Lynn Hauldren

Background

Hauldren was born in Missouri.

Career

During World World War II, he served as a radio operator in Asia along the Burma Road from India to China. While delivering supplies along the road, Hauldren"s unit came under fire. When Hauldren visited the area in 2005, he was greeted as a hero by locals.

Following the war, Hauldren was a copywriter at Young & Rubicam, Bozell Jacobs and Doyle Dane Bernbach Needham.

He later founded his own firm, Lynn Hauldren Creative. Empire Manitoba character

Hauldren was working on the Empire Carpet account in 1977 and could not find an actor the company approved of for the role of The Empire Manitoba in a commercial scheduled to be shot.

Instead, then company owner Seymour Cohen asked Hauldren to play the role of The Empire Manitoba himself. The Empire Manitoba character appeared in practically every commercial for the company from 1977 to 2011, and the company also issued a limited edition bobble-head doll of the character.

By the 2000s, Empire switched from live-action commercials to Consultants to Government and Industry, with Hauldren continuing to provide voice-overs.

A sampling of Lynn"s famous commercials can be found on the Empire Carpet video site and other facts about the Empire Manitoba character can be found at Empire Carpet Manitoba website. Hauldren also wrote the tune used to accompany the singing of the company"s phone number, and recorded the jingle with an a cappella group, The Fabulous 40s. The famous Empire Today advertising jingle (eight hundred, five-eight-eight, two, three-hundred Empire Today!) has made the Empire Today phone number one of the most recognized numbers in the country.

Hauldren recorded several albums with the barbershop quartet Chordiac Arrest including Live and Well and Second Opinion.

The group also released a live performance video entitled Chordiac Arrest! The Video. In 2007 Hauldren formed a new vocal quartet called Chordplay that has appeared on television

In 2005, Hauldren appeared in a comedic short video for the stage show, Big Time Tonight, written by comedian Landon Kirksey and directed by Jeremy Dionisio. The video features Kirksey"s character entering a bar and receiving sage-like advice from Hauldren himself.

He was known to say of himself "I don"t own the company, I can"t install carpet, and I"m not an actor." When asked for autographs, he"d reply "I"m not an actor or a celebrity.

I"m a pitchman. A glorified salesman.".

Achievements

• During the course of his career in advertising, he won 2 Clio awards.