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.
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.
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?
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.
Hugh Laurie speaks with a low gravelly voice in House MD. He had a much higher voice in his Black Adder days.
