Here's my top 10 list of the best speaking voices of all time, in no particular order:
1. James Earl Jones: C'mon the voice the Darth Vader, need I say more? Interestingly, when he was five, he developed a stutter so severe he refused to speak. "When he moved to Brethren, Michigan, in later years, a teacher at the Brethren schools helped him overcome his stutter. He remained functionally mute for eight years, until he entered high school. He credits his English teacher, Donald Crouch, who discovered he had a gift for writing poetry, with helping him end his silence. Crouch believed forced public speaking would help Jones gain confidence and insisted he recite a poem in class every day. 'I was a stutterer. I couldn't talk. So my first year of school was my first mute year, and then those mute years continued until I got to high school'" (Wikipedia). Check out this video. Yet, now he has one of the most famous and beloved voices of all time.
2. Sir Patrick Stewart: Most widely known for his television and film roles, as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men films, Sir Patrick's voice is beautiful and eloquent. It also helps that his accent is English. <sigh> Love a good English accent (as you'll notice by this list)! Additionally, he has provided voices for many animated movies and TV series, such as Gnomeo & Juliet, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Simpson, and Family Guy - just to list a few.
3. Morgan Freeman: Well, his voice is the voice of God. There seem to be centuries of experience coming out of Freeman's larynx. Many of the voices here have character, but not all of them can boast the payload of history that Freeman has at his command. Apart from excellent range and a strange kind of natural vibrato, there's mellowness here, and enough depth to more than compensate for a relative lack of width. It feels like he's the voice of wisdom and that we must all pay attention to whatever he says. My favorite of his voice overs is the narration of March of the Penguins.
4. Keith Morrison: See above. My favorite Dateline episodes are always Keith's. If you want to hear a fabulous reading of The Night Before Christmas, here is Keith's version.
5. Samuel L. Jackson: Now we all know that Samuel L. Jackson has a love of saying "motherf***er" a lot in his movies (video of all of them). In fact, he has said it over 170 times in his movies. Even so, his voice is truly magnificent; there's a good reason why Capital One hired him as their spokesperson. I have a Capital One Visa which I'm sure is the result of his commercials...or maybe not.
6. Julia Roberts: Currently the spokesperson for Nationwide Insurance, Julia has a voice that is soft and feminine. Her speaking voice would not be labeled as strong and yet its strength lies in its beauty. Her voice has a calming quality that puts its listeners at ease, a unique and enviable trait. I loved her voice over work as Charlotte in Charlotte's Web.
7. Benedict Cumberbatch: Okay, the man cannot say the word "penguin" correctly (video), but that does not take away from his incredible voice. He deserves to be on this list if for no other reason, than for his voicing of Smaug in the Hobbit movies. In addition to Smaug, he has narrated numerous documentaries and audiobooks. Plus he has convinced me that I must purchase a Jaguar.
8. James Mason: Here's a voice which commands without any real likeable quality of warmth, in terms of personality - and yet the gravitas and width of Mason's voice is such a work of art that one has to admire it by its own standards. There's a kind of attack in the faint rasp through which Mason's voice is filtered that both intimidates and intrigues. His voice is wonderfully villainous.
9. Kathleen Turner: Two words: Jessica Rabbit! "I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way" (video). Sultry and sexy, Ms. Turner's voice is wonderfully distinctive. According to Ms. Turner, she developed her voice using erasers. Yes, you read correctly - erasers from the top of pencils. She apparently placed the erasers "at the back of [her] back teeth and it forces a little more space. You get used to opening the oral cavity more and you get resonance" (Turner's Voice Secret). Bizarre, but it seemingly works.
10. Matthew Macfadyen: A BAFTA award winning English actor, Matthew has a warmth and lovely voice. Check out his reading of Pride and Prejudice and see if you are not won over. He has supplied his voice to commercials, documentaries, audiobooks, and animation. One of my favorite actors who also has a magnificent voice.
I know this list is quite male dominated but what can I say. I find male voices to have more gravitas and are far more interesting than female voices. Sorry, ladies.
6. Julia Roberts: Currently the spokesperson for Nationwide Insurance, Julia has a voice that is soft and feminine. Her speaking voice would not be labeled as strong and yet its strength lies in its beauty. Her voice has a calming quality that puts its listeners at ease, a unique and enviable trait. I loved her voice over work as Charlotte in Charlotte's Web.
7. Benedict Cumberbatch: Okay, the man cannot say the word "penguin" correctly (video), but that does not take away from his incredible voice. He deserves to be on this list if for no other reason, than for his voicing of Smaug in the Hobbit movies. In addition to Smaug, he has narrated numerous documentaries and audiobooks. Plus he has convinced me that I must purchase a Jaguar.
8. James Mason: Here's a voice which commands without any real likeable quality of warmth, in terms of personality - and yet the gravitas and width of Mason's voice is such a work of art that one has to admire it by its own standards. There's a kind of attack in the faint rasp through which Mason's voice is filtered that both intimidates and intrigues. His voice is wonderfully villainous.
9. Kathleen Turner: Two words: Jessica Rabbit! "I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way" (video). Sultry and sexy, Ms. Turner's voice is wonderfully distinctive. According to Ms. Turner, she developed her voice using erasers. Yes, you read correctly - erasers from the top of pencils. She apparently placed the erasers "at the back of [her] back teeth and it forces a little more space. You get used to opening the oral cavity more and you get resonance" (Turner's Voice Secret). Bizarre, but it seemingly works.
10. Matthew Macfadyen: A BAFTA award winning English actor, Matthew has a warmth and lovely voice. Check out his reading of Pride and Prejudice and see if you are not won over. He has supplied his voice to commercials, documentaries, audiobooks, and animation. One of my favorite actors who also has a magnificent voice.
I know this list is quite male dominated but what can I say. I find male voices to have more gravitas and are far more interesting than female voices. Sorry, ladies.
Honorable mentions (those voices that just missed the list): Walter Cronkite, Lauren Bacall, Marlon Brando, Vincent Price, Sir David Attenborough, Brian Williams, and Tom Brokaw.
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