The 10 Best Voice-Over Performances of All-Time

Over at The Film Experience, we had another of our monthly Team Experience Polls in which this month we chose the 10 Best Voice-Over Performances in film. Although animated movies are the first thing that come to mind, it was open to all vocal performances in which the actors themselves do not appear on screen. We also ruled out the use of stop-motion performances in which the actor actually performs the entire performance on green screen to be turned into a CGI creation later (otherwise Andy Serkis as Gollum would've certainly made my list). Six out of the ten performances I chose made their way to the final list which you can read here.

Creating remarkable performances with only the use of their voice, these 10 actors prove that even without the full use of their bodies and image, they can can still create complete characters using only a single element of their actorly tools. The voice is a powerful instrument that was the original method of storytelling, so it's only right to highlight 10 cinematic performances that carry on that oral tradition.

Honorable Mentions (I could've probably created an entire other list with any of these actors): Paige O'Hara Beauty and the Beast, Eartha Kitt The Emperor's New Groove, Christine Cavanaugh Babe, Jennifer Cody The Princess and the Frog, Jeremy Irons The Lion King, Minnie Driver Tarzan, Brad Bird The Incredibles, George Sanders Shere Khan, Jimmy MacDonald Cinderella, Douglas Rain 2001: A Space Odyssey

10. Alec Baldwin as the Narrator in The Royal Tenenbaums

"All memory of the brilliance of the young Tenenbaums had been erased by two decades of betrayal, failure and disaster."

Before we became more familiar with the deadpan comedic delivery of Baldwin, thanks to his weekly adventures as Jack Donaghy on 30 Rock, we got a taste when he played the brilliantly droll narrator for Wes Anderson’s film about a family of eccentrics. Everything in an Anderson film is a carefully calculated creation and Baldwin’s voice – deep, soothing, with just the right amount of sarcasm coming through- is equally precise, providing the perfect narration for Anderson’s curio.

9. Geraldine Page as Madame Medusa in The Rescuers

"Adopted? What makes you think anyone would want a homely little girl like you?"

Madame Medusa never really gets the same sort of attention that bigger Disney villainesses like Cruella De Vil and Maleficent receive. And originally, the studio had even toyed with the idea of bringing back Cruella as the baddie in The Rescuers. Luckily they decided to create a new evil creation otherwise we would’ve missed out on the unforgettable voice work of Oscar-winning actress Geraldine Page. Marrying beautifully with Milt Kahl’s animation (her look apparently based on his ex-wife), Page would even act out the entire performance in the recording studio. But what sets her voice work apart from the other evil women mentioned is her unique delivery – totally unexpected choices and vocal variations. My sisters and I still quote her distinct line readings years after watching the film.

8. Scarlett Johansson as Samantha in her

"I want to learn everything about everything. I want to eat it all up. I want to discover myself."

Scarlett Johansson's performance as the iOS system programed to have a personality and think for herself may be the most recent entry on my list, but I have no doubt that her vocal performance, in which she delivers a fully-developed, fleshed-out, and completely touching character - all with just her raspy voice - will stand the test of time. When director Spike Jonze recast the actress originally hired to voice Samantha (Oscar nominee Samantha Morton, who was deemed too cold and robotic during the editing process), he certainly made a wise decision when he chose Johansson. Her natural warmth and girlish eagerness give Samantha a purity that make the audience fall in love with her just as much as Joaquin Phoenix's Theodore does in the film.

7. Jean Shepherd as the Narrator in  A Christmas Story

"My mother was about to make another brilliant maneuver in the legendary battle of the lamp. The epic struggle which follows lives in the folklore of Cleveland Street to this very day."

Most holiday films have a tendency to be overly sentimental and sappy, which is probably why A Christmas Story with its biting humor and skewed sensibility has emerged as one of the truly great holiday classics (There's a good reason it's run 24 hours on cable in December). And that's all thanks to its creator, Jean Shepherd, (the film is based on his short stories about his own childhood) and his narration as the older Ralphy looking back on his troubled youth. Lending his voice to his own words, the story becomes even more personal and more specific in its comedy. Just don't shoot your eye out...

6. Lucille La Verne as the Evil Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

"Slave in the magic mirror, come from the farthest space, through wind and darkness I summon thee. Speak! Let me see thy face. "

A life-long actress (she was doing Shakespeare at the age of 14 and made her Broadway debut in 1888), La Verne delivered her lines as the haughty and beautiful Evil Queen in Disney's first animated film with the skill and aplomb that only a seasoned stage veteran could deliver. Her rich tones and regal vocalization make the Queen memorably chilly and heartless. But what's even more impressive is that La Verne was able to show off her versatility by also supplying the voice when the Queen transforms herself into the hag to temp Snow White with the poisoned apple. Altering her queenly voice into an old crone's crackle (she took out her dentures to help give the hag an added note of authenticity), La Verne gives two great performances in the same character and set the blueprint for all future Disney villains. 

5. Kathleen Turner as Jessica Rabbit in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

"I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way."

When a woman looks as flashy and larger-than-life as Jessica Rabbit, she needs a singular voice to match her exaggerated feminine figure. Luckily the filmmakers decided against the obvious choice of something overtly girly and breathy (like a Betty Boop or Marilyn Monroe) choosing instead the sensuously husky voice of the Oscar-nominated Turner. And a legend was born. Turner, taking inspiration from the femme fatales of the 40s like Lauren Bacall, knows how to make Jessica's lines seductive and mysterious, but what really takes it to icon status is the unexpected humor she's able to infuse into the character. Taking what could potentially be a one-note, walking sexual innuendo, Turner fleshes her out (ahem...) completely. 

4. James Earl Jones as Darth Vader in The Star Wars Trilogy

"The Force is strong with this one."

Darth Vader has been so throughly integrated into pop culture and his voice one of the most recognizable in all of film, that sometimes it's easy to take for granted just what a perfect union vocal work and image can be in shaping a legacy. The evil black gas-mask appearance of Vader needed the commanding boom that only a James Earl Jones could bring. Would we still be remembering how he shockingly told Luke Skywalker that he was his father if James Earl Jones hadn't brought as much authority as he did? Which is why it was always so disappointing to see the actor that they used behind the mask in The Return of the Jedi, stripping Vader of the power he had over us for decades. We choose to only remember him as he should be  - with the assertive bass of Jones.

3. Pat Carroll as Ursula the Sea Witch in The Little Mermaid

"You'll have your looks. Your pretty face and don't underestimate the importance of body language."

Even though the part was originally offered to Bea Arthur and Elaine Stritch was cast and left production after clashing with lyricist Howard Ashman, it's impossible to imagine anyone else bringing to life Ursula in the same way that Pat Carroll was able. Making every single line her own  (her entire performance is quotable and she's given one of the best songs of any other Disney villain), Carroll makes the most of every moment and made Ursula one of the most memorable Disney characters in the process, which is no small feat when she's up against such fan favorites as Ariel and a Caribbean-accented crab. 

2. Ellen DeGeneres as Dory in Finding Nemo

"I shall call him Squishy and he shall be mine and he shall be my Squishy"

A lot of times animated films get hijacked by an unforgettable sidekick that steals the spotlight from the main characters. But when they're as hilarious as Ellen DeGeneres voicing the forgetful Dory, the overt scene-stealing is more than welcome. And DeGeneres' work in the film is what turned Finding Nemo from a cute film about a clown fish trying to find his missing son and turned it into a run-away success, even named one of Time magazine's 100 Greatest Films of All-Time. DeGeneres' good-natured, wholesome comedy could've had the potential to be old-fashioned and square but her work is just as laugh-out-loud funny in its silliness as it was a decade ago. And she expertly handles the emotional moments as well, proving that she's just as skilled as an actress as she is a comedian. Her Dory is certainly not dumb as she seems. Now has anyone seen little Fabio around...

1. Robin Williams as the Genie in Aladdin

"What would you wish of me?

For better or worse, he's the reason that every animated film since has utilized big-name stars to voice its characters. (I'm looking at you, Dreamworks.) But what Williams does with the Genie is not just stunt casting to get people in seats (okay, it may have started off that way). He simply is the Genie. The character is so enmeshed with who Williams is as a performer that it may just be the comedian's best work. Free from the confines of live-action and utilizing the limitless possibilities that the medium of animation is capable of (where you only have to dream it to achieve it), his breakneck energy and rapid-fire delivery is free to explore and create.  And Williams takes full advantage of his freedom. Ad libbing for hours and shaping the entire structure of the film around his delivery, his was the first vocal performance that I remember people seriously campaigning to get an Oscar nomination. The film simply wouldn't exist without Robin Williams and you couldn't wish for a better performance.

Staring Life in the Face

The aptly named Under the Skin certainly does just that, wriggling its way inside you and staying deeply entrenched within your thoughts and feelings. From the first shots of engulfing darkness giving way to a beckoning light (foreshadowing another dark room lead by seduction and introducing a common theme of dark and light), an unnerving mood has already penetrated our psyche. Minutes later, as a close-up image of a pupil, accompanied by a surrealist soundscape of strings, synths, and an undetermined language with a female voice, fill the screen - a dreamlike merging of image and audio - we know the accompanying film will be unlike anything we've encountered.

The third film from director Jonathan Glazer (after a Malick-like 10 year hiatus) has been favorably compared to another visionary director, Stanley Kubrick. And like Malick and Kubrick before him, Glazer seems to be carving out his own distinct brand of filmmaking, at once unique, exciting, and entirely original. After having seen the film in theaters back in April (and unable to quite shake it), it seems to beg for multiple viewings, so I was eager to revisit it for this week's edition of Hit Me With Your Best Shot from Nathaniel at The Film Experience.

After bringing us a volatile Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast, an icy, reflective Nicole Kidman (in one of her best performances) in Birth, director Jonathan Glazer gives us another star, this time Scarlett Johansson, and like those celebrated actors' turns in his previous films, makes us forget what we think we know about her, exposing unexplored depths and unexpected surprises until the Scarlett we see on screen is not the one we've seen before. She plays an alien creature that has come to our planet to harvest male souls (for what, we're never made aware, but plot is secondary to mood and atmosphere which the film builds on until we become as unwittingly seduced as one of the creature's conquests).

As the film progresses, we witness her evolution. Coolly calculating as she sizes up the men of Glasgow (who with their indiscernible accents seem almost as otherworldly), she unfeelingly has no sympathy for humanity. She is doing a job, luring them to unsuspecting doom. Without remorse, she even later ignores the panicked cries of a frightened toddler as she goes about her business, bringing home a unconscious swimmer to join the other men in the blackened goo.

But the longer she stays among these people, the more she finds. No longer an apathetic outsider, she soon turns her gaze on the female species. She has never really noticed the other gender before as men are her goal, but she observes while realizing that she is apart of them. After an encounter with a man unlike the others, she finds that perhaps there is more to earthlings then just bodies of flesh. She lets him go and begins to explore what it means to be a woman on earth. She tries chocolate cake (she doesn't like it! But she's forming opinions on things she'd never thought of before). She explores her body, finding the anatomy astonishing and confusing as she comes into the development of her womanhood.

Which brings me to my choice for Best Shot (WARNING THERE BE SPOILERS AHEAD). After a consensual sexual encounter with a man that takes her in, she experiences an awaking. Not entirely sure what has happened she wanders the woods to collect her thoughts. She is no longer the predator she once was, but as lost and helpless as any young girl trying to find her place in the world. She has become unguarded and suffers violence at the hands of men as an attempted rape literally tears her apart. She is violated and the sensation has left her physically crawling out of her skin. But as she peels away her human disguise, she briefly looks back at the blinking face at the woman she had become. In her hands lies what remain of her humanity. However briefly, there was a soul behind those eyes and under that skin.

My Oscar Wish List 2013

I'm not sure if I'll even be able to sleep tonight in anticipation of the real Christmas: Oscar nomination morning! Thankfully they cater to the East Coast with Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth, announcing the nominees at 8:30 AM tomorrow. (Jeez, I'd hate to have to get up at the ungodly hour of 5:30 on the West Coast.) At least this year we'll be able to gaze upon the face of a Norse god (or Marvel Superhero–same diff) instead of having to endure Seth MacFarlane and (the usually lovely) Emma Stone exchange mildly funny quips (it's too early for comedy, people!). This year's theme for the Oscar was just announced the other day: A Celebration of Movie Heroes. Which would explain the presence of Mr. Hemsworth. (But, why exactly is there an Oscar Ceremony theme anyway? What is this a Junior High Homecoming dance?) Silly themes and muscley blonde men aside, I'm most excited to see what surprise nominees will be announced along sure-things Cate Blanchett, Jared Leto, and Jennifer Lawrence. With so many great performances vying for a nomination each year, there's always going be people left behind. In honor of those "forgotten" actors, I've selected someone in each category that I would most like to become surprise nominees. Their chances at a nomination aren't the best, but their work deserves to be celebrated.

Best Actor:

Joaquin Phoenix Her

Amid the awards chatter for Best Actor–Will Robert Redford make that fifth spot? Is Leo due for a nomination for his splashy turn in The Wolf of Wall Street? Did you see how much weight McConaughey lost?–people seem to be overlooking one of the best performances from an actor this year. And perhaps it's because his work is usually so intense and begs to be noticed that people seem to be ignoring the quietly moving and heart-achingly sweet turn by Joaquin Phoenix in Spike Jonze's Her. When we first meet Theodore Twombly (Phoenix), a man in near-future Los Angles who makes a living writing "Beautiful Handwritten Letters" for people, he is a man lost and alone (play a melancholy song, he instructs his mobile device) due to his separation from his wife (played by Rooney Mara). Walking home from the office, where everyone is too absorbed in their own personal electronic devices to notice much of anything, he seems to be silently screaming for affection. This man, who is capable of being so intimate with total strangers for his job (finding out lovers' favorite body parts to incorporate into letters), is incapable of intimacy in his real life. It isn't until he meets his new Operating System (Samantha, she quickly names herself) gifted with artificial intelligence, that something is unlocked in Theodore. Samantha delves into him. She senses when something isn't right with him. She asks questions that provoke his mind and heart. With Samantha, he begins to love again–not only her, but the person he is when he's with her. Phoenix, who seems to have cornered the market on oddballs and weirdos (on screen as well as off), brings just enough of his off kilter personality to fit perfectly into this world where a man can convincingly have a relationship with his computer. But the surprising thing about his work in the film is how intimate, likable, and believable he's able to make the relationship feel. (It helps greatly that Samantha is given the warm, breathy voice of Scarlett Johansson.) After last year's frenzied Oscar-nominated performance in The Master, in which Phoenix commanded the screen like a feral animal, the sight of him laughing on a beach and giddily spinning in circles at a fair seems downright revelatory. But beneath the light-heartedness is that tempest of emotions and intelligence we've come to expect from Phoenix. His work as Theodore is just as layered, complicated, and complex as his work in previous films, but, unlike those performances, aren't nearly as joyful to watch unfold.

Best Actress

Greta Gerwig Frances Ha

If everything goes according to everyone's predictions, tomorrow morning we could have a Best Actress category made up entirely of previous winners (if Meryl makes it in) or entirely of previous nominees (if Amy Adams' mesmerizing décolletage gets the fifth spot instead). It just doesn't seem like a new actress will be able to add "Best Actress Oscar nominee" to her résumé this year. And if anyone deserved to do it, it should be Greta Gerwig, an actress who not only created one of the most interesting and lived-in characters of the year in one of the year's best films, but was also responsible for her creation as co-writer of Frances Ha. Along with director and fellow writer (and real-life lovah), Noah Baumbach, Gerwig presents a portrait of girl during that awkward phase (called your twenties), when society tells you that you should be a responsible, functioning adult, but you haven't quite found your footing yet. Gerwig plays Frances, a modern dancer (okay, so, maybe not in a company or anything, but she is an apprentice) in New York City living with her best friend, Sophie (Sting and Trudie Styler's daughter, Mickey Sumner). But the film isn't so much concerned with plot, as much as it's a character study of Frances as she stumbles her way through the journey of life. Appearing in every scene, the film showcases Gerwig's quirky charm and naturalistic acting. Despite her ditziness and clumsiness (Gerwig somehow manages to even make a scene about finding an ATM hilarious), her Frances never veers off into manic pixie dream girl land. That character type, a male fantasy created as the ideal woman (she's sexy and kooky!), could hardly describe Frances as she's too real and far from anyone's ideal (she's actually "undateable" as one character teasingly calls her). For Frances, romantic love and finding a man don't even really factor in nor does it define who she is as a person. She's an accidental feminist–forging her way for herself. And despite the curveballs and bumps along the way to her self-fulfillment, she remains ever optimistic and hopeful (some might say delusional, but they're just cynics). Awards aren't usually given to performances so effortless, tending to reward technique and histrionics, but Gerwig's performance works so well because despite the heavy lifting of carrying an entire film on her shoulders, she never lets us see her sweat.

Best Supporting Actor

Ryan Gosling The Place Beyond the Pines

Best Supporting Actor always seems to be the hardest category to predict (and also the most all-over-the-place). It seems the only locks are Jared Leto (still can't believe Jordan Catalano is gonna be an Oscar nominee) and Michael Fassbender (it's about time, Academy). So, it surprises me that more outside-of-the-box choices haven't been able to make their way into the running for the three other spots. I know a lot of people take issue with the films over-ambitious three-part story (I agree that each act is less engaging than the previous, but I really appreciated what was created with the story taken as a whole) and it was never really going to factor in at awards time with it's March release date, but the film is still one of my favorites of the year and Ryan Gosling's performance has still stayed with me almost a year later. Having previously worked together on his first film, Blue Valentine, director Derek Cianfrance and star Ryan Gosling create another emotional drama with a showcase of Gosling's charisma and depth. Covered in tattoos (including one on his face. Gosling apparently regretting having done it and asked if they could reshoot without it, but production was too far to go back. Cianfrance told Gosling the film was about living with the choices you've made - good or bad - and Gosling was just going to have to live with this one as well), his hair a bleach blonde, and playing a motorcycle stuntman named Handsome Luke, Gosling is the epitome of cool–recalling James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause. And like Dean before him, Gosling is able to mix that hard edge with a tender understanding. Gosling, able to convey much with just a stoic gaze and silence, plays a similar character to his role in Drive, but the reason this performance works better is because there's a humanity behind the stillness. After finding out that he has fathered a son with a girl he left a year ago (Eva Mendes), Luke decides to straighten-up and do right by his son. But the straight and narrow path doesn't suit Luke who starts robbing banks to support his estranged family. After one robbery too many, Luke meets his end and the story is handed off to the cop that got him (Bradley Cooper) and then ultimately to the son Luke left behind, 18 years later. The audience never really gets over the shock of losing the main character so early on and it's a testament to Gosling's performance that the lose weighs so heavily over the rest of the film.

Best Supporting Actress

Scarlett Johansson Don Jon

After already missing out on Oscar nominations in her breakthrough year in 2003 (for Lost in Translation and Girl With a Pearl Earring), it's disappointing to think that 10 years later, with another pair of strong performances (for her voice work in Her and her work in this film), that ScarJo will miss out again on a nomination. (It's also a little hard to believe that a non-actor like Oprah could be on her way to a second Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination.) And while much is being said about her vocal work as Samantha in Her, including a history-in-the-making campaign to be the first to score an acting nomination for a voice-over performance, her real achievement of the year was as Barbara Sugarman–which excellently combined both her voice and body–in Joseph Gordon-Levitt's directorial debut. As Gordon-Levitt's object of desire, not much is really asked of Johansson in the film except to look pretty–which she never has been more so, in a trashy/chic, Real Housewives of New Jersey sort of way. Embracing her curves in a series of tight-fitting costumes, she uses her body to tantalize the film's titular character and then ultimately uses it to wield power over him by denying him sex until he enrolls in night classes. Johansson elevates the material by throwing herself completely into the character. With her long nails, hair-extensions, and perfect Jersey accent (all used to fine effect on her first date with Jon, "You're cute. I like you") she fully embodies a character we've come to know through reality shows, but the performance never feels like a parody and comes across as a fully developed character. She's even makes the scene where she goes off on Jon for talking about housecleaning because it's not "sexy" seem credible. For Barbara, there are very specific gender assigned roles and to deviate from them is unacceptable. She also seems to be looking for an unrealistic relationship that could never meet her expectations. A view formed by her love of romantic comedies. Her inflexibility, especially in regards to Jon's porn addiction, ultimately leads to their break-up. The script asks us to look at Barbara as the villain of the film, but with the scene-stealing way Johansson plays her–it's impossible not to be enamored.  

If Only Sutton Foster or Lea Salonga Were 15 Years Younger...

When I was growing up my two favorite musicals were, like many musical loving children of the 80's, The Phantom of the Opera (which we had on double vinyl. Try not to be jealous) and, of course, Les Miz. I would spend hours listening and singing along at the top of my lungs. It was a sad day when puberty came and I could no longer hit the high note that Christine sings at the end of the title song. (Don't think I didn't still try.) But, nothing spoke to my lil adolescent heart like Eponine's 'On My Own' from Les Miz. Which is why I'm not crazy about this news from the New York Post regarding the casting of Eponine in Tom Hopper's upcoming film of the musical. Joel Schumacher already messed up the film version of Phantom. A big part of that was in the casting. Don't make the same mistake, Hooper. Let's break down the four potential actresses/singers:

Is one of these four the big screen's Eponine? Yesh...