Why has Morgan Freeman become known for his voice?
Morgan Freeman is that rare actor whose career has become defined by one specific aspect of his performances. More than anything else, we now recognise and celebrate the star for his voice.
It’s not that he’s primarily a professional voice actor. In fact, he’s only ever appeared in two voice-only roles in narrative films. It’s that the diction and timbre of his reedy, softly southern drawl make him the perfect person to describe whatever moving images are presented on screen.
Since 1996, Freeman has narrated 16 documentaries, four narrative feature films and two long-running TV shows, as well as lending his voice to numerous cameo appearances and specials. His narration is now so ubiquitous that various AI programs have pulled off convincing imitations of his voice, much to his annoyance.
Why is he the narrator of choice for so many directors and producers? The answer to that question is simple and goes to 1994. Two years before Freeman narrated his first documentary, Cosmic Voyage, he starred as Red in Frank Darabont’s movie The Shawshank Redemption. Although Freeman himself would rather we stopped talking about that movie, it is unquestionably the reason he’s become synonymous with voiceover work.
The film’s story is told from Red’s perspective, and so there are extensive parts of the script which Freeman narrates in character. Luckily for Freeman, most of the text for his narration was written by Stephen King, one of the giants of modern American literature, since The Shawshank Redemption was based on King’s novella.
Naturally, then, Freeman speaking King’s lucid, tightly-written prose in his signature smooth cadences has become an iconic selling point for one of the most popular movies of the 1990s. With the right script, Freeman was able to showcase his inimitable style of storytelling and put himself in the shop window for documentary makers everywhere.
But how did Freeman develop his voice?
In a 2016 interview with Jimmy Kimmel, Freeman explained that when he was studying to be an actor at Los Angeles City College, he “had a voice and diction instructor who was very good at his job”. The instructor emphasised the importance of sounding your final consonants for good diction as an actor. This tip helped Freeman improve not only his enunciation of words but also the rhythm of his speaking voice while acting.
Before he got his big break in cinema, besides bit-part roles in small films, Freeman also played leading roles in off-Broadway productions of Shakespeare. He even won an Obie award for his performance in the titular role of Coriolanus in 1979. As most theatre actors will attest to, nothing beats Shakespeare for improving your diction as a performer.
