# Distinctive voices **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 15, 2015, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinctive-voices/731362 "2015-09-15T14:41:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Periwinkle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Periwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Periwinkle)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinctive-voices/731362/41 "2015-09-16T04:38:59Z")
> [@Enright3](#): > > Oh… look what I found. > [IMDB 50 Actors/actresses with the best and most distinctive voices in cinema](http://www.imdb.com/list/ls000505914/) > I can’t say I agree with the list in its entirety; but there’s definitely a lot on there that I would not have thought of. I was surprised to not find Sally Kellerman on the list. She is much more distinctive to me than some of the actresses who were listed. Not sure if Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne were already mentioned. ETA: I see now that they were, above. Another one is Paul Winfield. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinctive-voices/731362/42 "2015-09-16T05:26:46Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > I’ll see your Yma Sumac and raise you one [Minnie Riperton](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kE0pwJ5PMDg) Now there was a voice…what a shame we lost her… 😢 ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_Hey\_Paula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hey\_Hey\_Paula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_Hey_Paula)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinctive-voices/731362/43 "2015-09-16T05:53:44Z")
> [@Enright3](#): > > Walter Cronkite > Jeremy Irons > Alan Rickman > Ian McShane > > Oh… look what I found. > [IMDB 50 Actors/actresses with the best and most distinctive voices in cinema](http://www.imdb.com/list/ls000505914/) > I can’t say I agree with the list in its entirety; but there’s definitely a lot on there that I would not have thought of. And where is Miss Billie Burke on that list? Is there a more distinctive voice than that of Glinda the Good Witch of the North? Yes, I’m taking that personally…my natural voice sounds like Miss Burke without the affected upper class accent, and I can do a perfect impression of Glinda. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinctive-voices/731362/44 "2015-09-16T12:34:07Z")
**Edward Everett Horton** – actor from the 1930s until the early 1970s (the underappreciated **Cold Turkey** was his last film. But remembered by me mainly as the narrator of **Fractured Fairy Tales** (and of **Fractured Flickers** ) **Eugene Pallette** – WHO? I hear you asking. He was a Hollywood actor in the 30s and 40s who got a lot of roles and had an unusual , gravel-edged raspy voice. He was Friar Tuck to Errol Flynn’s **Robin Hood** , and was in **Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Topper, My Man Godfrey, Huckleberry Finn** (where he played The Duke) and others. \*\* He was extremely right-wing, I gather, and a proto-survivalist. He refused to work with a blackj actor. I probably wouldn’t have liked him personally, but he had a helluva distinctive voice. **Vinvent Price** – There’s no denying that you can pick his voice out of a crowd. It was obviously him as The Invisible Man at the end of **Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein** (He’d already played the part in **The Invisible Man Returns** ), and he did countless radio shows and spoken-word recordings. In later life he was a frequent narrator – Michael Jackson’s **Thriller** , Tim Burton’s **Vincent**. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinctive-voices/731362/45 "2015-09-16T13:50:41Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Slight hijack: > > When Fran Drescher drops the nasal, cat-being strangled voice, she–no foolin’–has the kind of voice that a guy wants to hear at 3AM purring _Honey, do me again_. > > I can’t find the Letterman clip (easily 15+ years ago) where she demonstrated this voice, but it’s worth it. As Drescher writes in her book Enter Whining, she is always being asked “Is that your real voice?” And she replies “Who would make this up?” ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinctive-voices/731362/46 "2015-09-16T14:26:19Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > As Drescher writes in her book Enter Whining, she is always being asked “Is that your real voice?” And she replies “Who would make this up?” I used to know a woman who spoke like that. She grew up on Central Park West. She was my Amway sponsor in the 70s; and a mother of seven. Great sense of humor. I also knew a girl in high school who was from New Jersey and sounded it. Strident voice, and something of a temper. She and I sometimes engaged in a battle of wits. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinctive-voices/731362/47 "2015-09-16T14:50:27Z")
I assume by distinctive we don’t necessarily mean _good_, right?John Goodman is pretty unmistakable,and though I like him as an actor I really don’t want to hear his voice overs. Same with Donald Sutherland. Sally Kellerman makes me positively stabby as do both of the Tilly sisters. I feel like Julia Roberts is doing a v o for something - I know she does a full commercial for perfume which is awful and I could start a whole 'nother thread about - but I think there’s a separate on. Not sure, but either way, though I think she’s very appealing her voice, sans the visual, is kind of. . . weird. Vincent Price is about as distinctive as it gets but if the subject isn’t something creepy, it really doesn’t work. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinctive-voices/731362/48 "2015-09-16T15:28:47Z")
It seems the Rule of Thumb is: If someone can do a reasonably well impression of said voice, it’s memorable. Examples: Vincent Price - done on The Simpsons Walter Cronkite - Robin Williams in “Good Morning, Vietnam.” (Hell, _ **I** _ can do WC) John Wayne - pick one Jimmy Stewart - ditto Rod Serling - Dan Ackroyd, et al Christopher Walken - Jay Mohr (you heard me) James Earl Jones/Geoffrey Holder - (I’m still working on those) Robert DeNiro - John Goodman (and lotsa others) BIP: Boris Karloff ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bruce\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinctive-voices/731362/49 "2015-09-16T16:23:00Z")
Lee Pace when he’s playing Ronan or Thranduil. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinctive-voices/731362/50 "2015-09-16T16:40:02Z")
I’m having a brain cramp and can’t remember the fellow’s name, but the “come on down” guy announcer from game show The Price is Right. He was on the show for umpteen years and had a very distinctive voice. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinctive-voices/731362/51 "2015-09-16T16:41:05Z")
> [@stillownedbysetters](#): > > I’m having a brain cramp and can’t remember the fellow’s name, but the “come on down” guy announcer from game show The Price is Right. He was on the show for umpteen years and had a very distinctive voice. Johnny Olson, you mere slip of a girl. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinctive-voices/731362/52 "2015-09-16T16:57:21Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Johnny Olson, you mere slip of a girl. That’s it! Thank you, Burpo. I KNEW someone here would know. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinctive-voices/731362/53 "2015-09-16T18:49:20Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Johnny Olson, you mere slip of a girl. Or Rod Roddy? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinctive-voices/731362/54 "2015-09-16T18:50:22Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > Or Rod Roddy? Pretender to the throne. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinctive-voices/731362/55 "2015-09-16T19:12:35Z")
**Leonard Nimoy** – they still use his voice for the introduction at the Mugar Omni Theater at the Boston Museum of Science. (“Leonard Nimoy! How’d the get him?” “I grew up three blocks from here,” replies Nimoy) He narrated all those abominable episodes of **in Search Of…"** , but that made it palatable. Not to mention video games, voices for cartoons, audiobooks, and the like. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinctive-voices/731362/56 "2015-09-16T19:34:13Z")
Gary Owens, who had an afternoon radio show in Los Angeles for years, had a whimsical tinge to his voice. Likewise Victor Borge, despite his Danish accent. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinctive-voices/731362/57 "2015-09-16T19:57:12Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > Gary Owens, who had an afternoon radio show in Los Angeles for years, had a whimsical tinge to his voice. Likewise Victor Borge, despite his Danish accent. I have an audiobook read by Owens, YEARS after Laugh-in. His voice still sounded the same. My only complaint is that he sounds as if he’s reading, unrehearsed, a book he’s just seen for the first time. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinctive-voices/731362/58 "2015-09-16T20:12:34Z")
Patrick Stewart Danny DeVito ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinctive-voices/731362/59 "2015-09-17T01:12:35Z")
Dick Tufeld had a very distinct voice; you didn’t hear it often (outside of “Lost in Space”), but when you did, it was **Hey, that’s the Robot**! On a similar note, Thurl Ravenscroft–Tony the Tiger, et al. Paul Winchell–something about his timbre made him recognizable no matter how different the voice was trying to be. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinctive-voices/731362/60 "2015-09-17T01:27:25Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > It’s also the voice he uses on “Big Bang Theory”. > > My choice for this thread: > > [Yma Sumac](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIgvnGtAg7c) Mr **Kitchen** , I owe you a HUGE thanks for finding that clip; I saw that when it was first televised–it knocked my fuckin socks off–and I never saw it again. Been wondering about it for (Jebus) 28 years!! :eek: Très cool! Thanx, again. BIP: Christopher Lee [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinctive-voices/731362.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinctive-voices/731362.md?page=4)