Voices I Love to Hear
by ceb35-633-162294 | created - 29 May 2017 | updated - 25 Jun 2017 | PublicWhether they're mellifluous, melodious, and mellow or unusual but endearing, these are my favourite actors and voice actors to listen to.
1. George Sanders
Actor | All About Eve
George Sanders was born of English parents in St. Petersburg, Russia. He worked in a Birmingham textile mill, in the tobacco business and as a writer in advertising. He entered show business in London as a chorus boy, going from there to cabaret, radio and theatrical understudy. His film debut, in ...
Mr. Sanders has to top the list. I would listen, entranced, as he read the yellow pages or an instruction manual for a 1990s printer. I am half in love with him just for his voice. It's okay, my husband doesn't mind. After all, Mr. Sanders is dead.
2. J. Michael Tatum
Actor | Kuroshitsuji
J. Michael Tatum was born on May 25, 1976 in McKinney, Texas, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Black Butler (2008), Attack on Titan (2013) and My Hero Academia (2016).
I have enjoyed his voice in every anime I have encountered it in, starting with Spice and Wolf and for me, culminating in his incredibly suave yet dangerous Sebastian Michaelis in Black Butler.
3. Carolyn Jones
Actress | The Man Who Knew Too Much
Carolyn Jones was born April 28, 1930, in Amarillo, Texas. Her mother was Jeannette and her sister was Bette (Moriarty). She was an imaginative child, much like her mother. In 1934, her father abandoned the family and her mother moved them in with her parents, also in Amarillo. As a child Carolyn ...
Ms. Jones' vocal range and control are just marvelous to behold, and she can make everything sound fascinating and sometimes oddly delicious and tantalizing. I'm afraid I would drink the hemlock if she offered it to me in that voice!
4. Helena Bonham Carter
Actress | Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Helena Bonham Carter is an actress of great versatility, one of the UK's finest and most successful.
Bonham Carter was born May 26, 1966 in Golders Green, London, England, the youngest of three children of Elena (née Propper de Callejón), a psychotherapist, and Raymond Bonham Carter, a merchant ...
My favourite actress, but also someone I enjoy hearing speak in general, and not just because she actually says things worth hearing. Her voice is posh and low, never strident or loud unless a part requires it, and it has a tone of thoughtful yet bored intelligence that I can't get enough of.
5. Stephen Fry
Actor | Gosford Park
Writer, actor, comedian, doer of good works, excellent good friend to the famous and not, Fry lives in his London SW1 flat and his Norfolk house when not traveling. Famous for his public declaration of celibacy in the "Tatler" back in the 1980s, Emma Thompson has characterised her friend as "90 ...
I find it impossible to be offended no matter what Mr. Fry says because his voice is so lovely to listen to. I especially enjoy his Jeeves dialogue!
6. Anne Baxter
Actress | All About Eve
Anne Baxter was born in Michigan City, Indiana, on May 7, 1923. She was the daughter of a salesman, Kenneth Stuart Baxter, and his wife, Catherine Dorothy (Wright), who herself was the daughter of Frank Lloyd Wright, the world-renowned architect. Anne was a young girl of 11 when her parents moved ...
Her voice can drip with honey--or poison. So sensual always. I wish I knew how she did it.
7. John Cleese
Actor | A Fish Called Wanda
John Cleese was born on October 27, 1939, in Weston-Super-Mare, England, to Muriel Evelyn (Cross) and Reginald Francis Cleese. He was born into a family of modest means, his father being an insurance salesman; but he was nonetheless sent off to private schools to obtain a good education. Here he ...
And now for something completely different! I adore listening to Mr. Cleese partly for his wit of course, but his voice is also just so pleasant to listen to. I wouldn't mind being chewed out by him half so much as by anyone else.
8. Eva Gabor
Actress | Green Acres
Eva Gabor was born on February 11, 1919 in Budapest, Hungary, to Jolie Gabor (née Janka Tilleman) and Vilmos Gabor (born Farkas Miklós Grün), a soldier. Her older siblings were Magda Gabor, an actress, and Zsa Zsa Gabor, an actress and socialite. Her parents were both from Jewish families. She went...
Ms. Gabor's voice is so light and fun, especially when paired with her delicious Hungarian accent! I can't help it, I love to try to imitate her. And of course I always fail utterly.
9. Garrison Keillor
Actor | A Prairie Home Companion
Garrison Keillor was born Gary Edward Keillor on August 7, 1942, in Anoka, a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota. He is one of six children of Grace Ruth (Dunham) and John Philip Keillor, who was a carpenter and postal worker. His father was of English, Welsh, and German, descent, and his paternal ...
A voice that sort of hums a lullaby as it speaks...I can't think of much that would be nicer to listen to.
10. Humphrey Bogart
Actor | Casablanca
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was born in New York City, New York, to Maud Humphrey, a famed magazine illustrator and suffragette, and Belmont DeForest Bogart, a moderately wealthy surgeon (who was secretly addicted to opium). Bogart was educated at Trinity School, NYC, and was sent to Phillips Academy ...
Come on, who wouldn't love to have Bogey talk to them all day in that scratchy yet pleasant voice?
11. Alan Rickman
Actor | Die Hard
Alan Rickman was born on a council estate in Acton, West London, to Margaret Doreen Rose (Bartlett), of English and Welsh descent, and Bernard Rickman, of Irish descent, who worked at a factory. Alan Rickman had an older brother (David), a younger brother (Michael), and a younger sister (Sheila). ...
Who doesn't find this voice mesmerizing?
12. David Tennant
Actor | Doctor Who
Widely considered as one of the greatest stage and screen actors of his generation both in his native Scotland and internationally, David Tennant was born David John McDonald in West Lothian, Scotland, to Essdale Helen (McLeod) and Sandy McDonald, who was a Presbyterian minister. He is of Scottish ...
I prefer him when he is using his very musical real Scottish accent. Why on earth didn't they let him use it as The Doctor?
13. Julie Andrews
Actress | The Sound of Music
Julia Elizabeth Wells was born on October 1, 1935, in England. Her mother, Barbara Ward (Morris), and stepfather, both vaudeville performers, discovered her freakish but undeniably lovely four-octave singing voice and immediately got her a singing career. She performed in music halls throughout her...
How a speaking voice can ring like a well-cast bell is beyond me, but hers does. Enchanting!
14. Arthur English
Actor | Are You Being Served?
One of Britain's great variety comedians Arthur English was known as 'The Prince of the Wide Boys', a cockney 'spiv' character outrageously dressed on stage and wearing a huge kipper tie.
Born in Aldershot, Hants English started his career at an early age appearing in amateur shows but did not ...
My favourite of the Packing and Maintenence guys on AYBS, partly due to his sunny personality but mostly due to his strong Cockney accent.
15. Bernadette Peters
Actress | The Jerk
Throughout her illustrious career, Bernadette Peters has dazzled audiences and critics with her performances on stage and television, in concert, and on recordings. She is one of the most critically-acclaimed Broadway performers, having received nominations for seven Tony Awards, winning two, and ...
Such a fun, bubbly voice!
16. James Earl Jones
Actor | Rogue One
Widely regarded as the one of greatest stage and screen actors both in his native USA and internationally, James Earl Jones was born on January 17, 1931 in Arkabutla, Mississippi. At an early age, he started to take dramatic lessons to calm himself down. It appeared to work as he has since starred ...
A voice so rich and deep you could eat it with a spoon. I love it!
17. Geraldine McEwan
Actress | The Magdalene Sisters
Geraldine McEwan was born in Old Windsor, England and made her theatre debut at the age of 14 at the Theatre Royal in Windsor. By the age of 18 she was starring in London's West End in several long-running popular productions. During the 1950s she acted with the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in ...
I am thinking especially here of her performance as Lucia. I found her voice control abilities very impressive--her voice can quaver, tremble, reach very deep into the bass notes, rise up into shrillness and then settle into false aristocracy again. Such fun to listen to, and so perfect for Lucia!
18. Kelly Macdonald
Actress | No Country for Old Men
Scottish actress Kelly Macdonald was born and raised in Glasgow. Her parents divorced when she was young, and she was raised by her mother, a sales executive in the garment industry. She has one brother, David. As a hobby, she acted in an amateur theatrical club, which she enjoyed a great deal. ...
Her authentic Scottish accent is so nice to hear, and I wish she would read audiobooks or something so I could hear more of her.
19. Benedict Cumberbatch
Actor | The Imitation Game
Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch was born and raised in London, England. His parents, Wanda Ventham and Timothy Carlton (born Timothy Carlton Congdon Cumberbatch), are both actors. He is a grandson of submarine commander Henry Carlton Cumberbatch, and a great-grandson of diplomat Henry Arnold ...
You knew it would be on here. It has to be.
20. Sam Elliott
Actor | A Star Is Born
Tall, thin, wiry Sam Elliott is the classic picture of the American cowboy. Elliott began his acting career on the stage and his film debut was in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). Although his future wife, Katharine Ross co-starred in the film, the two did not meet until they filmed The ...
I have enjoyed this voice all of my life thanks to his performance in Prancer, which came out when I was about 3. Not big on some of the things he has put his voice to, but everyone has to eat I guess.
21. Thelma Ritter
Actress | Rear Window
Thelma Ritter appeared in high school plays and was trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. In the 1940s she worked in radio. Her movie career was started with a bit part in the 1946 Miracle on 34th Street (1947). In the movie she played a weary Xmas shopper. Her performance in the short ...
Not a pretty voice, but so distinctive! It has personality and can go from irritating to lovable.
22. Emma Thompson
Actress | Sense and Sensibility
Emma Thompson was born on April 15, 1959 in Paddington, London, into a family of actors - father Eric Thompson and mother Phyllida Law, who has co-starred with Thompson in several films. Her sister, Sophie Thompson, is an actor as well. Her father was English-born and her mother is Scottish-born. ...
Such a talented lady with such a disciplined voice! I love the way she can really go from motherly to authoritarian to slightly broken to everything else on earth, and all with such nice clear diction, which is a rare quality these days.
23. Idris Elba
Actor | Beasts of No Nation
An only child, Idrissa Akuna Elba was born and raised in London, England. His father, Winston, is from Sierra Leone and worked at Ford Dagenham; his mother, Eve, is from Ghana and had a clerical duty. Idris attended school in Canning Town, where he first became involved in acting, before he dropped...
A voice I have not heard enough of yet but which has impressed me very much!
24. Chris O'Dowd
Actor | Bridesmaids
Christopher "Chris" O'Dowd (born 9 October, 1979) is an Irish actor and comedian best known for his role as Roy Trenneman in the Channel 4 comedy The IT Crowd (2006). O'Dowd created and is starring in the Sky 1 television series Moone Boy (2012). He had a recurring role on the drama series Girls (...
There is a joy to hearing Mr. O'Dowd speak, even when he is saying the most ridiculous things!
25. Ashleigh Ball
Actress | My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
Ashleigh Ball is a Canadian voice actress and musician from Vancouver. As a musician, she is primarily known as a singer and flutist for the alternative rock band "Hey Ocean!" (2004-). As a voice actress she is primarily known for voicing two of the main characters of the long-running fantasy ...
Her distinctive voice was one I first heard on Recess and now enjoy as Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Once you've heard her, you will always recognize her, and I like that. Plus, she can do good voices with a lot of personality.
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