An acquaintance of mine remarked that Patrick Stewart (Star Trek: The Next Generation plus assorted movies, including a version of Moby Dick) "has the greatest voice on the planet."
(http://www.comicbookmovie.com/images/uploads/patrick-stewart2.jpg)
It is hard to disagree, but are there not other candidates?
From the earlier days of movies, you have some easy choices: Orson Welles, Gregory Peck, Charlton Heston. Not to be forgotten: Richard Basehart, Yul Brynner, Richard Burton and two in a special category: Mel Blanc, the "Man of a Thousand Voices," and that similar yet different genius of voices Peter Sellers
Outside of Hollywood: Walter Cronkite, Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Martin Luther King.
And the ladies? The nominees are: Lauren Bacall, Rosalind Russell, Lizbeth Scott, Jean Simmons.
Outside of Hollywood: Margaret Thatcher and
(http://conben.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/06/14/art_susan_spencer_image526339x.jpg)
Susan Spencer of CBS News.
What I find of interest is how pale and anonymous many actors' voices are these days: It's no wonder that impressionists are rare today. In fact, out of the generation of actors of the last 30 years, how distinctive are the voices of the eternal adolescents now populating movies? In my opinion, not very! George Clooney could be an exception.
But feel free to disagree and offer your own nominees! 0:)
Jim Henson, Peter O'Toole, Vincent Price
Uncle Billy
(http://17seconds.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/william-s-burroughs.jpg)
Vin Scully
Quote from: Corey on August 29, 2010, 05:42:19 PM
Jim Henson, Peter O'Toole, Vincent Price
My wife met
Vincent Price in the 1970's: she brought her 7th Grade class to a play he was in, and he was extremely patient and courteous with her students.
A great choice: one of his greatest performances - vocally - was for the Disney cartoon movie
The Great Mouse Detective as the villain Rattigan.
Quote from: Cato on August 29, 2010, 04:56:50 PM
An acquaintance of mine remarked that Patrick Stewart (Star Trek: The Next Generation plus assorted movies, including a version of Moby Dick) "has the greatest voice on the planet."
(http://www.comicbookmovie.com/images/uploads/patrick-stewart2.jpg)
Just finished reading
Moby Dick, and I cannot help but visualize Patrick Stewart every time Captain Ahab speaks! I thought he was terrific in the role.
Unfortunately, I have not seen the original
Moby Dick with Gregory Peck as Ahab. I love Gregory Peck (The Omen), and have heard that he was amazing in the role of Ahab, and most seem to think even better than Stewart.
James Earl Jones
Jeffrey Holder, the '70s 7-Up guy, ahaha,...
I'll be honest. I got aroused just thinking of all those buzzing voices. Must've been some kind of sympathetic vibrations (kind of like leaning up against the lawn mower? Ladies?). Hmmm... :-\
Quote from: Brahmsian on August 29, 2010, 05:56:13 PM
Just finished reading Moby Dick, and I cannot help but visualize Patrick Stewart every time Captain Ahab speaks! I thought he was terrific in the role.
Unfortunately, I have not seen the original Moby Dick with Gregory Peck as Ahab. I love Gregory Peck (The Omen), and have heard that he was amazing in the role of Ahab, and most seem to think even better than Stewart.
I am in the opposite situation: I have not yet seen
Stewart as Ahab, but have been told he was quite good.
Gregory Peck is mesmerizing as Ahab: in fact, 3 of my nominees above appear in
John Huston's/Ray Bradbury's adaptation of
Moby Dick:
Orson Welles, Richard Basehart, and
Gregory Peck.
Quote from: snyprrr on August 29, 2010, 06:03:15 PM
James Earl Jones
Jeffrey Holder, the '70s 7-Up guy, ahaha,...
I'll be honest. I got aroused just thinking of all those buzzing voices. Must've been some kind of sympathetic vibrations (kind of like leaning up against the lawn mower? Ladies?). Hmmm... :-\
This is almost another special category: deep and mellifluous Afro-American voices! We can add
Ving Rhames, and two character actors:
(http://images.wikia.com/memoryalpha/en/images/e/eb/Daystrom.jpg)
William Marshall seen here in a
Star Trek episode (about M 5, a supercomputer),
and
(http://www.goth-panda.co.uk/2007/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/goodman.jpg)
Jonathan Adams seen here in
Bones.
Kathleen Turner
wilford brimley ?
Two that come to mind with really interesting voices (both now gone and not mentioned yet):
Charles Kuralt
Sir Ralph Richardson
(http://walrusmusicblog.com/wp-content/uploads/retro/68blog_laurie.jpg)
Laurie Anderson has a great speaking as well as a great singing voice.
Quote from: Cato on August 29, 2010, 06:17:09 PM
This is almost another special category: deep and mellifluous Afro-American voices! We can add Ving Rhames, and two character actors:
(http://images.wikia.com/memoryalpha/en/images/e/eb/Daystrom.jpg)
William Marshall seen here in a Star Trek episode (about M 5, a supercomputer),
and
(http://www.goth-panda.co.uk/2007/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/goodman.jpg)
Jonathan Adams seen here in Bones.
Calvin Lockhart! ;)
oh, and all of a sudden I've been seein
Lauren Bacall lately, and, brrrrrrrrrrr, mmm, I just gets me some chilllllllllllzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
ahhhhhh...... :o :o
Criswell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BILLY MAYZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Quote from: snyprrr on August 30, 2010, 07:38:04 AM
:P :P :P
Not so. I think also that K. Turner has a great and distinctive voice, that archetypal gravelly (too much whiskey and cigarettes) voice. Sweet and flawless don't necessarily make for distinctive! :)
8)
Mercedes McCambridge
"The Most Interesting Man in the World"
Woody Allen (cue "Vomit in Mouth" Smilee) But, in...... (no, nevermind) ::)
PETER LORRE
Yesss, master!
The original Get Smart! would you believvvve??
ok, I've got to do something with my day. ??? ::)
Quote from: Gurn Blanston on August 30, 2010, 07:42:46 AM
Not so. I think also that K. Turner has a great and distinctive voice, that archetypal gravelly (too much whiskey and cigarettes) voice. Sweet and flawless don't necessarily make for distinctive! :)
8)
Did you misunderstand my wagging tongue(s)? ;Dheehee...
Quote from: snyprrr on August 30, 2010, 07:49:33 AM
Did you misunderstand my wagging tongue(s)? ;Dheehee...
Clearly I did... :)
8)
Quote from: snyprrr on August 30, 2010, 07:41:19 AM
Calvin Lockhart! ;)
Under this heading would also come:
(http://www.comicbookmovie.com/images/users/uploads/12499/michael_clarke_duncan_1.jpg)
Michael Clarke Duncan whose voice is almost freakishly deep! :o
I mentioned some of the names here to a colleague, who thought we were awfully heavy on male voices, and offered...
Holly Hunter :o for our consideration. Indeed, she has done the narration for some Dairy Council "Got Milk?" ads.
I have always found her Texanish, s=sh, back-teeth-clenched delivery idiosyncratic. But it is therefore distinctive in a sense.
Quote from: Cato on August 30, 2010, 11:51:26 AM
Under this heading would also come:
(http://www.comicbookmovie.com/images/users/uploads/12499/michael_clarke_duncan_1.jpg)
Michael Clarke Duncan whose voice is almost freakishly deep! :o
Did I see him in Daredevil? . . .
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on August 31, 2010, 06:45:37 AM
Did I see him in Daredevil? . . .
and
Green Mile and Vonnegut's
Breakfast of Champions, too. 85 entries in his filmography... :)
8)
Quote from: Gurn Blanston on August 31, 2010, 07:13:37 AM
and Green Mile and Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions, too. 85 entries in his filmography... :)
8)
I don't think I've seen either Green Mile or Breakfast of Champions (I think I've read that Vonnegut book . . . offhand, I wouldn't think that Vonnegut would translate well onto the screen).
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on August 31, 2010, 07:18:09 AM
I don't think I've seen either Green Mile or Breakfast of Champions (I think I've read that Vonnegut book . . . offhand, I wouldn't think that Vonnegut would translate well onto the screen).
Although
Slaughterhouse 5 was pretty good.
Breakfast of Champions was one of my favorite of his books. IIRC, it introduced Kilgore Trout, a character who spanned several books. By and large though, I would agree with you: how could a chronosynclastic infundibulum be adequately portrayed on screen, after all? :D
8)
(http://i56.tinypic.com/jgoa3a.jpg)
???
8)
Quote from: Gurn Blanston on August 31, 2010, 09:26:21 AM
???
8)
Bob Ross!!!
One of America's greatest artists EVER!!!
Yes, his whispered down-home delivery was something else!
Quote from: Gurn Blanston on August 31, 2010, 07:47:20 AM
Although Slaughterhouse 5 was pretty good. Breakfast of Champions was one of my favorite of his books. IIRC, it introduced Kilgore Trout, a character who spanned several books. By and large though, I would agree with you: how could a chronosynclastic infundibulum be adequately portrayed on screen, after all? :D
8)
Kilgore Trout first appeared in
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater in 1965, then he shows up in
Slaughterhouse-Five and
Breakfast of Champions, as well as other books I haven't read.
Quote from: The Six on August 31, 2010, 08:46:24 AM
(http://i56.tinypic.com/jgoa3a.jpg)
:D
This is not something I've even thought about before, but the first person I can think of would be Morgan Freeman. Hmmm.... sure I could find better ones if I thought about it more.
Quote from: Cato on August 31, 2010, 09:50:33 AM
Bob Ross!!!
One of America's greatest artists EVER!!!
Yeah, if you're Saul.
Quote from: Corey on August 31, 2010, 05:40:58 PM
Yeah, if you're Saul.
Are you saying
Saul is the
Bob Ross of musical composition? ;D
:D
Alan Maitland, a long-time CBC announcer, is a good candidate. Nobody could read a story quite like Fireside Al. There is a four part series on youtube with Al reading Frederick Forsyth's The Shepherd.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsF8o4DDX3Y&NR=1
Cato, William Marshall is a great choice.
However, I have to nominate a man whom I have just seen live in performance tonight (!!), the man with the "perfect face for radio" and the perfect voice for radio too, and a man who proved tonight that he is (pace Xenophanes) one of the great story-tellers of the world: stopping in my hometown on his "Summer Love" tour was the incredible voice of Garrison Keillor.
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TtoVkBF0Gro/RuFoc6_X7jI/AAAAAAAABUs/vBwUWOK9qcI/s400/20070907+Garrison+Keillor.jpg)
Like I said, the perfect face for radio.
I loved Angelina Jolie's narration in "Life or something like it."
Quote from: The Six on August 31, 2010, 08:46:24 AM
(http://i56.tinypic.com/jgoa3a.jpg)
Yes! Yes! Yes! Totally forgot about him. Isn't it a lovely little picture?!
Woody Allen
Dr. Ruth
Christopher Plummer in his younger days. I've got a recording on Chandos of him doing Walton's Henry V (arr. Palmer) done in about 1990 & he was great. His range was impressive, how he used the voice to play the different characters. Below is the cover of the original cd (which is selling on Amazon for $100!), but I have the reissued one - but they (confusingly) put Olivier on the cover...
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51t38ef%2B7YL._SS400_.jpg)
Quote from: Brian on August 31, 2010, 09:03:43 PM
Cato, William Marshall is a great choice.
However, I have to nominate a man whom I have just seen live in performance tonight (!!), the man with the "perfect face for radio" and the perfect voice for radio too, and a man who proved tonight that he is (pace Xenophanes) one of the great story-tellers of the world: stopping in my hometown on his "Summer Love" tour was the incredible voice of Garrison Keillor.
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TtoVkBF0Gro/RuFoc6_X7jI/AAAAAAAABUs/vBwUWOK9qcI/s400/20070907+Garrison+Keillor.jpg)
Like I said, the perfect face for radio.
Well, for original story telling, Stuart McLean, also on CBC, is hard to beat. Here's one of his stories on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYaktHhV4s8
Ed Platt (who had been a singer on stage, actually) as The Chief on Get Smart.
Musically, their voices worked very well together . . . Barbara Feldon's sultry mezzo, Don Adams's clipped tenor, and Ed Platt's mellifluous baritone.
Ed Platt! Yes, an unusual but excellent choice!
I remember him also from a George Pal movie called Atlantis, the Lost Continent where he played a high priest who, Cassandra-like, foretold the future destruction of Atlantis, but nobody would believe him.
Christopher Plummer in his younger days: also excellent!
http://www.youtube.com/v/sLSveRGmpIE
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on September 01, 2010, 07:11:27 AM
Ed Platt (who had been a singer on stage, actually) as The Chief on Get Smart.
Musically, their voices worked very well together . . . Barbara Feldon's sultry mezzo, Don Adams's clipped tenor, and Ed Platt's mellifluous baritone.
I just had a memory that
Don Adams - when performing as a comedian - never used his real voice. I remember a comic routine on (I think) Perry Como's old show, where he played a baseball umpire, and used his Maxwell Smart voice.
But I recall an interview with him in the 1970's, and was amazed that he sounded nothing like "Maxwell Smart" at all!
I think I have not yet seen The Thin Man, and the word is that Don Adams based that (now iconic) clipped delivery on Wm Powell.
KLAUS KINSKI RANTING
[/font]
...and in this corner...
Paul Lynde
Charles Nelson Reilly
DO I NOT HAVE ANYTHING BETTER TO DO?? >:D
Quote from: snyprrr on September 01, 2010, 10:00:30 AM
...and in this corner...
Paul Lynde
Charles Nelson Reilly
I remember them as two of the most sonically annoying TV celebrities I ever knew ; )
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on September 01, 2010, 09:57:34 AM
I think I have not yet seen The Thin Man, and the word is that Don Adams based that (now iconic) clipped delivery on Wm Powell.
Yes!
William Powell made some great movies outside of the Thin Man series.
Also not to be forgotten, and from the same era, one of my favorites ever:
Clifton Webb !
Snyprr: Klaus Kinski ?
David Niven
http://www.youtube.com/v/JSruSe_m8OI
That clip always makes me tear up — I'm such a wimp! ;_;
Orson Welles:
http://www.youtube.com/v/mI3eBTMXSiU
(here talking about his own voice)
... and "Betty" Bacall:
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Lauren_Bacall_-_YankArmyWeekly_detail.jpg)
and Sharon Stone in "Basic Instinct"... :)
Quote from: drogulus on August 31, 2010, 02:37:14 PM
Kilgore Trout first appeared in God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater in 1965, then he shows up in Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions, as well as other books I haven't read.
I think what Gurn means is that Trout is the protagonist in BofC. In all the other books you name, he's a supporting player.
As for cool voices, I nominate Seth MacFarlane, who is funnier than any of the shows he produces.
Quote from: Antoine Marchand on September 01, 2010, 05:40:15 PM
Orson Welles:
http://www.youtube.com/v/mI3eBTMXSiU
(here talking about his own voice) [/img]
Unfortunately, Orson Welles deteriorated in many ways as the years went by: if you do not know about this episode from his dotage (too young actually for that term), then you must hear it to believe it!
http://www.spike.com/video/orson-welles-loses/3108617 (http://www.spike.com/video/orson-welles-loses/3108617)
Quote from: Cato on September 01, 2010, 10:09:02 AM
Snyprr: Klaus Kinski ?
Verschtubenschpelage! Go to YouTube and find his "I am Jesus" rant! Priceless!
And let's not forget Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff!