Strange thing sound, especially the sound of the human speaking voice it has a wonderful resonance to it. Some people have a magic to their voice especially the different accents. There is something very charismatic, soothing and almost hypnotic that some people have. A couple of great men come to mind-never women for me. Not even the great actresses like Hepburn or Taylor. But Oh, those so awesome were Richard Burton, Laurence Olivier, Richard Harris, Rex Harrison and –I adore the voice of Alan Watts. These iconic men come immediately to my mind, I am probably dating myself here :-) –though Watts was certainly no actor.
American accents do nothing for me, except William Holden. Neither do Canadian-though I did like Pierre Trudeau`s accent-but then who didn`t like Pierre Trudeau? What a charmer- a ladies man with brains to match and a great Prime Minister. His son, Justin cannot hold a candle to his father in any way or form, especially politics. I have to admit, intelligence is a turn on for me. I could never imagine loving a handsome , un-intelligent man; but I could adore an ugly intelligent one. Though this time I am lucky, I have it all the way-he`s intelligent, handsome, and voice to match.
Back to voices-. Maybe it is the British high class posh accent that draws me. The words just flow smoothly from their lips, and one falls immediately in love with them. Although I do like the common touch of the Cockney- as portrayed by Michael Caine in “Alfie”.
Many years ago, in the stone-age, I took drama lessons quite seriously for a few years. Started when I was 13-of course there was a lot of what was called “voice work”-and had to learn to talk with different accents. I was good at a few, especially the Cockney. Also lots of Shakespeare-I still love it-especially Sonnet 116. We used to put on shows for charity regularly, in different old age homes and hospitals –try and cheer people up by bringing a little sunshine into their lives.
I had a long monologue that I performed often from “Pygmalion”-a famous speech of Eliza Doolittle and an other one from “Love is a Many Splendored Thing”-the very last few pages of the book of the speech of Han Suyin . This latter, was also my audition piece for the SABC (South African Broadcasting Corp). I did a number of commercial on the radio for a while and a few “radio plays”- I remember a few still-very vividly.
I was also in a number of plays-in a group called “The Bank Players”-that was a professional theatre group. I was paid for these-I used the money to go to Europe when I graduated grade 12. We performed in “The Library Theater” in Johannesburg. We had a new play every three months generally. No, it wasn`t quite Broadway, not even off Broadway :-) -I was the youngest in the group-16 at the time. When I auditioned for them the first time-it took them 10 days to decide if I would get a certain part; I would call them during my lunch break from school and at least three more times per day-I was very insistent. But I was hired-from then on no more audition for them-thank God. I would have been a nervous wreck.
Those were fun days-then I grew up and had to do more serious things, like go to college and university. And the dream of becoming a star died-and I became a doctor-like Han Suyin-but without Mark Elliott aka William Holden. Life does its own thing-but love is a many splendored thing indeed .
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