Let’s start with the obvious. If there’s one person that just about anyone would pick to narrate their own lives, it would be Morgan Freeman. If there’s one person whose voice we’d all pick to have to listen to for the rest of our lives, it would probably be Morgan Freeman. It’s probably safe to say he has the most beloved voice in cinematic history. It may not be the most powerful or authoritative, although it can be both of those things in any given moment. It’s more relaxed, inviting, soothing and calming than a typical voice of god, although he has played God multiple times.
Much of the affection for Freeman’s vocal timbre and speaking style is likely an offshoot of the affection for The Shawshank Redemption, in which Freeman plays Red, the narrator character and one of the two central characters in the story. There’s a perfection with which he recites emotional dialogue with a simplicity that doesn’t overplay the feelings but transfers them onto the listener nonetheless; I think of the moment when he simply states that he missed his friend Andy. He of course went on to narrate plenty of other work, including the Clint Eastwood film Million Dollar Baby for which he won an Oscar, the documentary March of the Penguins, and a number of other films and television shows. Needless to say, if God had a voice, he would probably sound pretty much like Morgan Freeman.
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