Ralph Macchio's voice... does he sound more child-like to you now compared to 30 years ago?

Cafe Society
1

Ralph’s voice stood out to me when I started watching him again in the Cobra Kai series a few years ago, and he sounds the same in recent interviews as well so I don’t think he alters his voice for that character. He sounds much more… “elfish” or nasally these days; not necessarily higher pitched, but how you’d sound if you put on a Bugs Bunny voice.

I just watched him again tonight in an interview on Letterman in 1992 around the time My Cousin Vinney came out; I hadn’t heard his voice since then but to me it’s very different now. Like today, decades ago his normal voice sounded the same as his big movie characters at the time; he never seemed to alter his voice for roles as far as I can tell.

He sounded normal 30 years ago, but (to me) more child-like today. Am I imagining this?

3

I’m not aware of the specifics of Macchio, and am not commenting on him in particular, but - When I was younger I had a rich deep announcer voice. I studied as an actor and worked on vocal production to pursue the field professionally. As I aged, my voice became (to me, anyway) much more pinched and pipey - the opposite of rich deep announcer. Bugs the heck out of me! So, it can happen with aging.