# Looking for actors/actresses with beautiful speaking voices **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 9, 2012, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-actors-actresses-with-beautiful-speaking-voices/621435 "2012-05-09T22:27:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Christopher\_Robin\_Davies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8dc957/32.png) [@Christopher\_Robin\_Davies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Christopher_Robin_Davies)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-actors-actresses-with-beautiful-speaking-voices/621435/1 "2012-05-09T22:27:16Z")
Can you think of any performers who have speaking voices that are just wonderful to listen to? Not singing voices, but only speaking. Liam Neeson comes to mind; so does Avery Brooks from Star Trek. Anybody else? ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-actors-actresses-with-beautiful-speaking-voices/621435/2 "2012-05-09T22:29:00Z")
James Earl Jones and Morgan Freeman, definitely. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-actors-actresses-with-beautiful-speaking-voices/621435/3 "2012-05-09T22:33:10Z")
I heard Peter Coyote doing the voice over announcements for the Oscars one year and I thought he had a great speaking voice. I also enjoyed Billy Crudup’s voice in the MasterCard “Priceless” commercials. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-actors-actresses-with-beautiful-speaking-voices/621435/4 "2012-05-09T22:38:01Z")
Patrick Stewart Denzel Washington ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-actors-actresses-with-beautiful-speaking-voices/621435/5 "2012-05-09T22:39:45Z")
Benedict Cumberbatch ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-actors-actresses-with-beautiful-speaking-voices/621435/6 "2012-05-09T22:40:03Z")
Patrick Stewart, [Benedict Cumberbatch](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmNt31Gwf4c), and Cate Blanchett. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-actors-actresses-with-beautiful-speaking-voices/621435/7 "2012-05-09T22:40:46Z")
Sela Ward. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-actors-actresses-with-beautiful-speaking-voices/621435/8 "2012-05-10T01:07:52Z")
Helen Mirren ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-actors-actresses-with-beautiful-speaking-voices/621435/9 "2012-05-10T01:17:14Z")
OK, another vote for Captain Picard… oops, I meant Professor X… Danggit. What was that guy’s name? ---
**Author:** ![GythaOgg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@GythaOgg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GythaOgg)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-actors-actresses-with-beautiful-speaking-voices/621435/10 "2012-05-10T01:21:58Z")
Tom Baker. Surprised no one’s mentioned him yet, actually. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-actors-actresses-with-beautiful-speaking-voices/621435/11 "2012-05-10T01:23:18Z")
Keith David. He voiced Goliath in the Gargoyles cartoon from the 90’s, and currently does voice-over work for the US Navy commercials. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-actors-actresses-with-beautiful-speaking-voices/621435/12 "2012-05-10T01:24:28Z")
Sigourney Weaver ---
**Author:** ![GythaOgg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@GythaOgg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GythaOgg)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-actors-actresses-with-beautiful-speaking-voices/621435/13 "2012-05-10T01:27:05Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > Keith David. > > He voiced Goliath in the Gargoyles cartoon from the 90’s, and currently does voice-over work for the US Navy commercials. _Gargyoles_ had a fantastic voice cast. Another one I’d nominate from the series would be John Rhys-Davies…who, of course, has done many other things since then that are probably better-known. Great voice on that man. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-actors-actresses-with-beautiful-speaking-voices/621435/14 "2012-05-10T01:27:55Z")
See [Narrators and Voice-over Specialists of note](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=650866) for some other names. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-actors-actresses-with-beautiful-speaking-voices/621435/15 "2012-05-10T02:17:03Z")
Michael Dorn, Worf from Star Trek: TNG and Deep Space Nine Roscoe Lee Browne, deceased, unfortunately James Earl Jones, his voice is like melted chocolate! ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-actors-actresses-with-beautiful-speaking-voices/621435/16 "2012-05-10T02:32:21Z")
Alan Rickman ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-actors-actresses-with-beautiful-speaking-voices/621435/17 "2012-05-10T03:20:50Z")
George Takei. I win. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-actors-actresses-with-beautiful-speaking-voices/621435/18 "2012-05-10T03:38:30Z")
I second Alan Rickman. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-actors-actresses-with-beautiful-speaking-voices/621435/19 "2012-05-10T04:37:09Z")
Alan Rickman. I would listen to that man read proctology exams. Patrick Stewart. Classically trained for the win, yes please. Judi Dench. I love the little growly bits in her voice - she’s so very expressive. Morgan Freeman. That man can make anything sound good. James Marsters. Very good audio-book narrator, and a lovely smooth expressive voice in general. Also a singer, although I don’t know why I was surprised by this. For a local set of female voices, I listen to NPR, and there’s a doctorate music student in South Carolina who hosts a program on our local SC ETV / NPR called “Legacy of Opera” - her name is Michelle Wachter, and she has such an interesting voice. I love to listen to her. She drags out all of her consonants and speaks with a very obviously studied smooth inflection with very clear vowel sounds, almost like she’s created this “speaking voice” musical notation and is reciting her words as if she were singing them to an established beat and musical phrasing. Very fun to listen to, and try to imitate. Likewise there’s another lady who hosts a program called “Your Day” created at Clemson University - her name is Dyana Daniels, and she has the most interesting speaking voice I’ve ever heard in my life. Her inflections and intonation are just freaky, but in a really inviting and strangely attractive way. I really want to meet her, to find out if she talks that way for real, or if it’s put on for the hosting of the show. Back to people that are actually famous - I’ve always liked Viggo Mortensen’s voice. It’s a little on the reedy side, and a little nasal, but it’s pleasant and easy to listen to in a way that isn’t quite as imposing and “important” as some of the others I’ve listed. Benedict Cumerbatch falls into that category for me as well - not someone I would list as having an objectively ‘beautiful’ or ‘imposing’ voice, but one that I would be perfectly happy to sit and listen to for a long while. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-actors-actresses-with-beautiful-speaking-voices/621435/20 "2012-05-10T04:51:08Z")
[Stephen Fry.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7E-aoXLZGY) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-actors-actresses-with-beautiful-speaking-voices/621435.md?page=2)