Discuss Ronald Colman
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One of cinema's greatest voices
posted by rudely_murraySTAFFMOD on September 19, 2019 at 10:37 PM
Ronald Colman is up there alongside James Mason, Vincent Price, George Sanders and Basil Rathbone as one of the greatest, smoothest male voices in cinema. I could listen to any of these gentlemen purring and exchanging barbed witticisms all day.
Colman acting opposite Price in Champagne for Caesar is about as aurally pleasant as movies can get.
Who else deserves to be on this list of velvet-voiced masters?
Reply by QuitePleasant
on September 20, 2019 at 6:55 AM
Hey, Rude. Good choices.
Reply by rudely_murray
on September 20, 2019 at 9:02 AM
Some terrific picks there QuitePleasant - and one or two I am not familiar with whom I must check out (Franklin Pangborn, Hugh Beaumont... the names are familiar but I couldn't place them, while Buck Taylor, I must admit, doesn't ring a bell at all).
Thanks for the reply!
Reply by genplant29
on September 20, 2019 at 9:28 AM
rudely, you may not know the name Franklin Pangborn, but I'm sure you have seen him in many '30s and '40s films. (He also was in numerous Silent, and some '50s, films.) Hilarious, and definitely memorable, actor.
Regarding great cinematic voices, I agree with all the ones mentioned (other than not being familiar with Buck Taylor). Some other great screen voices:
The names you mentioned, rudely, would be my definite Top Tier first choices.
As far as recent decades go, I feel that Jeremy Irons goes solidly onto the primo list of all-time greatest voices. Actually, his voice and Karloff's have a lot of similarity.
Reply by rudely_murray
on September 22, 2019 at 8:03 AM
Great picks! I can't believe I missed Rains, in particular, one of my favourite actors. And yes, the Irons/Karloff similarity is certainly quite distinct at times-- never more so than in Irons' role in Reversal of Fortune where he really seemed to be channelling Boris.
Reply by barrymost
on October 9, 2019 at 6:37 AM
Yes, those are great picks, rudely! Ronald Colman is undoubtedly at the top of my list for great film voices, but I agree with all of them, save for James Mason, as I am not extremely familiar with his work. And yes, wouldn't it be a wonderful thing to listen voices such as those all day.
I would say John Barrymore deserves to be on the list as well. He had a very smooth, eloquent, and seductively persuasive voice, especially in Grand Hotel (1932). And certainly Orson Welles, but gen beat me to it.