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Nowadays I get mixed up with some newish actors.. and they dont seem to stand out or be memorable.. but from further back we had so many that were complete ONE OFFs with voices that everyone recognised..
John Wayne.
Burt Lancaster..
Robert Mitchum
Mickey Rooney
Kate Hepburn.
Vincent Price
Morgan Freeman.
James Stewart.
Cary Grant.... any of these could read the phone book to me any day.
No one had voices like these stars from the past... ..now I cant think of one who stands out ..
Yes, all of these actors voices are very distinguishable, I love to hear Morgan Freeman speak. I want him to actually be President lol. Another one that comes to mind is Kathleen Turner, she's a bit younger than those listed but she is and forever will be the voice of Jessica Rabbit. I always wanted a sexy sultry voice like hers.
Katherine Hepburn....what a ticket and trailblazer for women. I think her bobbing head and shaky voice when she was older did not change a thing about her, she was strong and forthright. She still had her mind. Impressive lady.
Who was the first woman to wear pants in Hollywood?
"During an era in which wearing trousers in public was considered acceptable for men only, Katharine Hepburn insisted on wearing trousers on and off set." Jul 18, 2017
Well some of these are distinct in that they became archetypes and once a studio had that 'type' they did not have an incentive to promote someone who sounded too much like them, unless they were grooming a youthful replacement.
Interestingly actors from other countries had some who sounded like them but if a movie role only needs one 'foreigner' it is difficult for another actor to make headway and that was even in the era when the studios made a tremendous volume of movies.
I agree James Mason is a very distinctive sounding actor - we should have an international 'talk like James Mason day', where every male would be civil to each other. However, actor Anthony Quayle sounded much like him just slightly less breathy.
Kathleen Turner sounds distinctive but if you go far back enough, she sounds like Tallulah Bankhead.
Other distinctive voices (timbre i.e tonal quality):
Vincent Price
Peter Lorre
Gene Kelly
Robert Taylor
Ronald Colman
Richard Burton
Clint Eastwood
Michael Caine
Denzel Washington
Jeff Goldblum
Katherine Hepburn
Barbara Stanwyck
Tallulah Bankhead
Lauren Bacall
Marilyn Monroe
Faye Dunaway
Over the years I have made note of those who are "sound a likes". The best comparison is when they are early in career as various ailments or bad habits like smoking / drugs etc. may have altered them in later years.
Jack Nicholson - William Devane (they even look a like too)
Robert Montgomery - Alan Alda
Farley Granger - Keanu Reeves
Milton Berle - Jerry Orbach
Jack Lemmon - Robert Cummings
Donna Reed - Mary Murphy (The Wild One)
Ali McGraw - Angie Harmon
Gloria Swanson - Ann Baxter
Vic Morrow - Brian Keith
Boris Karloff - Jeremy Irons
Jack Lord - Christopher George
Maybe not. YEARS ago, I was watching "Ice Age" and locking on the Sabertooth's voice as Christopher George.....but knew it couldn't be him since he had been dead for years.
I can think of LOTS of actors with distinctive voices.
Matthew McConaughey
Tom Hanks
Johnny Depp
Alan Rickman (RIP)
Chris Rock (personally I can't stand his voice, but you can't say it's not distinctive)
Denzel Washington
Maggie Smith
Christopher Walken
Patrick Warburton
Kristin Chenoweth
Holly Hunter
Owen Wilson
JK Simmons
Patrick Stewart
Jennifer Coolidge
Cate Blanchett
I haven't heard Kristin Chenoweth's nor Maggie Smith's voices often enough to judge, but I agree with all of the rest re distinctiveness.
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