Then and Now: Actors (and their Voices) in Commercials

[Prevailing Wind]

Oh, he was starting to get that way during Star Trek.  In those tight "uniform" shirts, you can see his belly starting to stick out too far for somebody in a clingy shirt like that.

[BW Manilowe]

I tried Googling, & either I'm using the wrong search terms or I'm doing something else wrong, 'cause I came up with nothing. So I'll ask here.

In the new Tena pad ad(s), with the Scottish-accented female as the voice over spokesperson, is the spokesperson Sheena Easton (yes, she's mainly known as a singer rather than actress, but she's done some acting... She was Don Johnson's ill-fated pop star wife in a few eps of Miami Vice back in the day, & she's done some other acting roles so this fits here)?

I think it sounds at least something like Sheena, but can't get anything to come up when I Google it. Considering how well (NOT!) her singing career has been going lately, I kinda wouldn't be surprised if it were her. After all, she's got 2 kids (OK they're grown/almost grown, but...) to provide for, perhaps some of her ex-husbands as well.

Edited March 23, 2015 by BW Manilowe

[Jamoche]

I tried Googling, & either I'm using the wrong search terms or I'm doing something else wrong, 'cause I came up with nothing. So I'll ask here.

ispot.tv usually has the best actor info - they have Tena ads listed, but I didn't look through them all.

[Rick Kitchen]

I haven't seen the ad, so I don't know exactly what to look for, but ispot's Tena search comes up with these:

 

http://www.ispot.tv/search?term=Tena&qtype=full

 

I the one you're talking about one of them?

[BW Manilowe]

I haven't seen the ad, so I don't know exactly what to look for, but ispot's Tena search comes up with these:

http://www.ispot.tv/search?term=Tena&qtype=full

I the one you're talking about one of them?

I think I found the right 1--the 1 with the song by CeCe Peniston. But it doesn't name any of the actors in it. Thanks for trying to help.

[ennui]

Oh, he was starting to get that way during Star Trek.  In those tight "uniform" shirts, you can see his belly starting to stick out too far for somebody in a clingy shirt like that.

Geez. William Shatner is barrel-chested. There are men who have rounder, deeper rib cages. It's not a sin. Yes, he's heavier now, but he's 84.

 

I clicked on this topic because I saw Morgan Fairchild selling cemetery plots the other day. I felt so sad. It was almost like the first time I saw Lee Majors selling hearing aids.

[Maverick]

 WTF?  Those Viagra commercials were bad enough with the random women but now there's one with Kelly Hu?  The hell?  She's a decent enough actress and deserves better than this.  I blame Hawaii 5-0 for blowing her up for this.

[SmithW6079]

Is Jason Alexander doing a voice-over for a tire company now? I can't remember the company, but it sounded like his voice, and it wasn't like it was one of the big companies. 

[editorgrrl]

Um, why is Jeff Goldblum shilling for apartments.com?

Money.

^This. He announced in January that he and his wife are expecting a child.

Edited May 10, 2015 by editorgrrl

[janie jones]

Because the millions he already has isn't enough.

[Prevailing Wind]

Or maybe the ads' weirdness just appealed to him.

[friendperidot]

BMWi has an ad I've seen a few times, I wouldn't normally pay attention, but the voice-over always catches my attention, it sounds like Wally Cox. I can't find anything on this, so like everyone here, I'm asking.

[jbrecken]

What do we think about Darrell Hammond's Colonel Sanders?

[CoderLady]

I don't know who Darrell Hammond is (don't tell me, I don't really want to know) but that's the worst Colonel Sanders impression I've ever seen, and I'm old enough to have seen the original commercials for comparison.

 

Alton Brown did a better one on Good Eats but he's actually Southern.

[OSM Mom]

I don't know who he is either, but he looks good in the part. As long as the sound is off.

[Lola16]

What do we think about Darrell Hammond's Colonel Sanders?

I didn't know it was him until I came to the forum.  He sorta looks ok.  Otherwise he kinda sucks.  He's not playing it straight or ironic.  It's kinda nowhere.

[CarpeDiem54]

I thought Darrell Hammond was dead...

[lachesis]

What do we think about Darrell Hammond's Colonel Sanders?

 

Hate. Hate hate hate hate hate!! I'm old enough to remember the real Col Sanders and this dude ain't him. I have no idea who Darrell Hammond is and I'd like to keep it that way. He's almost as creepy as those perfume ads that used CGI'd Grace Kelly and Marilyn Monroe in their ads. *shudders* Do not even get me started on Orville Redenbacher's resurrection a few years back. 

[LoneHaranguer]

 

What do we think about Darrell Hammond's Colonel Sanders?

Reminded me of Woody Harrelson's take on Larry Flynt.

[smittykins]

Hate. Hate hate hate hate hate!! I'm old enough to remember the real Col Sanders and this dude ain't him. I have no idea who Darrell Hammond is and I'd like to keep it that way. He's almost as creepy as those perfume ads that used CGI'd Grace Kelly and Marilyn Monroe in their ads. *shudders* Do not even get me started on Orville Redenbacher's resurrection a few years back.

Remember the ads with the animated Colonel voiced by Randy Quaid?

[pandora spocks]

I've noticed that John "Mr. Peterman" O'Hurley has been doing voice over work lately. His voice gives any product a touch of class with his smooth tenor.

[lachesis]

Remember the ads with the animated Colonel voiced by Randy Quaid?

 

Maybe I've blocked it out. I actually don't remember that!

 

There's another new KFC ad and it's even more annoying than the original one featuring Dumb Darrell. This campy Colonel can go away now. Now, I love me some KFC and my family enjoys it as a treat once in a while, but no freaking way will I buy this product with scary fake Colonel doing the shilling. 

[Tunia]

SMH!  Now I get it...I don't like it, but I finally get why McConaughey was signed for those insufferable Lincoln ads.  DUHHH!!!  On the tube tonight:

The Lincoln Lawyer
TVGC - 194 Thu, 6/18, 11:00 PM 3 hrs 

2011, Drama, Crime, Mystery, Courtroom

An attorney conducts his legal practice out of his Lincoln Town Car driving around Los Angeles, and he comes into contact with a high-profile client who is being charged with a heinous crime for which he claims to be innocent.

Credits: Matthew McConaughey (Actor), Marisa Tomei (Actor), Ryan Phillippe (Actor), William H. Macy (Actor), Josh Lucas (Actor), John Leguizamo (Actor)

 

Am I the only one alive not in on the joke?

 

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CarpeDiem54 said:
  

I thought Darrell Hammond was dead...

 

 

Could you be thinking of Phil Hartman?

[Moose135]

Am I the only one alive not in on the joke?

 

No.  I've heard of the movie, have never seen it.  I didn't remember McConaughey was in it, and had no idea of the storyline or that it included an actual Lincoln automobile.

[Prevailing Wind]

The Lincoln Lawyer was the first in a series of books (sort of non-Harry Bosch stories) by Michael Connelly.  In a subsequent book, the lawyer, Mickey Haller, is pissed at all the other lawyers now working out of their Town Cars & taking all the good parking spaces and it's all because of that movie!  Haller goes on to mention it was HIS idea to get Matthew McC to play him in the movie.  I'm waiting for the next Haller novel to mention the asinine commercials.

[janie jones]

Is he supposed to be playing the Lincoln Lawyer in the commercials? 

 

I know nothing about that movie other than the title, and I always assumed it was about Abraham Lincoln's lawyer.

[Jamoche]

Is he supposed to be playing the Lincoln Lawyer in the commercials? 

If he is, it's totally killed any inclination I might've had towards seeing the movie.

[Prevailing Wind]

No, he's not.  He's playing himself getting paid a potload of money to make no sense.

[LoneHaranguer]

 

I know nothing about that movie other than the title, and I always assumed it was about Abraham Lincoln's lawyer.

Same here, although it crossed my mind that it could refer to the city by that name. I never even thought of the car brand.

[Kromm]

Ever really been surprised someone voiceovered a commercial?

 

Post (and clip) it here:

 

 

For example, Gilbert Gottfried for "Shoedini". Yes, I said "Shoedini".

 

 

 

[smittykins]

"It's not just a shoehorn, it's a shoehorn on a stick!" No shit, Sherlock!

(I obviously can't speak for anyone else, but I have mobility issues, and I can put on my shoes just fine by...sitting down.)

[BW Manilowe]

I think I was honestly surprised when I heard Julia Roberts (& if it's not her, it REALLY sounds like her) doing the voiceovers on the fairly recent Nationwide Insurance ads. I figured she'd be 1 of those stars who'd only do commercials that air overseas.

I was, to a lesser extent, also surprised when I heard Tom Selleck do commercial voiceovers too.

Am I wrong, or has George Clooney also done voiceovers for ads involving US products/services (because, again, I figured he'd be among the stars who'd only do commercials for foreign products/markets if it was him on the US commercials)? I forget for which product (I think it was a car though), but I'd swear he did.

[Kromm]

Clooney has done Nespresso commercials. But he's actually physically in them, not just his voice. I've seen them up on YouTube if not on TV.

I THINK they may have aired in the U.S. But I'm not sure. I mean Nespresso is a worldwide brand, so that doesn't really say one way or the other.

Edited June 20, 2015 by Kromm

[OSM Mom]

I loved the book. Not so much the movie or the ads.

[Phebemarie]

Today it seems like the new Ford Edge commercial has been featured a lot. (It's the one with the equally ubiquitous  "This is my Fight Song").  Since one of the key lines in the voice over is "I'll take those odds", I'm almost certain Jennifer Lawrence is providing the narration.  Does anyone else agree?  

[Kromm]

Today it seems like the new Ford Edge commercial has been featured a lot. (It's the one with the equally ubiquitous  "This is my Fight Song").  Since one of the key lines in the voice over is "I'll take those odds", I'm almost certain Jennifer Lawrence is providing the narration.  Does anyone else agree?  

Oh well.  Song about female power offends people linked to a TV show about female power (Supergirl) and gets removed.  Retrench and now it's a song about AUTOMOTIVE power. But at least it has J. Law narrating over it, right?  Fight the Powa, sistah!

 

Sigh.

Edited June 24, 2015 by Kromm

[theatremouse]

Today it seems like the new Ford Edge commercial has been featured a lot. (It's the one with the equally ubiquitous  "This is my Fight Song").  Since one of the key lines in the voice over is "I'll take those odds", I'm almost certain Jennifer Lawrence is providing the narration.  Does anyone else agree?

What's creepy is in the three seconds it took me to read this, briefly ponder if I even knew the ad, the song suddenly came from my TV and I realized said ad was on right now before I could finish reading your post.

[Milburn Stone]

Very sure I heard Tate Donovan's voiceover in an AT&T commercial last night. (Not one of those that takes place in the store, one of those that's about how great their national coverage is, blah blah blah.)

 

Whose "mystery voice" have you heard talking to you from your TV lately?

[Rick Kitchen]

I could have sworn I heard Sofia Vergara, sans accent, doing a yogurt commercial the other day, but when I looked it up on ispot, it was a different person.

[Milburn Stone]

Check out this AT&T spot and see if you don't agree it's Tate Donovan talking:

 

https://youtu.be/lObLxZFtGQE

 

(The only downside of checking it out is that you have to watch an AT&T commercial.)

[jbrecken]

Looks like KFC is now using Norm MacDonald as the Colonel.

[Rick Kitchen]

Looks like KFC is now using Norm MacDonald as the Colonel.

 

And watching the ads with Darrell Hammond and complaining that he isn't the real Colonel.

[Taylorh2]

Reality star actor:  I saw  Lindsay (My Giant Life) in a Travelocity commercial. She plays a Swedish Masseuse.

Edited August 30, 2015 by Taylorh2

[Shriekingeel]

Is that really James Earl Jones doing those Walmart Star Wars commercials? I didn't know he was still working, to say nothing of those stupid internet death rumors that always pop up about him.

[riley702]

I rather enjoyed him on Big Bang Theory.

 

[ebk57]

Is that really James Earl Jones doing those Walmart Star Wars commercials? I didn't know he was still working, to say nothing of those stupid internet death rumors that always pop up about him.

Not only is he still working, but he's working on Broadway.  Just finished a run in You Can't Take it With You, and will open soon in The Gin Game with Cicely Tyson.  I should really go and see that.

[Trini]

Wait, whaaaa? Did I just see Dominic Purcell in a Yoplait ad? So random. (Which is the idea, I guess.)

[InDueTime]

Mariah Carey is on in the Game of War app ad.  I'm torn on this ad, because I like Mariah Carey, but I hate the song Hero.

 

[AimingforYoko]

Aw, they got rid of Kate Upton? I really liked them, I mean, her.

[Milburn Stone]

Looks like KFC is now using Norm MacDonald as the Colonel.

 

 

Although I wouldn't have necessarily thought of Norm MacDonald as perfect casting, I think he's doing a good job--better than Darrell Hammond was. At first I thought it was a case of the agency "keeping us on our toes" and that we'd soon see Hammond returning to the role, but now it appears Norm has settled in for the long haul. (Or however long the haul turns out to be.) I wonder what the story is there. Hammond not testing well in focus groups? Hammond being temperamental and all method-y ("the Colonel wouldn't say this!")? Something else?