This is the place to discuss the disembodied voices that tell us to do stuff. The ones that aren't in our head.

Some belong to famous folks. Some don't. Either way, voiceovering is a craft that deserves its own thread.

I enjoy identifying famous actors from their voices--it's kind of like a parlor game. Two that are doing car campaigns now are Patricia Clarkson for BMW, and Gary Sinise for Cadillac.

There is this AOL commercial that had a voice-over and I thought about it for, like, DAYS to come up with just WHO it could be because it sounded so familar. I thought I figured it out, I thought it was Julia Roberts. I got online to see if I could find any information about it and I couldn't. I dont care what anyone says - that woman sounded like Julia Roberts to me.
But for the most part, I'm good at celebrity voices. Like Angie Harmon for... whichever bottled water.

I'm sure there are many I can recognize if I thought about it, but the one that springs to my mind is for a "Simply Orange" juice commercial. Voiceover done by Donald Sutherland. Now, while I have never thought him to be attractive, there is something about just his voice that curls my toes.

I remember Ed Helms from The Daily Show used to do sloos of voiceovers (he did the brunt though before he started on TDS). I think the only ad he's doing that's on the air now is an ad for some Old Spice High Endurance Body Wash for guys.

United Airlines has had a string of celebrity voiceovers going back to the late seventies. Harold Gould (Rhoda's Dad) was followed in the early eighties by Burgess Meredith, who was followed for a few years in the mid-eighties by Robert Duvall, who was followed from around 1987-1996 by Gene Hackman. When the account then changed agencies there were a few years in which the voiceover was nondescript, but now it's Robert Redford.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2006-0...mmercials_x.htm

A brief article about actors doing voiceovers and the shift to them from the 70s "voice of God" types of announcer.

I have the freakish ability to recognize celebrity voiceovers almost immediately. My husband thinks I'm abnormal, but I consider it a skill acquired from watching an over-abundance of television.

Don't be ashamed, ms black--own it!

I'm embarrassed to admit I bought Simply Orange simply (hee!) because of Donald Sutherland's voiceover. Thank goodness it really is good juice. Well played, Simply Orange people, well played.

I could swear Patrick Dempsey aka McDreamy is the voice for a cereal commercial I just saw. I missed what cereal it was because I was trying to decide if it really was McDreamy speaking or not.

I think it's definitely Patrick Dempsey doing the cereal ad (I forget which brand too.) I noticed it for the first time yesterday and thought, 'Hey, that's McDreamy.'

To the poster who mentioned the AOL spots, that's definitely Julia Roberts. I think she's been doing them for close to a year now.

My local paper had an article today about famous voices pervading ads. The only one I hadn't identified was Queen Latifah for Pizza Hut. I kind of love the trend because it's like a little trivia game every time you see (hear) a commercial.

OK, TWOP'ers! Has anyone seen/heard the commercial for Cavit wines? I think the female VO is Katie Lee (Mrs. Billy) Joel, who's been giving us the giggles over in the Top Chef forum with her wooden delivery.

Queen Latifah! Of course! I kept thinking it sounded like Oprah Winfrey, and figured that couldn't be right.

When it comes to quality voiceover work, it begins and ends with Hal Douglas, in my opinion -- the guy's got a good sense of humor too.

Thanks but sweet for certain!!! After I sat there for (what seemed like an unusually long time) trying to figure out who it could be, once I realized it was Julia Roberts, I got online to see if I could find it. I couldn't. I believe you (trust me, I do!) but where did you hear about it? Seriously, I looked it up online and searched for a while and couldn't find it.

Anyway. My daughter loves David Duchovney on the Purina commercials. Well, I think she likes to dogs but I certainly love hearing DD between The Backyardigans and Wonderpets daily. Makes Nick Jr. just THAT much better. :-)

Google "julia roberts aol" and you'll get about 600,000 hits.

One of my favorite voices (and I've no idea if he still does it or not) but is J. K. Simmons (AKA Schillinger from Oz) as the yellow peanut M&M. While it's always a toss-up for me whether I associate Simmons more with his Schillinger character or Dr. Skoda from Law & Order Mothership, just the though of a neo-Nazi doing a voiceover for such a wholesome snack is great!

As for the more obscure, a local Twin Cities radio personality, Tom Barnard, used to do national voice overs for Best Buy as well as a beer (I forget which) back in the day. A friend of mine at the time had moved to Kansas City for a time and thought it was neat that she still heard him.

Sometimes I'm quick at identifying voices, sometimes embarrassingly bad. Wendie Malick, who does a lot of them, is easy. So is Peri Gilpin of Frasier (she was doing a car, I think, a while back). And Linda Hunt is marvelous -- that's a voice full of character and authority. John Corbett is a quick catch too.

But I never got that Billy Crudup was the "Priceless" voice. And that's mortifying, because I was his biggest fan from the moment I saw his stage debut in Arcadia, more than a decade ago. And I don't recall noticing J.K. Simmons either. Clearly I have to get out more.

Even though, if you listen close enough, you can tell it's not them, I had always thought the M&M characters were voiced by John Goodman and Jon Lovitz. It almost makes me wonder if the VO artists were trying to immitate them.

Duchovney also does a commercial for Children's Hospital that has a nearly identical voiceover. It's like they heard him do the Purina ad and said "Do it just like that, but replace the word 'dogs' with 'kids'".

I'm pretty sure the red M&M guy is Billy West, who also voiced characters on Futurama.

I can't place her doing a car ad but she definitely is the voice of Wells Fargo.

Am I hearing things or is Richard Thomas (aka John-Boy Walton) doing the voiceover for a car commercial now? I'm thinking Saab, but I'm not certain.

Peri Gilpin used to do Hyundai commercials, but I'm not sure if she still does.

Is that Lili Taylor on the Tylenol PM commercials? I think so. Everytime I listen I feel like I hear her about to break into "Nate! Are you listening to me? Find my body! Eat brown rice!"

I like her well enough, but I hate her V/Os. Her attempt to sound soothing by whispering breathily doesn't quite cover the hoarse gravelly undertone in her voice. Her normal speaking voice, however, is fine.

I love this topic-
Mibbitmaker- people are absolutely asked to "sound like so and so" in voiceovers- I took a voiceover class a couple of years ago and our teacher was telling us about the trendiness of voices- we want you to sound like this popular actor, etc.

I had no idea about Billy Crudup! Or Lili Taylor. I need to start watching more TV again and paying attention to this stuff. Billy Crudup! I'm shocked.

This morning one of those Pedigree "we're for dogs" type commercials came on while I had my back turned to the television, and I was like, "Mulder?" Then I had to verify that it is, indeed, David Duchovny.

I absolutely love Leslie Neilson's voiceovers. He's so serious and
deep-voiced and wise.

Of course, I picture Neilson making bug-eyes while he's talking, sort of like in his movies, so the overall impression is a bit wrecked.

Robert Stack does a good Voice of Authority, too. There's a voice you can trust.

Never mind. Got my answer.

Billy West is also the voice of the Honey Nut Cheerios Bee. Stupidly obvious once you know it's him, but I never made the connection until I read that he did those commercials.

I overheard some beer commercial tonight and I was pretty sure Edward Norton was doing the voiceover -- can anyone confirm/deny this?

Keifer Sutherland is my favorite voice-over, he's done Ford, MCI/Verison and most recently Mac computers.

I think that was Edward Norton and I have been searching like crazy to confirm it. I haven't found anything to link him to Miller but I will post it if I do.

I keep expect him to say, "Don't make me do this! Just buy the product and this'll all be over!"

Anyone hear Susan Surandon doing VO for some brand of frozen dinners? That's just plain bewildering.

Does anybody know who the new voice is for Smucker's? (The guy who did their commercials for so many years, Mason Adams, passed away several months ago.) The new voice almost sounds like Wink Martindale, but I'm not sure it's him.

I am not sure, but it sounds sort of like Willard Scott from the Today show.

That's definitely Susan Sarandon for Stouffers. Other ones are Kevin Spacey for Honda, and Will Arnett (from Arrested Development) is for Lamisil.

My hubby and I make thsi a runnign contest to guess the narrator. Yes, we are lame, but we are very happy!

Edward Norton does the voice-over for Miller Genuine Draft

Home Depot's voice-overs are done by one of my personal favorites-Clancy Brown.

I think its him too. When he was a regular on the Today Show, didn't he used to hawk Smuckers when he'd wish all those old people happy birthday?

Looks like Willard Scott wins out on Smucker's...

So Clancy Brown is Mr. Krabs on Spongebob, Myron Hadley from "The Shawshank Redemption", AND the Home Depot guy, huh?

He's also Kelvin Inman on "Lost" and did a bunch of horror anthology shows, including "Tales From the Crypt", and he has an awesome voice for ads.

Don't forget Rawhide from the awesome The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension

Did Daniel J. Travanti used to do Honda?

FYI, Robert Duvall is now doing radio spots for United Technologies (Pratt & Whitney, Sikorsky, Otis Elevators).

Does anyone know the name of the actor from the Pepperidge Farm commercials in the 1980s? His sign-off line was, "Pepp'ridge Fahm remembehs!" I think he also used to appear in them, as well.

That was (why do I know this instead of something I could make money with?) Parker Fennelly, a radio and movie character actor. He played crusty New Englanders like Titus Moody on the Fred Allen radio show. (OK. I'm old.)

Maybe, but more recently it was Richard Dreyfuss. But now it's Kevin Spacey. Matt Dillon does Pontiac commercials.

I love hearing Mrs Bartlet (Stockard Channing) do the AIG commericals for the World Cup.

Ahhh, Parker Fennelly. He will always be part of my family's lexicon, for "Pepp'ridge Faam remembahs" and for "Whatcha doin' up thaa, Muriel?" Anyone know that one?

Burgess Meredith voiced the Honda ads for a long time, then he was replaced by Jack Lemmon...Seems like Michael Douglas was in the mix at one point, too.

I remember that old Titus Moody character, too. Saw him once on Johnny Carson probably way back in the mid 60s. (Sorry...not quite old enough to remember old time radio, unless you count "Animal Stories" on WLS!)

Back on topic...Orson Bean did the voiceovers for Pepperidge Farm for a while.

After being VO'ed by Mason Adams for decades (until his death), Smucker's Jam is now being VO'ed by someone doing an uncanny (and eerie) impersonation of Mason Adams.

Celebrities voiceovers are lost on me. I never notice them. I remember recognizing Julia Roberts in AOL commercials and Queen Latifah doing Pizza Hut ads, but my reaction wasn't, "Wow! Julia Roberts and Queen Latifah!" It was more like, "Huh. They got people who sound like Julia Roberts and Queen Latifah... But it's obviously not them, since they would never do voiceovers for commercials."

I'm pretty sure you are thinking of Mercedes. The commercial came on and my bf and I turned, stared at each other and finally, in stereo, yelled "John Boy!" It took us a minute, but I am pretty certain it is him.

Peri Gilpin is my favorite voice. So comforting. IMO Wells Fargo got the perfect voice.

I always loved the Country Crock commercials, just the hands and voices. Mainly because of the guy's voice being Mr. Carlton from Bob Newhart (I could look up the actor's name, but I know Rinaldo will have it on the tip of his tongue!) I always imagine him sharing the Country Crock with Carol, Bob's receptionist.

ETA - Hey thanks, AimingforYoko!

Jack Riley