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.
Now there was a voice…what a shame we lost her… 
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. 
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.
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.
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.
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
Lee Pace when he’s playing Ronan or Thranduil.
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.
That’s it! Thank you, Burpo. I KNEW someone here would know.
Or Rod Roddy?
Pretender to the throne.
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.
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.
Patrick Stewart
Danny DeVito
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.
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