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Morgan Freeman explains how he got his iconic voice

The veteran actor was recently added to a GPS navigation app

Olivia Blair
Friday 04 March 2016 10:45 GMT
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Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman (Getty)

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There’s just something about Morgan Freeman’s voice.

Universally recognised as one of the greatest voices of all times, it has lent itself to the role of God and the President, narrated the journey of penguins and been the voiceover for presidential campaigns for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

The powerful tones are so popular that some drivers can now listen to Freeman navigate their car journeys via the Waze GPS app.

But how does one acquire such a powerful voice? That’s exactly what Jimmy Kimmel wanted to know when Freeman appeared as a guest on his show this week, asking him: “Where did you learn to speak so beautifully?”

A confused Freeman, apparently oblivious to the greatness of his voice, answered: “I don’t know what you mean.”


After the chat show host explained how great the 78-year-old’s voice is and how in comparison he believes he sounds like a clown, Freeman attributed it to his diction teacher at theatre school.

“I went to school,” he explained. “To study how to be an actor and in that school, Los Angeles City College, I had a voice and diction instructor who was very good at his job and so you had to learn to speak and sound your final consonants, things like that,” he explained.

During his appearance, the London Has Fallen actor showcased his famous narrating skills by providing a commentary on random Los Angeles presenters.


In another appearance recently, he put his voice to good use again by giving a dramatic reading of Justin Bieber’s Love Yourself for Vanity Fair.

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