Shohreh Aghdashloo. Any article that mentions her is required by law to describe her voice.
Yep. She uses her real voice at a sushi bar after sampling the wasabi.
John Denver. I was listening to a Mitchell Trio song the other day when my wife walked in. She listened to about five words and said, “Lord, John has a distinctive voice, doesn’t he?”
For many years, Clancy Brown was the Kurgan to me, regardless of the role he was actually playing. After his voicework in Justice League/Justice League Unlimited, I now can’t hear him as anyone else other than Lex Luthor, regardless of the role he’s actually playing.
It’s kind of unfortunate for me, because I really like him as a performer, but it’s hard for me to engage with the role he’s actually playing.
One of the first actors I thought of for this thread was Jared Harris. Except that I recently heard part of and interview on NPR - I turned it on halfway through - and I thought I instantly recognized his voice. But I got confused because of the subject matter - did Jared Harris write a history book? At the end of the interview, the interviewer said the name of the subject, and it wasn’t Jared Harris at all - it was a British historian, who sounded exactly like Jared Harris to me. So, tl;dr, I’ve always thought Jared Harris had a very distinctive voice, but apparently it’s not as distinctive to me as I had thought.
A couple of others I haven’t seen mentioned yet:
David Warner (who will always be the one and only Ra’s al Ghul to me - I genuinely thought Liam Neeson was deliberately referencing his voice work in Batman Begins).
Roger Allam.
You may know him from such performances as “the thick of it” and “cabin pressure”. Truly one of the great voices and a fine actor.
Here’s a clip of him giving it full King Lear, because why not?
I thought of Jimmy Stewart, but is it his voice that’s distinctive or is it the “aw shucks” manner/persona?
Definitely his voice; he’s identifiable on radio.
In classic Hollywood, Eugene “The Human Bullfrog” was very distinctive.
Also Jaret Reddick, lead singer of Bowling for Soup (and also Love Handel), whom astute viewers might recognize as the modern voice of Charleston Entertainment Cheese.
When my kids were little and they began watching Phineas and Ferb, my wife immediately recognized Jaret and the boys singing the theme song.
John Lithgow.
Most actors, really. I’m far better at recognizing voices than faces, sometimes to the point where figuring out who someone is gets easier if I close my eyes.
One that came up recently: François Chau. I was playing Ghost of Tsushima and instantly recognized his voice, though I couldn’t place it right away. After a while I realized he played a character in the early seasons of The Expanse (and some other roles).
Boris Karloff
Mason Adams.
Pamelyn Ferdin then:
Pamelyn Ferdin now:
Peppa’s ALIVE?!?
Not only is did he have a distinctive voice, he had a kickass name (as far as I can tell, that was his actual birth name, not a stage name). And the kickass name matched his voice. I mean, if you asked me to imagine what someone named “Thurl Ravenscroft” would sound like, that voice is exactly what I would have imagined.
Yeardley Smith.
Arthur Q. Bryan is also fairly distinctive and his voice is exactly what you think Arthur Q. Bryan should sound like.
He was the voice of Elmer Fudd and he looked a lot like him, too.
I’m surprised that nobody has mentioned John Wayne yet.
Denis Leary and Dean Winters, who also appeared together as brothers on Rescue Me. You’ll recognize them instantly on the Ford F-150 and Allstate (Mayhem) commercials.