Sepiatone Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 No, NOT the silly vocal competition TV show...here's a scenario; You're a producer for the recordings of a major symphony orchestra. You want to record Aaron Copeland's "Lincoln Portrait" and are looking for someone to provide the narrative. Suddenly, a genie appears and claims to be able to provide ANYONE, living or dead, to provide that voice. Who would you like to get? Someone with the preferred dramatic timbre no doubt. But WHO would it be for you? MY short list is: Orson Welles James Earl Jones Roscoe Lee Brown Charlton Heston James Mason Sidney Poitier William Conrad Kirk Douglas(middle age) John Huston Jose Ferrer Who else do you think would do? Sepiatone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misswonderly3 Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Chistopher Plummer. Patrick Stewart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesJazGuitar Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 I would add Ronald Colman and George Sanders to your list. Edited by: jamesjazzguitar on Feb 20, 2012 1:58 PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredCDobbs Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Maybe John Carradine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepiatone Posted February 20, 2012 Author Share Posted February 20, 2012 Darkblue, if you're gonna add Cox to the list, you might as well also go with "Cuddles" Sakall! Actually, Cox would be great for "Peter and the Wolf". I once had this notion, back in the vinyl days, that instead of putting the usual "Carnival of the Animals" on the B side of "Wolf", to do BOTH sides with PATW done by two different narrators. MY choices were Fred Rogers on one side, and Paul Reubens as Pee-Wee Herman on the other! Cover almost the entire child spectrum. Sepiatone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesJazGuitar Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 This is a Warner Bro character actor. His best know role was as a waiter in Casablanca. He is the guy with the big cheeks. He is in many scenes in the movie (Rick ask him to take Ilsa home after the secret meeting is broken up). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyM108 Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Thanks. If playing a waiter in 'Casablanca' is [sakall's] best-known role it's no wonder that I'm unaware of him. That movie has sent my mind wandering every time I've ever attempted to watch it - and that's his good one. Well, then, what about Franklin Pangborn or Eric Blore? Or is it you don't pay attention to any character actors, no matter how well known? But going in another direction, why not Warren William? If this hypothetical exercise has anything to do with Abraham Lincoln, I'd bet that within the first few minutes Warren William could sell Jeff Davis himself on the necessity of staying in the Union. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slaytonf Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Paul Robeson. No female voices? How 'bout: Judy Densch. Maya Angelou. Ethel Barrymore. Ann Harding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyM108 Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Paul Robeson. My God, yes, a thousand times yes. Beethoven's Ode to Joy And an excerpt from Othello Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
filmlover Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 First, much as I love James Mason's voice, and appreciate those of other English actors, I believe it would have to be an American actor narrating a story of Abraham Lincoln. That being said, there is one that comes to mind automatically that is not on the list, and no one has mentioned, an actor who is as American and distinguished as you can get: Gregory Peck. And he did portray Lincoln in The Blue and the Grey. I would also recommend two other actors who have played Lincoln, though I may have to disqualify one for being Canadian: Henry Fonda Raymond Massey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
libradoll Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Agreed: Orson Wells - James Earl Jones - James Mason. Judy Holiday. Love her distinctive voice. Morgan Freeman, without a doubt. Maurice Chevalier, of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casablancalover Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 In Film, my favorites are: Orson Welles Claude Rains Gregory Peck h6. There is one voice that I will hear that is above them all however. My secret.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 My pick: The seemingly oft-forgotten, primarily NY stage and early television actor, and one of the great film and TV voiceover narrators ever...Alexander Scourby. Or maybe, Paul Frees, if anyone here remembers that distinctive voice. Anyone who's ever ridden one of the "ghost buggies" through Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, or who's REALLY into Howard Hawk's *The Thing, from another world* knows of whom I'm talkin' about here. But NOW, if ya'd like to play around a little bit with this thing here, might I suggest either Chistopher Walken, or maybe Bill Shatner!!! (...I mean, can't you just imagine listenin' to either of those two guys do voiceovers and tryin' not to visualize 'em bein' in front of that microphone while doin' it???) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wouldbestar Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 {font:Times New Roman} {font}{font:}{color:black}Alexander Scourby? Thank you, Drago. Since you've broken the ice, there's Edward Herrmann and Monte Markham who seem to have taken his place in modern times. As he seems to really love American history there's also Sam Elliott. {font} {font:Times New Roman} {font}{font:}{color:black}Who is Paul Frees? The next time I see The Thing I want to be certain I "discover" him. {font} {font:Times New Roman} {font} {font:Times New Roman} {font} {font:Times New Roman} {font} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 > {quote:title=wouldbestar wrote:}{quote} > {font:Times New Roman} {font}{color:black}Alexander Scourby? Thank you, Drago. Since you've broken the ice, there's Edward Herrmann and Monte Markham who seem to have taken his place in modern times. As he seems to really love American history there's also Sam Elliott. > > {font:Times New Roman} {font}{color:black}Who is Paul Frees? The next time I see The Thing I want to be certain I "discover" him. > > > > > > {font:Times New Roman} {font} > > > > > > {font:Times New Roman} {font} > > > > > > {font:Times New Roman} {font} > Yep, Herrmann and Markham are also great voiceover artists, wouldbe. Good suggestions. Another one who in the last few decades can be heard doing a lot of very good work in this regard is actor Peter Coyote. And re Paul Frees. If you'll pause the linked YouTube video below of this trailer for *The Thing* at the 00:46 mark, Paul Frees is the gentleman third from the left in this scene. And coincidentally, another famous annoucer standing second from the left and next to Frees is Groucho's own "You Bet Your Life" announcer, George Fenneman, early in his career, also. And, I've also found the following at the YouTube site which might jog your memory about Paul Frees... Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicalnovelty Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 > {quote:title=darkblue wrote: > }{quote}Who's Cuddles Sakall? Watch this: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CasaCinema Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 My top choice would be the wonderful Richard Kiley, closely followed by Liev Schreiber. Two of the best narrators ever, ever, ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottman1932 Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Other names to the list should include: 1. William Conrad 2. James Garner 3. John Dehner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ValentineXavier Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 The best VOICE there is, the great, the one-and-only, - Ken Nordine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Nordine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howardkeelfan Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howardkeelfan Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Frank Langella Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SansFin Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Vincent Price I have seen an animated short film he narrated. His range was impressive and he had a great ability to influence the listener. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyM108 Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Vincent Price I have seen an animated short film he narrated. His range was impressive and he had a great ability to influence the listener . Like my aforementioned Warren William, Vincent Price had the perfect combination of a deep voice and a straight face that could sell a state of the art freezer to an igloo-bound Eskimo. OTOH to anyone who recognized Price's voice in a Lincoln documentary, the effect might be that we'd want to count the silverware after Lincoln left the room. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepiatone Posted February 21, 2012 Author Share Posted February 21, 2012 For Darkblue: Sam Jaffe would be good for "Lincoln Portrait". He would deliver the distinguished sound the words of Lincoln surely deserve without sounding "bombastic". Character actor Royal Dano would also do well. He too, had a good baritone sound, and Dano once played Lincoln in a small film some years back. I have an old LP of "Lincoln Portrait" narrated by Henry Fonda. Fonda had, like all of us, a distinctive voice, though not "distinguished". It lent a sort of "everyman" or "common man" tone to it, which would have thrilled Lincoln, who once said, "God must love the common man. He made so MANY of them!" Let's please leave Kevin Costner off this list. He's a good actor, but in any movie in which he's done narration, it always sounded stilted and lifeless, like a high school kid doing an oral book report. Sepiatone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
filmlover Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 I've already mentioned the three I consider best, but I will add a more recent one, too... Sam Elliot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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