Your Top Non-Singing English-Speaking Voices from 1930 Onward

[Cato]

Calvin Lockhart!

Under this heading would also come:



Michael Clarke Duncan whose voice is almost freakishly deep!   

[Cato]

I mentioned some of the names here to a colleague, who thought we were awfully heavy on male voices, and offered...

Holly Hunter        for our consideration.  Indeed, she has done the narration for some Dairy Council "Got Milk?" ads.

I have always found her Texanish, s=sh, back-teeth-clenched delivery idiosyncratic.  But it is therefore distinctive in a sense.

[karlhenning]

Under this heading would also come:



Michael Clarke Duncan whose voice is almost freakishly deep!   

Did I see him in Daredevil? . . .

[Gurn Blanston]

Did I see him in Daredevil? . . .

and Green Mile and Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions, too. 85 entries in his filmography...

[karlhenning]

and Green Mile and Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions, too. 85 entries in his filmography...

I don't think I've seen either Green Mile or Breakfast of Champions (I think I've read that Vonnegut book . . . offhand, I wouldn't think that Vonnegut would translate well onto the screen).

[Gurn Blanston]

I don't think I've seen either Green Mile or Breakfast of Champions (I think I've read that Vonnegut book . . . offhand, I wouldn't think that Vonnegut would translate well onto the screen).

Although Slaughterhouse 5 was pretty good. Breakfast of Champions was one of my favorite of his books. IIRC, it introduced Kilgore Trout, a character who spanned several books. By and large though, I would agree with you: how could a chronosynclastic infundibulum be adequately portrayed on screen, after all?   

[The Six]

[Gurn Blanston]

[Cato]

Bob Ross!!!

One of America's greatest artists EVER!!!

Yes, his whispered down-home delivery was something else!

[drogulus]

Although Slaughterhouse 5 was pretty good. Breakfast of Champions was one of my favorite of his books. IIRC, it introduced Kilgore Trout, a character who spanned several books. By and large though, I would agree with you: how could a chronosynclastic infundibulum be adequately portrayed on screen, after all?   

     Kilgore Trout first appeared in God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater in 1965, then he shows up in Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions, as well as other books I haven't read.

[DavidRoss]

James Earl Jones

Yep.

and

Kathleen Turner

Yep.

With honorable mention to Jean and Casey Kasem! 

[greg]

This is not something I've even thought about before, but the first person I can think of would be Morgan Freeman. Hmmm.... sure I could find better ones if I thought about it more.

[CD]

Bob Ross!!!

One of America's greatest artists EVER!!!

Yeah, if you're Saul.

[Cato]

Yeah, if you're Saul.

Are you saying Saul is the Bob Ross of musical composition?   

[CD]

[Xenophanes]

Alan Maitland, a long-time CBC announcer, is a good candidate.  Nobody could read a story quite like Fireside Al. There is a four part series on youtube with Al reading Frederick Forsyth's The Shepherd.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsF8o4DDX3Y&NR=1

[Brian]

Cato, William Marshall is a great choice.

However, I have to nominate a man whom I have just seen live in performance tonight (!!), the man with the "perfect face for radio" and the perfect voice for radio too, and a man who proved tonight that he is (pace Xenophanes) one of the great story-tellers of the world: stopping in my hometown on his "Summer Love" tour was the incredible voice of Garrison Keillor.



Like I said, the perfect face for radio.

[Scarpia]

I loved Angelina Jolie's narration in "Life or something like it."

[mc ukrneal]

Yes! Yes! Yes! Totally forgot about him. Isn't it a lovely little picture?!

[springrite]

Woody Allen

Dr. Ruth