# Mushmouth Actors **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 23, 2007, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mushmouth-actors/420194 "2007-09-23T14:16:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mushmouth-actors/420194/41 "2007-09-25T00:51:35Z")
[QUOTE=Big Bad Voodoo Lou] Benecio Del Toro, particularly in The Usual Suspects. [/QUOTE] “Flip ya. Flip ya fer real.” [QUOTE=lissener] That was a character choice; he was \*supposed \*to difficult to understand. [/QUOTE] Yes, that’s what I heard too. And I think it works. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mushmouth-actors/420194/42 "2007-09-25T03:41:36Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] Ted Levine. [/QUOTE] Wait a minute. You mean Captain Stottlemeyer on Monk? I’ve never found him particularly difficult to understand. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mushmouth-actors/420194/43 "2007-09-25T03:58:02Z")
Glorbak shtim frisshle zam naporah, clog sompan zoo wah. Neh, glowah sim vannai, grec storam yereth pakarr, nikt vahh? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mushmouth-actors/420194/44 "2007-09-25T04:30:14Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] That was a character choice; he was \*supposed \*to difficult to understand. [/QUOTE] Yes, I know, but he tends to mumble in other roles too. I was just going with the OP’s criteria. ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mushmouth-actors/420194/45 "2007-09-25T10:43:53Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] Brando. Didn’t need to put anything in his mouth for _Godfather._ [/QUOTE] Have you never seen _Julius Caesar_ or _Guys and Dolls_. Everything so pre-cise-ly ar-tic-u-la-ted… mm ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mushmouth-actors/420194/46 "2007-09-25T13:22:42Z")
I’ve never watched him in English, but the guy who dubbed Bogart to Spanish swears he was uncomprehensible. He also did a lot of the translation work. With other actors, if they’d gotten the reels before getting the script (not uncommon), they could work off the reels - with Bogie, no way. David Caruso is so bad that when I was in a place where Sony and Fox were the only decentish channels, I wouldn’t understand half the stuff he said until I’d watched enough reruns. They’d have the same freaking programs every day, just at different hours… ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mushmouth-actors/420194/47 "2007-09-25T13:28:25Z")
Watched “Saving Grace” for the first time last night, and man, was that mush-mouthy, Holly Hunter in particular. I know that part of it was acting choices, as she’s playing a drunk with an Oklahoma drawl, but man, my wife and I couldn’t figure out what anyone was talking about half the time. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mushmouth-actors/420194/48 "2007-09-25T14:50:46Z")
[QUOTE=Nava] I’ve never watched him in English, but the guy who dubbed Bogart to Spanish swears he was uncomprehensible. [/QUOTE] I’ve seen a lot of Bogart’s movies and never had any trouble understanding him. Not even in _The Big Sleep_ (in which the **plot** is incomprehensible – even that actors complained of that while filming it). ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mushmouth-actors/420194/49 "2007-09-25T14:57:47Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] I’ve seen a lot of Bogart’s movies and never had any trouble understanding him. Not even in _The Big Sleep_ (in which the **plot** is incomprehensible – even that actors complained of that while filming it). [/QUOTE] Same here. I don’t recall ever hearing any native-English speaker complain about not being able to understand Bogart – I wonder if there was something about him that just doesn’t go with Spanish ears. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mushmouth-actors/420194/50 "2007-09-25T17:00:43Z")
[QUOTE=Omega Glory] Yaphet Kotto (Giardello from Homicide Life on the Street). [/QUOTE] Yes, and he sounds like he has a lot of spit in his mouth. I can’t stand that. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mushmouth-actors/420194/51 "2007-09-25T17:55:02Z")
Bill Cosby, but only when he’s doing the voice of that one Cosby kid with the red knit cap, and the blue scarf. I can’t remember his name, though. ---
**Author:** ![Waenara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@Waenara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waenara)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mushmouth-actors/420194/52 "2007-09-25T23:05:42Z")
When I first saw _Brokeback Mountain_ on DVD, I used the subtitles so I could understand more than 20% of what Heath Ledger was saying. Of course, that mushmouthiness was just for that role - he speaks clearly in other movies. ---
**Author:** ![Sycorax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@Sycorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sycorax)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2007, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mushmouth-actors/420194/53 "2007-09-26T01:17:19Z")
Another thread where I say to myself, “Damn, I thought I was the only one!” I thought there was something wrong with my hearing or my tv sound. Most actors have had some training and/or experience, haven’t they? This is one reason I record my favorite shows, so I can turn up the volume and go back to figure out what they said. Don’t they do “dailies” and editing before broadcasting? Doesn’t the director hear what we hear? How/why does the mushmouthness get passed on to us? ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2007, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mushmouth-actors/420194/54 "2007-09-26T02:29:58Z")
[QUOTE=Waenara] When I first saw _Brokeback Mountain_ on DVD, I used the subtitles so I could understand more than 20% of what Heath Ledger was saying. Of course, that mushmouthiness was just for that role - he speaks clearly in other movies. [/QUOTE] Must be the accent one is used to hearing. I grew up in southern Kentucky, where I knew a few thousand good old boys who mumbled eactly in that tone and range. So I understood every word Ledger said. Amazing actor, he is. He nailed it. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2007, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mushmouth-actors/420194/55 "2007-09-26T02:31:09Z")
^^^Oh, Christ! Just realized I should not have said “He nailed it.” Waiting for the jokes… Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2007, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mushmouth-actors/420194/56 "2007-09-26T02:44:49Z")
Slight hijack: the original [Mushmouth](http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=Mushmouth&gbv=2). **Lorraine Bracco** , at least when she was playing Dr. Melfi in **The Sopranos**. Although mushmouthedness was only part of the problem, given her generally infantile and retarded line delivery. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mushmouth-actors/420194.md?page=2)