In today’s guest post, reader Jack Ralph asks if you can identify film stars just by the sound of their voice:
Many movie and television fans can identify a great number of performers by name immediately by viewing the performers, both on the screen and even in person.
But when one’s eyes are closed, how many performers can one identify immediately by only hearing their voices? Facial characteristics may change, but there are many performers that have (or have had) a certain sound that one can identify immediately by merely hearing them speak.
They can “hide” from view, but can be recognized in many cases when they speak.
Unfortunately, for this “game,” this list of persons is predominately male. It may have been either a problem with my hearing, or perhaps my hearing could not discern the slight differences in resonance or vocal tone of many different women. Many women possess similarities in their voice, giving me difficulty detecting their slightly different dulcet and sultry vocal.sounds. Or, perhaps, the “certain something” of the voices of Ava Gardner, Joan Crawford, Greer Garson, Deborah Kerr, Rita Hayworth, Anne Bancroft, Ingrid Bergman and many other terrific actresses and noted women is either absent or is too similar to that of others.
Also, certain men, such as Peter Sellers and Alec Guinness, who have used many voices, makes it difficult for me to decide which voice to choose for this list.
And I certainly must have forgotten the sounds of many others.
Let’s get down to business. How well do you listen? Can you recognize some of these voices that I can identify? Start counting.
Claude Akins
Eddie Albert
Gracie Allen
Woody Allen
June Allison
Don Ameche
Eddie “Rochester”Anderson
Ann-Margret
Eve Arden
Henry Armetta
Louis Armstrong
James Arness
Desi Arnaz
Edward Arnold
Bea Arthur
Jean Arthur
Fred Astaire
Lew Ayres
Lauren Bacall
Jim Backus (Mr. Magoo)
Pearl Bailey
Lucille Ball
John Banner
Lionel Barrymore
Wallace Beery
Ralph Bellamy
William Bendix
Jack Benny
Gertrude Berg
Willie Best
Charles Bickford
Vivian Blaine
Mel Blanc (Bugs Bunny, etc.)
Humphrey Bogart
Ray Bolger
Ward Bond
Shirley Booth
Charles Boyer
Eddie Bracken
Terry Bradshaw
Neville Brand
Marlon Brando
Walter Brennan
Charles Bronson
Mel Brooks
Joe E. Brown
Yul Brynner
Billie Burke
Edgar Buchanan
Lester “Smiley” Burnett
George Burns
Raymond Burr
Sam Butera
Pat Buttram
Nicholas Cage
James Cagney
Louis Calhern
Eddy Cantor
Harry Carey, Sr.
Leslie Caron
Jack Carson
Johnny Carson
Jimmy Carter
Jeff Chandler
Carol Channing
Maurice Chevalier
E, J, Cobb
Charles Coburn
James Coburn
Claudette Colbert
Nat Cole
Ronald Coleman
Perry Como
Elisha Cook
Gary Cooper
Howard Cosell
Lou Costello
Joseph Cotton
Wally Cox
Broderick Crawford
Bing Crosby
Tony Curtis
Dan Dailey
Royal Dano
Bette Davis
Doris Day
Sammy Davis, Jr.
William Demarest
Andy Devine
Danny De Vito
Colleen Dewhurst
Billy DeWolfe
Marlena Dietrich
Brian Donlevy
KirkDouglas
Paul Douglas
Howard Duff
Jimmy Durante
Clint Eastwood
Buddy Ebsen
Billy Eckstein
Sam Elliot
Marty Feldman
W.C. Fields
Barry Fitzgerald
Errol Flynn
Henry Fonda
Jane Fonda
Redd Foxx
Clark Gable
Zsa Zsa Gabor
Greta Garbo
John Garfield
Judy Garland
Jamea Garner
Betty Garret
Hermione Gingold
Jackie Gleason
James Gleason
Whoopi Goldberg
Ruth Gordon
Leo Gorsey
Robert Goulet
CaryGrant
Sidney Greenstreet
Andy Griffith
James Gregory
Tom Hanks
Oliver Hardy
Phil Harris
Rex Harrison
Goldie Hawn
SterlingHayden
George “Gabby” Hayes
Van Heflin
Hugh Herbert
Charlton Heston
Alfred Hitchcock
Judy Holliday
Sterling Holloway
Oscar Homolka
Bob Hope
Lena Horne
Edward Everett Horton
Leslie Howard
Rock Hudson
Betty Hutton
Wilfred Hyde-White
Lou Jacobi
Allen Jenkins
Glynis Johns
Van Johnson
James Earl Jones
Al Jolson
Victor Jory
Marvin Kaplan
Boris Karloff
Gene Kelly
Patsy Kelly
Percy Kibride
Werner Klemperer
Jack Klugman
Don Knotts
Otto Kruger
Alan Ladd
Bert Lahr
ArthurLake
Charles Laughton
Stan Laurel
Jack Lemmon
Sheldon Leonard
Oscar Levant
Jerry Lewis
Sophia Loren
Peter Lorre
Joe Louis
Frank Lovejoy
Bela Lugosi
Moms Mabley
Shirley MacLaine
John Madden
Marjorie Main
Dean Martin
Strother Martin
Lee Marvin
Chico Marx
Groucho Marx
Jackie Mason
James Mason
Raymond Massey
Johnny Mathis
Walter Matthau
Mike Mazurki
Mercedes McCambridge
Reba McEntire
Butterfly McQueen
Steve McQueen
Joel McCrea
Audrey Meadows
Donald Meek
Jack Mercer (Popeye)
Ray Milland
Carmen Miranda
Millard Mitchell
Robert Mitchum
Marilyn Monroe
Alan Mobray
Robert Morley
Audy Murphy
J. Caroll Nash
Patricia Neal
Willie Nelson
David Niven
Jack Nicholson
Lloyd Nolan
Jack Oakie
Edmund O’Brien
Margaret O’Brien
Pat O’Brien
Donald O’Connor
Maria Ouspenskaya
Franklin Pangborn
Alice Pearce
Minnie Pearl
Gregory Peck
Nat Pendleton
LincolnPerry (“Stepin Fetchit”)
Joe Pesci
Brock Peters
Sidney Poitier
Elvis Presley
Robert Preston
Louis Prima
Mae Questel (Betty Boop, Olive Oyl)
Anthony Quinn
Claude Raines
Basil Rathbone
Aldo Ray
Martha Raye
Debby Reynolds
Don Rickles
Thelma Ritter
Joan Rivers
Doris Roberts
Edward G. Robinson
Ginger Rogers
Roy Rogers
Will Rogers
Mickey Rooney
Eleanor Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Rosalind Russell
Margaret Rutherford
S.Z. “Cuddles” Sakall
George Sanders
Arnold Schwarzenegger
George C. Scott
Randolph Scott
Tom Selleck
Rod Serling
DinahShore
Jay Silverheels
Phil Silvers
Frank Sinatra
Red Skelton
Walter Slezak
Pete Smith
Smith and Dale (Dr. Kronkeit)
Ann Sothern
Sylvester Stallone
Arnold Stang
Barbara Stanwyck
Jean Stapleton
Rod Steiger
Jimmy Stewart
Barbra Streisand
Ed Sullivan
Shirley Temple
Spencer Tracy
Arthur Treacher
Claire Trevor
Sarah Vaughn
Clint Walker
Nancy Walker
Eli Wallach
Barbara Walters
Rachel Ward
John Wayne
Jack Webb
Orson Welles
Mae West
Betty White
Richard Widmark
Chill Wills
Shelley Winters
Monty Woolley
Loretta Young
How many could you identify? If you are interested, I can tell you about some of the persons that you may not recognize by name. Can you add any to your own list?
Jack was born in Chicago, grew up in Easton, Pa., attended Lafayette College, Georgetown University, and graduated with a Master’s Degree in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago. He served three years in the U.S. Navy as an X-ray technician, but he devoted most of his life both as a volunteer and as a professional working in the field of civil rights where he earned the Secretary’s (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) Exceptional Achievement Award for developing printing and publishing guidelines for persons with communication problems. He has been published in several government publications concerning the problems of minorities, handicapped persons and the aging population.