In a black-and-white world, back in the '50s, were voices from another era. All actors used to sound different. Robert Mitchum sounded different from John Wayne, and John Wayne sounded different from Clark Gable. They were like men's voices, but they weren't Everyman, it was them.

Billy West

Categorized in : World Different Wayne

If someone gave me the chance to create something, I put myself into it. I just want to try to do something that will last forever and that won't leave people saying, 'Gee, it could have been better, it could've been this, it could've been that.'

forever trying people

I'm not like a high intellectual. by Billy West

I'm not like a high intellectual.

intellectual

But the throat just kind of falls into line once you realize in your head what it is. You got to remember the musicality of a character you're going to do.

lines character fall

Space Jam was weird because everybody has their own perception of what Bugs Bunny should sound like. Everybody. Somebody would just stick their head in the door and say, "He sounds too Jewish." Or, "He's too tough, he's off-putting. You gotta seduce kids, not scare them out the door."

scare perception kids

You watch people and study them the way an alien would. by Billy West

You watch people and study them the way an alien would.

watches people way

You have to have some kind of power of observation, almost like a... by Billy West

You have to have some kind of power of observation, almost like a trained observer.

observation observers kind

Robert Mitchum sounded different from John Wayne, and John Wayne... by Billy West

Robert Mitchum sounded different from John Wayne, and John Wayne sounded different from Clark Gable.

wayne different

Everybody's got a bully pulpit now, and everybody's mad. I don't blame people for being angry and frustrated about everything. I'm old, but I'm not pulling my pants up to my tits. I take deep breaths of air when I enter a room and celebrate the fact that I'm alive.

bully mad people

As long as I can apply my craft, I'm happy. by Billy West

As long as I can apply my craft, I'm happy.

crafts i-can long

Life is for the living. I was a little scared before surgery 'cause of the release you sign that says there's always a very small percent chance that you'll die during the operation.

scared causes littles

It had more layers than an onion. These writers meant business. There was a level for everybody. Your major could be celestial mechanics, and there'd be celestial-mechanics jokes.

onions levels business

The only thing I have to say to people - try being the hero of your own world one day. Don't spend your life thinking about what somebody did or if they failed at this or if they did great at that or they got caught with a monkey, in a bathtub, having sex. You should at one point become the hero of your own world.

hero people thinking

Well, I happen to have a love of vocal reproduction devices. by Billy West

Well, I happen to have a love of vocal reproduction devices.

devices wells happens

Somebody's real voice is probably the hardest one that somebody c... by Billy West

Somebody's real voice is probably the hardest one that somebody could attempt.

hardest voice real

Robin Williams understands sonic performances. He understands what it's like to change your voice up.

performances voice robins

If everyone else is doing something, I have little or no interest in it. If you're known as this guy who can do any kind of sound or voice or whatever, somebody will go, "Do you do Christopher Walken?" "No." "Well, why not?" "Because everybody else in the world does it." My carpenter does Christopher Walken.

guy kind world

I've always said that you can't be the new Mel Blanc by doing Mel... by Billy West

I've always said that you can't be the new Mel Blanc by doing Mel Blanc's voice.

doing-me voice said

Even when I was coming through school I was a loner and I used to study music and listen to it and play it and play it, and I was in bands.

loner play school

I don't get to watch Futurama, until it's on TV. by Billy West

I don't get to watch Futurama, until it's on TV.

tvs watches

I was basically a sound engineer, I produced radio shows and stuff and had to splice tape in the old days. And you knew a sloppy edit when you heard it, because I had enough of them. But that stuff takes the magic out of it, if you need to know everything. Then you become omnivorous. Everything is tender, and as soon as you burn it up, you're on to the next.

magic enough