[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. 
[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.
Glorbak shtim frisshle zam naporah, clog sompan zoo wah. Neh, glowah sim vannai, grec storam yereth pakarr, nikt vahh? 
[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.
[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
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…
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.
[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).
[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.
[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.
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.
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.
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?
[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
^^^Oh, Christ! Just realized I should not have said “He nailed it.” Waiting for the jokes…
Sir Rhosis
Slight hijack: the original Mushmouth.
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.