Which actors from the past or present do you think had or have the most distinctive voices?
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ucme (
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January 5th, 2011
Yeah, more & more established mainstreram actors are lending their vocal talents to animated movies. It’s gone on for a long time, but it now seems every man/woman & his/her donkey wants to grab a piece of the action. Regardless of this, which actors in your opinion had/have wonderful voices? Whether they performed in this genre or not. For me Vincent Price (Rattigan in Basil the Great Mouse Detective) & George Sanders (Shere Khan in Jungle Book) displayed deep, rich & hugely impressive vocal command.
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Morgan Freeman.
End of line. ;-)
Craig T.Nelson.XD
and Sally Kellerman
James Earl Jones
“end of line”
James Earl jones; Sean Connery
Joe Pesci (sp)
And, there is this Indian actress. I can’t remember her name. It’ll come to me.
Woody Allen, Holly Hunter, and Donald Sutherland should be added to the list.
Vincent Price (oh crap, you already mentioned him)
Garrison Keillor
Orson Welles
Oh, @Jude – I have no idea why, but the name “Jo Pesci” totally floated through my head, even before you answered. No reason why, I don’t consider him that interesting actually, I just thought it was weird.
<—Related to Donald Sutherland. :)
@Smashley It’s that weaselly voice of his.
Rosie Perez
Kristen Chenowith
Melanie Griffith
Peewee Herman (You didn’t say good)
How did I forget Orson Welles!!!!
John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Marilyn Monroe, Sean Connery, Chris Rock and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Sutherland, Walken, Burton, Welles & Guinness fantastic examples.
@bunnygrl Hmm. let me guess….Alan Rickm….. ;¬}
@Jude – then we’re in complete agreement.
AAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGG!!!!! how is it possible that the very first reply to this question wasn’t my darling Alan!!!! There is NO voice to beat that of Mr Rickman. oooooooooooooooooo it’s like liquid velvet, if he read the telephone book aloud you’d find me sitting at his feet making moon eyes till he was done <sighs and falls over wearing a stupid big grin>
Dammittttt!!!! @ucme I’m getting predictable now eh? LOL :-)
huggles xx
@bunnygrl – have you seen the Family Guy episode with Alan Rickman’s answering machine? Also, the “Bad Guys, Good Talk” skit on SNL was kind of hilarious:
“Hans Gruber, why are you such a bad guy?”
“Well, .... my name is… Hans Gruber… and I sound like this… so my choices were… limited.”
@bunnygrl By happy coincidence I happen to agree with you….kinda. “Shoot the glarse” still remains a favourite XD
@ucme yaaaaaaaayyy!!!! he does, all joking aside, have just the perfect voice :-)
@iamthemob LOL LOL brilliant!! I haven’t seen the SNL one but that sounds hilarious, I did love the family guy one though. Have you seen Song of Lunch? its a dramatised version of a poem, with Mr Rickman and Emma Thompson, and Alan’s narration is the actual poem. It was beyond wonderful.
hugs xx
Rodney Dangerfield, Robin Williams and Jonathan Winters
@BoBo1946 Loved Poitier in The Defiant Ones…... & yes he does use his tongue prettier than a $20 whore XD
Burl Ives, John Wayne, Rex Allen, ( the old Disney film narrarator ) uh, uh…the Mr. Whipple (?) guy….you know, old geezer with wire rimmed specs and white hair, mustache, cowboy guy?
Used to do some sort of insurence commercials later on, riding a horse? haha
Don Knotts, Lucille Ball, Johnny Carson, Ed McMahon, the Skipper & Gilligan.
Rutger Hauer
Marlon Brando
Anthony Hopkins
Bette Davis
Bobcat Goldthwait!
And Alan Rickman – I am the Metatron, voice of the one true god…
Also Jeff Anderson (Randal Graves from the Kevin Smith movies)
@mammal Rutger Hauer’s final speech in Bladerunner. Just breathtaking.
WILFORD BRIMLEY! ( sp? )
Damn..the ol’ gray matter just scanned the archives for that one!
The Wicked Witch from the Wizard of Oz, and the Lion
@mammal
OMG!, I used to have such a crush on Rutger Hauer!
Tiny Tim, Joanne Worley, Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Henry Gibson, Sebastion Cabet.(sp?)
@Seelix OMG what a brilliant pic!!!
hugs xx
Christian Bale as Batman is amazing!
Thanks all, I guess the line kind of got strung out a little ;¬}
Alan Rickman
James Earl Jones
Morgan Freeman
Sebastian Cabot
Don Adams (Maxwell Smart and Tennesee Tuxedo)
Paul Lynde (Templeton in Charlotte’s Web)
Paul Winchell (Tigger)
Frank Oz (Yoda, Fozzie Bear and Miss Piggy)
Mel Blanc (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Foghorn Leghorn and Sylvester)
Jackie Gleason
John Goodman
Sterling Holloway (Winnie the Pooh, and Kaa from the Jungle Book)
Phil Harris (who did Baloo in the Jungle Book)
Jonathan Harris (who played Dr. Smith on Lost in Space)
Edward Mulhare (Captain Gregg from the Ghost and Mrs. Muir)
And Paul Frees who did the voice over for the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland. Here’s some other info that I found about about Frees on About.com Although many people think Orson Welles is the Ghost Host in the Disneyland and Walt Disney World versions of the Haunted Mansion, the voice actor is Paul Frees. He was also the voice of Ludwig Von Drake, the Pillsbury Doughboy, and Boris Badenov of Rocky and Bullwinkle fame
@Kardamom
Frank Oz (Yoda, Fozzie Bear and Miss Piggy)
Mel Blanc (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Foghorn Leghorn and Sylvester)
The funny thing is, though, that I think the exact opposite is true for the above actors. Voice actors doing these characters are perhaps best known for the fact that they have no personal voice in the end – they’re chameleons. I can’t think in my head or hear anything like what “Mel Blanc” or “Frank Oz” themselves sound like.
@iamthemob You’re right about some of the voice-over actors being kind of anonymous, themselves, but the voices that they do are so distinctive and perfect for the characters. All I have to do is think of Foghorn Leghorn saying, “Boy, I say boy.” and it just cracks me up.
Orson Welles, Marlon Brando, James Mason, and about a million others.
I liked ‘Miss Prissy’ the hen that had a thing for Foghorn. lol
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Fran Drescher(Fran Fine)!
Oh Gawd..I HATE Fran Dreschers voice! shiver
Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. Loved watching them both in X-Men (even though the movies themselves weren’t so good, IMHO.)
And definitely James Earl Jones. He could read the dictionary and make it sound dramatic.
Paul Winfield ~ City Confidential
@Dr_Dredd I saw your James Earl Jones answer and thought holy cow did we miss him? Fortunately a couple of other jellys also agree with you. He has an amazing voice.
I saw you had him on your list. I should have had faith in you. My brains a little slow today.
Sean Connery
Sean Bean
James Earl Jones
Marlene Deitrich
Patrick Swayze “No one puts Baby in a corner”.
@chyna: I actually cried a little when he died, I don’t usually react like that.
@JilltheTooth I cried when he died and when John Kennedy Jr. died. I don’t usually do that either.
Kathleen Turner who has a sexy voice and Sean Connery.
You know it dawned on me that I only listed male actors. But there are some female actresses that I really enjoy their voices too. Such as:
Katharine Hepburn
Julie Andrews
Maggie Smith
Lauren Bacall
Stephanie Trent (as Diana Bell in Waiting for God)
Patricia Routledge (as Hyacinth in Keeping Up Appearances)
Dolly Parton (singing and speaking)
Oprah Winfrey
Bernadette Peters
Ellen DeGeneres
Agnes Moorehead (Endora from Bewitched)
Vanessa Williams (especially in Ugly Betty)
April Winchell (Paul Winchell’s daughter did some hilarious ads for Glendale Federal Bank)
Carol Burnett
Wanda Sykes
Audrey Meadows (Alice, Ralph Kramden’s wife on the Jackie Gleason Show)
Ava Gabor (Lisa, the wife of Oliver Wendall Douglas on Green Acres)
@Kardamom Well yeah the intent was to have both sexes included. I used the generic actor because, well the ladies hate being referred to as actresses. “We’re all actors darling luvey!”
As long as we’re talking about the ladies, don’t forget about Jean Stapleton (Edith Bunker) and Estelle Harris (George Costanza’s mom)!
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