Best/worst voice actors?

[rexcrk]

Wait... Dr. Niles Crane did a voice for a Disney film? Why didn't I know about that? Which film was that?

Slim in A Bug's Life... oh and I think he was in Treasure Planet too.

[Mooky]

Worst: Mel Gibson in Pocahontas. He is just so dull in the role and it's not like he couldn't have played the part well, as he did a very good job playing Rocky the Rooster in Chicken Run (though, in that case, he was playing a cocky and lying American actor, so not much of a stretch). But, he really seemed to bring so life to John Smith and it's a large part why I don't care for Pocahontas or the Smith-Pocky relationship all that much.

I can't believe I forgot that one! My biggest discontent with "Pocahontas" stems from the portrayal of John Smith and Mel Gibson's lifeless and horrid performance doesn't help it at all. I still can't believe Disney actually went with it, because they usually do a great job when casting celebrities.

[jpanimation]

I like Corey Burton

[PrincePhillipFan]

Can't believe it's more than a month since I've been here on this board. But since it's concerning voice actors, I couldn't resist.

I like Corey Burton

I agree. Burton is definitely in my top list of current voice actors today. He just has such an amazing range and able to imitate so many of the past characters.

Here's a list of a few of my favorite others:

Bill Lee - Love, love, LOVE Lee's singing voice as well as voice acting abilities. From Roger singing Cruella DeVil, to his British Duke in the Haunted Mansion and Melvin the Moose in Country Bear Jamboree, he just had such a broad range of vocal performance. I'm really tempted to start a Bill Lee fanpage one day as sadly not many Disney fans really recognize him when he did everything from the Mello Men, to the animated films, theme parks, and Disneyland records.

Paul Frees - The Voice of God. Just an amazing baritone voice, but also his range of amazing characters outside of Disney, such as Boris Badenov to the Pillsbury Doughboy. I love his vocal performances as the Ghost Host in the Haunted Mansion and the pirates of Pirates of the Caribbean, not to mention his awesome zany Ludwig Von Drake.

Thurl Ravenscroft - Best bass voice ever.

Gloria Wood - Sadly, not many people know Gloria and her contributions to Disney, but I love the sound of her voice. She worked as a big band singer in the 40s during the swing era, then later found a niche as a singer and voice actress, singing for many artists such as Bing Crosby, Stan Freberg, and numerous television commercials, and later as a voice actress for Disney and Warner Bros (her most famous is as Nelly in Chuck Jones' Nelly's Folly). For Disney, she was a regular vocalist for the Disney Records label, as well as the voice of Minnine Mouse in the 1950s for television and the Disneyland records, the voice of Grimhilde on a couple of Disney albums, Tinker Bell for the Disney Peter Pan peanut butter commercials, and as the female vocalist in A Symposium On Popular Songs. She also worked as a vocalist on Alice In Wonderland and Peter Pan.

Barbara Luddy - I love the sound of her voice. She always has such a soothing husky quality to her speaking that just generates a lot of emotion to any role she plays, from Lady to Merryweather.

Eleanor Audley - I admire Eleanor not only as the voice of Lady Tremaine, Maleficent, and Madame Leota, but also as an amazing actress. Having seen her on everything from I Love Lucy to The Dick Van Dyke Show, she just always turn in an amazing peformance as a snobbish mother, aunt, matriarch, or busybody. It could be a completely mediocore movie or episode, and I would still find it entertaining simply for her presence.

Lucille Bliss and Rhoda Williams - I love them as Anastasia and Drizella, as their voices are just so perfectly suited for the part. I also love Rhoda's voice for later when she voiced Sarah the mother in the original version of Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress. Not to mention that Lucille was just awesome as Miss Bitters in Invader Zim.

Harry Stockwell - Had no more than two lines as the Prince, but his voice made me completely fall in love with "One Song" and his character.

Tate Donavan - I really don't care at all much for celebrity voices, but I make an exception here with Herc. Tate's voice just greatly captured the essence of Herc's character - he was naive, but at the same time had a genuine heart and strong heroism to his voice.

Least Favorite:
I have a hard time picking a least favorite as Disney always seems to pefectly cast their characters, but Paige O'Hara's voice grates on my nerves. It's not so much her speaking, but I can't stand her shaky sounding vibrato when she sings (you can especially hear it a lot when she sings the Belle Reprise). But oddly on the other hand, Adriana Caselotti's high vibrato I have no problem with.

[Goliath]

In general, I'm just fed up with all the celebrity voices. And I have felt this way for years now. Most animated films these days have *only* celebrity voices! And they just use them so they can advertise with their names; not because they're good for the part. Where is the time when being a voice actor was an actual job, and parts were filled in by veteran voice actors who knew what they were doing and had a very broad range? It's sad to realize that's gone nowadays.

[Super Aurora]

I like Corey Burton

He's awesome as Brainiac from Superman:The Animated series

[estefan]

In general, I'm just fed up with all the celebrity voices. And I have felt this way for years now. Most animated films these days have *only* celebrity voices! And they just use them so they can advertise with their names; not because they're good for the part. Where is the time when being a voice actor was an actual job, and parts were filled in by veteran voice actors who knew what they were doing and had a very broad range? It's sad to realize that's gone nowadays.

Well, Jim Cummings was the voice of Ray in The Princess and the Frog and most of the main cast in Meet the Robinsons consisted of professional voice actors. But, I definitely agree with what you're saying.

There's no reason they couldn't have gotten Cummings, Kath Soucie, Tress McNeille, Frank Welker and Rob Paulsen to play the Furious Five in Kung Fu Panda, for example, as the big celebrity actors added absolutely nothing to the roles.

[PrincePhillipFan]

In general, I'm just fed up with all the celebrity voices. And I have felt this way for years now. Most animated films these days have *only* celebrity voices! And they just use them so they can advertise with their names; not because they're good for the part. Where is the time when being a voice actor was an actual job, and parts were filled in by veteran voice actors who knew what they were doing and had a very broad range? It's sad to realize that's gone nowadays.

I agree. While I often have no problem with celebrities voicing animated characters, more often than not their performances fall flat. Sadly, it seems like great voice actors of the past like Verna Felton, Paul Frees, and Eleanor Audley are being phased out for only celebrity roles. I adore the enormous talent of voice over people such as Corey Burton, Tress MacNeille, Rob Paulsen, Jess Harnell, etc, but very little do they get a chance at large or supporting roles in animated features today.

[pap64]

Here are my choices:
Jim Cummings: Whether he is doing Winnie the Pooh or Ray the firefly the man has amazing talent! On top of that he looks like a great guy that loves what he does.

Bill Farmer: To me, he will always be Goofy. I realize that many others came before him, but this is the Goofy I grew up with.

Jodi Benson: I think she has an amazing voice. Even in the latter years her voice still had a youthful quality to it.

Illene Woods: She is amazing as Cinderella with a beautiful singing voice to match!

Verna Felton: As previously stated, she has an amazing vocal range, and can do warm and cuddly to crazy and tyrannical.

Sterling Holloway: I think he is a tad underrated as a Disney voice actor. It's true that his voice never changed much in between roles, but he had an amazing delivery of life, and his calm, soothing voice made him a great narrator.

Brad Garret: He has a great, deep voice that is both warm and strong, allowing him to play big lugs or intimidating characters.

John Goodman: He nails the role of the warm, lovable good guy perfectly. And as evidence in Princess and the Frog, he can deliver great accents!

Lest favorites:
Miley Cyrus: She was very flat as Penny in Bolt. In my honest opinion, the Spanish dub has more emotion than Miley's dub.

Patrick Warbuton: I admit he is great as Krunk. But he has been so overused in other animated projects that I don't care for him anymore.

[PrincePhillipFan]

I can't believe I also completely forgot two of my favorites -Eartha Kitt and Patrick Warburton. Just the way Eartha says "Is there anything on this menu that isn't swimming in gravy?" never fails to make me giggle.

[Marky_198]

Tom Hulce doesn't fit Quasimodo to me.

I think it fits Quasimodo quite good. I love that the voice is kind of warm and beautiful. It's the voice that shows Quasimodo's beauty and kindness from within.

What kind of voice would you rather hear on Quasimodo?

[Scarred4life]

^ I always thought that too. I think his voice fits perfectly, especially during Heaven's Light.

[jpanimation]

In general, I'm just fed up with all the celebrity voices. And I have felt this way for years now. Most animated films these days have *only* celebrity voices! And they just use them so they can advertise with their names; not because they're good for the part. Where is the time when being a voice actor was an actual job, and parts were filled in by veteran voice actors who knew what they were doing and had a very broad range? It's sad to realize that's gone nowadays.

This is one of the reasons I appreciate Lilo and Stitch soo much. Not only is it original but it also has NO big celebrity names attached to it. Some people may recognize Ving Rhames or Tia Carrere from some of their early 90's work but they aren't big enough to advertise, and for the most part, the movie uses established voice actors (who do an amazing job). I feel its easier to get into an animated character if you don't associate their voice with anyone and they completely become that character.

Disney and Dreamoworks seem to only green-light a film if they have big celebrity names to carry it, instead of concentrating on the quality of the movie, and the smaller studios seem to be following suit. PIXAR does a fantastic job voice casting and most of their "celebrities" are veteran actors that wouldn't be big draws (Paul Newman, Ian Holm, Peter O'Toole, Christopher Plummer, Edward Asner, etc.), or someone from around the office. Heck, Wall-E doesn't even talk. It's nice that they don't rely on celebrities to carry their movies but the quality.

[Goliath]

Lest favorites:
Miley Cyrus: She was very flat as Penny in Bolt. In my honest opinion, the Spanish dub has more emotion than Miley's dub.

That's the perfect example of what I was talking about. Just a celebrity voice, used to sell more tickets to tween fans of Hannah Montana. Nobody can convince me Miley was cast because Disney thought she would be the only/perfect person for the role.

[Giygas]

^^^

This is why I hate Disney's translations of Miyazaki's films. Although they sometimes get actors that work really well (Mark Hamill), most of the time you can tell that they picked them because of their name (Basically the whole cast of Ponyo, specifically Noah Cyrus and Frankie Jonas).

[TheSequelOfDisney]

That's the perfect example of what I was talking about. Just a celebrity voice, used to sell more tickets to tween fans of Hannah Montana. Nobody can convince me Miley was cast because Disney thought she would be the only/perfect person for the role.

Oh no doubt of it. That was the only reason that she was cast. All Disney seems to care about is money nowadays and that's pretty disappointing considering that the company was created to show off the artist's amazing talent of bringing stories to life. It's rather sad, especially because Cyrus can't act: at all.

[ajmrowland]

My top bill of VAs.

Wayne Allwine

Jim Cummings

Steve Burton

Corey Burton

Christopher Lee

Nathan Lane

Quinton Flynn

Bill Farmer

Keith David

Robin williams

Nancy Cartwright

John Goodman

Jodi Benson

kelsey grammar makes a great Sideshow Bob, but Im not entirely sure he belongs here.

David Hyde-Pierce

Patrick Warburton

[Giygas]

kelsey grammar makes a great Sideshow Bob, but Im not entirely sure he belongs here.

He did the voice of narrater in Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas, Dr. Frankenollie in Runaway Brain, the villain in the Teacher's Pet movie, and Stinky Pete in Toy Story 2, so probably.

[lord-of-sith]

Verna Felton - Awesome range. All of her characters are extremely charismatic and carry the scenes that she's in. Wonderful warmth to her voice.

Eleanor Audley - The BEST female villain voice. Period. She has both the shrillness and charisma to carry a convicing villainess. The low tambor in her voice instantly draws the ear in and gives her characters an immediate presence.

Christopher Lee - Amazing bass voice. With only two lines in Alice and Wonderland, he can make a lasting impression. His voice carries amazingly, and his intensity is unmatched.

Tress MacNielle - Unmatched female vocal range. While her sweeter characters are nice, it's her rougher roles that are really amazing. The fact that she plays the crazy cat lady also gives her big points in my book

David Ogden Stiers - Wonderful array of Disney characters, and I applaud him for trying to make them all as different as possible!

Lucille LaVerne - Her Queen/Hag is a spectacular performance. Her transformation from regal to wretched is wonderful.

Ilene Woods - Such amazing warmth, particularly in her singing voice.

Tony Jay - Really makes Frollo a real person. His rendition of "Hellfire" is perfect.

Thurl Ravenscroft - Similar to Lee & Jay in that deep menacing category, though he was also able to garner huge success from the very warm Tony the Tiger.

those are just a few.

One that particularly grates at me, though, is Ben Stiller in Madagascar. I remember reading an interview with maybe the director (?) where he said it was difficult to animate to Stiller's voice because his voice often comes off as mad, even when he's not. HELLO!!!!! Then why cast him only to use his voice!?!?!?!?! An extremely obvious case of only using a star because they're a star, and at the expense of the film. Shame.

[ajmrowland]

kelsey grammar makes a great Sideshow Bob, but Im not entirely sure he belongs here.

He did the voice of narrater in Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas, Dr. Frankenollie in Runaway Brain, the villain in the Teacher's Pet movie, and Stinky Pete in Toy Story 2, so probably.

Of course!! I didn't even think of Pete!grrr.