# What Causes That Gravely Low Voice Actors Got In The "Old Days"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 11, 2010, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-that-gravely-low-voice-actors-got-in-the-old-days/532078 "2010-03-11T03:44:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![FluffyBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@FluffyBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FluffyBob)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-that-gravely-low-voice-actors-got-in-the-old-days/532078/21 "2010-03-12T03:23:23Z")
What about singers? Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits always had pretty deep voices but if you compare their current voices to early recordings the difference is quite remarkable. Both of them were big smokers, dont know if they still do. They both have had long, extensive careers and I do wonder if all that singing has had an effect. Tom Waits has got to be the king of gravel. I suspect Satchmo was born with a gravelly voice. ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-that-gravely-low-voice-actors-got-in-the-old-days/532078/22 "2010-03-12T03:45:51Z")
Eddie Anderson, who played Rochester on The Jack Benny Program, claimed his unique voice came from when he sold newspapers as a boy and tried to shout over the top of other newsboys. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-that-gravely-low-voice-actors-got-in-the-old-days/532078/23 "2010-03-12T03:52:38Z")
Well all voices deepen as people age. That’s natural, but I guess if smoking is the reason why the voices deepened in the “old days” then people are smoking a lot less or actors are better trained to keep their voices 'cause you don’t really hear it. Or do you? Any examples of this in present day actors? ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-that-gravely-low-voice-actors-got-in-the-old-days/532078/24 "2010-03-12T03:54:30Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Can a person’s speaking (as opposed to singing) voice be identified by a musical note? I suppose if you were speaking normally and then, in the same tone of voice, went “ahhhhhhhhh” you could pick a key on the piano that would match it? Sort of. A person doesn’t use just one note when talking and the note is unlikely to exactly match a note on the piano, but you could get someone to hum a constant tone in their typical speaking range and find a note on the piano that is close. ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-that-gravely-low-voice-actors-got-in-the-old-days/532078/25 "2010-03-12T04:00:40Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Well all voices deepen as people age. That’s natural, but I guess if smoking is the reason why the voices deepened in the “old days” then people are smoking a lot less or actors are better trained to keep their voices 'cause you don’t really hear it. > > Or do you? Any examples of this in present day actors? Hugh Laurie speaks with a low gravelly voice in House MD. He had a much higher voice in his Black Adder days. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-that-gravely-low-voice-actors-got-in-the-old-days/532078/26 "2010-03-12T04:13:00Z")
> [@Imasquare](#): > > Hugh Laurie speaks with a low gravelly voice in House MD. He had a much higher voice in his Black Adder days. You mean [this](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1BWM-BYb4s0/SsMFkHN6Z6I/AAAAAAAABAQ/UxWUZY3twj0/s320/sarcasm.jpg), as opposed to [this](http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h168/AurikiCrimson/n14516833367_9380.jpg)? I would have guessed that even with the TV’s sound down all the way. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-that-gravely-low-voice-actors-got-in-the-old-days/532078.md?page=1)