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Voice Over Legends – Paul Frees

Posted by JohnMatthewVO in All Posts | Voiceover Community & History - (Comments Off)

Listen to this:

Recognize the voice? That’s legendary actor Paul Frees (1920-1986), whose IMDb page is so long they had to make the internet bigger to get it to fit. He’s also one of the first voice actors whose name I new as a kid, thanks to my father being in the business and working with some of the leading voice talent of the day.

Paul Frees did just about everything as an actor, both on-camera and off – TV, Movies, animation, narration, theme parks – but he’s principally known for his voice work. His many roles include Disney’s Ludwig Von Drake, Boris Badenov on “The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show”, Santa Claus in Rankin/Bass’ “Frosty The Snowman”, the Pillsbury Doughboy, Toucan Sam, the Little Green Sprout, and perhaps his most famous – the Ghost Host at Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of that performance, with Paul trying out some other voices for the part:

Like many actors of his day, Paul started out in radio and eventually made the transition to film and television, after having served in WWII. Paul played a number of small and bit parts on-camera, many uncredited. Fans of classic sci-fi will remember him as the Orson Welles sound-alike reporter in the 1953 screen adaptation of H.G. Wells’ The War Of The Worlds. He also dubbed many foreign and domestic films, notably providing the voice for Admiral Yamamoto (Toshiro Mifune) in Midway. I’m a big fan of Japanese sci-fi films, and Paul’s distinctive voice is heard on the English versions of many of the older movies.

The few credits I’ve mentioned here are just the tip of the iceberg that is Paul Frees’ astounding body of work. For more, check out:

Paul Frees on IMDb
Paul Frees on Wikipedia

And of course, YouTube.

Thanks for visiting johnmatthew.com

JM

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Character Voice Acting Basics – Consistency

Posted by JohnMatthewVO in All Posts | Instruction | Voiceover Techniques & Tips - (Comments Off)

Another thing to watch out for when performing characters and accents in your voiceover work is CONSISTENCY. Your character’s voice, accent (if any) and speech mannerisms need to be consistent to be convincing. Take a look at the video below, in which Tina Fey and Jack McBrayer of 30 Rock demonstrate the dangers of an inconsistent accent…

An inconsistent read is usually a sign of an underdeveloped character. If your voices and accents are weaving all over the road, you’ll just need to put some more practice time in to nail down your character. The more you really know, understand – and most importantly, FEEL – your characters, the more consistent they’ll be.

Keep in mind, though, that in the early stages of developing a character voice, it’s normal and necessary to do a lot of exploring with the voice. I find that new characters usually meander around for some time before finally settling into something stable. And it’s ultimately the personality that locks the voice down.

And by the way, this concept applies equally to “straight” commercial voiceover reads – your performance will be inconsistent unless you’re clear about your attitude and motivations for the spot.

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