The Power of Voices

I grew up listening to his voice. I used to wonder what kind of man was he. With a voice like his, was he tall? Dark? Handsome perhaps? Was he the kind of man that we women would swoon at and unfortunately could only be found in romance novels?

Sadly, we would not be able to hear his voice again after this. Not unless they do re-runs of previous movie trailers.

Don LaFontaine passed away on September 1st, 2008 at the age of 68. For the past three decades, he has been the Voiceover Master in Hollywood, The King of Trailers, The Voice of God, the man who made the phrase "In a world...." famous. His work ranged from movie trailers, commercials and radio spots. With almost 5000 movies credited to his voice, he could be, "... perhaps the single busiest actor in the history of SAG (Screen Actors Guild)"-- http://www.donlafontaine.com/.

In my line of work, I deal with a lot of individuals and mostly through the phone. They say, you can tell a lot about a person just from hearing their voice and of the way they speak. Is he bold or timid? Strong or weak? Outgoing or shy? Mature or childish? Although this will enable us to see the personality of a person without being shadowed by their appearances, but is it possible to know of a person's physical looks just by the mere voice? The saying goes that if the person on the other line has an 'attractive' voice, chances are they lack the same attributes in the physical form. I honestly believe it takes more then physical looks to describe beauty. Beauty, as they say, is in the eyes of the beholder.

Once I took a call on behalf of my colleague - 'S',who was not in the office. The caller was an old school friend. He was looking for 'S' through his office number as he had lost his mobile number. I don't remember how it happened, but the next thing you know we were having a wonderful conversation as if we were long lost friends ourselves. He told me of his days with 'S' from school up to university , where he is now and what he was doing. In return, when asked, I told him a little bit of myself although I was still being careful with whatever information I passed to him just in case he is not who he said he is. The conversation lasted about 20 minutes but he left a great impression on me. They way he spoke - in such an articulate manner, proper and the way he expressed his opinions - it was very impressive indeed.

In my opinion, voices and speech communication plays a vital role when you speak. I have always believed in good manners, and marvel at the ability of a person to relay a message accurately and without profanities. I believe in the saying, "If you have nothing nice to say then don't say it at all". It is not that I reject the naked truth, but I feel that perhaps it can be told with a little sensitivy in mind. After all, what is wrong with wanting good manners? It makes the world a better place to live in, does it not?

I found this clip by NBC about the famous voices of Hollywood. We may not know how they look like but we do know how they sound like. They are indeed the "voices in our head".

A couple of months back, my company decided to upgrade our telephone system. It came with a pre-recorded function so that when callers call in they can choose from the menu available and connect them directly to the person whom they wish to speak to. As I was the only lady present on the day during the installation (others were away on assignment), naturally I became the 'victim'. According to the contractor, it is nicer to hear a woman's voice on the phone rather then a man. Plus, it is more soothing and does not make waiting a 'tedious' task. After the installation, for a brief moment, I became the 'talk' of the office. They were excited with my "professionalism" and kept calling the office again and again just to hear my pre-recorded voice. One even professed to calling the office at night just to hear my 'squeaky' voice. However, my aunt was the best of all. She used to call me in the office and had to go through the receptionist to get to me. After the new system was installed, she told me " Eh, got new receptionist is it? She sounds just like you la!! ".

*Sigh, pensioners - they can be so adorable sometimes.

Come to think of it, should all effort fails, and if I don't end up in the legal career after all, perhaps I could look into working as a Voiceover actor in Malaysia?? Who knows, maybe I could just be the next Don LaFontaine??

What do you think? ;)