcats, is a member of a spectacular alumni community — we were all enriched by his presence and reduced by his loss,” school spokesman Geoff Serra said.

During his senior year in 1936, Pardo won the Newton-Perkins Public Speaking Medal after Pavey tutored him in enunciation, pronunciation and stage presence.

Born Dominick George Pardo on Feb. 22, 1918, Pardo didn’t officially graduate until 1937 because he was a few credits short.

In his senior year snapshot, Pardo said his highest ambition was to “pursue a theatrical career” and named his defining characteristic as “a good sense of humor.”

Curland, who interviewed Pardo in 2010 for The Bulletin when Pardo was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ Hall of Fame, said Pardo “spoke very affectionately” of his formative years in the city.

“I think early on, he knew what he wanted to do,” Curland said. “And he just did so many things to follow his dream.”

SNL’s debut introduced Pardo’s booming voice to a new generation, but he had already made contributions as a broadcaster. After graduating from Emerson College in 1942, Pardo went to work for WJAR in Providence.

By 1944, he was a supervisor at NBC, and didn’t leave the network full-time until 2004. He stayed on to lend his voice to the "SNL" opening credits and was still announcing for the show in May when the show’s 39th season ended.

"He became our link to the beginnings of television on NBC — and radio," said Lorne Michaels, who, as creator of "SNL," hired Pardo. Michaels remains the show's executive producer.

Amy Poehler, another "SNL" alum, said when Pardo’s commanding voice first announced her name, it heralded her arrival into the mainstream.

“My whole life changed once Don Pardo said my name,” Poehler said. “I will really miss that kind and talented man.”

Tim Kazurinsky, an "SNL" cast member from 1981 until 1984, said Pardo took great pride in his work, going so far as to run through Kazurinsky’s name about five times and rely on a phonetic spelling.

“I just thought it was so courteous that he didn’t want to screw up my name,” Kazurinsky said. “He had such a sonorous, slow-sounding voice.”

Like his “SNL” peers, Kazurinsky said hearing his name coming from Pardo was a memorable moment in his career.

“Your benediction (on “SNL”) was hearing Don Pardo say your name,” he said.

For several years, Pardo commuted from Tucson, Ariz., each week the show aired, arriving to work at Rockefeller Center's fabled Studio 8H. At the end of the show on Feb. 23, 2008, he was brought on camera to blow out candles on a cake in honor of his 90th birthday. In later years, he more often recorded his introductions from home.

In November 1963, Pardo was the first radio broadcaster to announce news of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

Pardo appeared in several movies, mostly as himself or an announcer like himself, including Woody Allen's "Radio Days," an homage to the Golden Age of broadcasting. He also made a guest appearance on Frank Zappa's 1978 album, "Zappa in New York," and Weird Al Yankovic's 1984 album, "In 3-D."

His tenure at the network bounced from hard news to entertainment: he read dispatches filed from the front lines during World War II, served as announcer on game shows including “Winner Takes All” and the original runs of “The Price is Right” and “Jeopardy!”, and did voice work for variety shows and Thanksgiving parades.

But Pardo's career will be indelibly linked to "SNL." Upon his retirement in 2004, Michaels urged him to stay on.

“Lorne Michaels called me soon after and asked if I would continue for three more weeks, so I did,” Pardo said in the 2010 interview with Curland. “Then he called and asked if I would do five more, and so on. I never really left.”

Information from the Associated Press was used in this story.