Monday, April 27, 2015

Music Monday ~ Actors brave enough or good enough to get up and sing...

We watched a DVD of a movie from 2000 the other night: Duets, one of my favourite actors, Paul Giamatti, surprised me by singing! The film in general is a bit clunky, but Paul Giamattti, never disappoints - it was worth the price of the DVD for his part alone! His character in Duets gets himself involved in a karaoke competition, singing with a hitch-hiker who, it turns out, was on the run from the police. Here's his duet, Paul does not lip-sinc, though his partner does.

The actors who sang their own tunes in the film...: Huey Lewis, Gwyneth Paltrow, Paul Giamatti, and Maria Bello. Arnold McCuller sings all of Andre Braugher's songs [Paul's partner in the duet]....
(Wikipedia)




That got me chatting to anyjazz and remembering other actors who have surprised us by being able to sing - sing well that is!

My second contribution, from another favourite actor, Robert Downey Jnr, in his part in the TV series Ally McBeal. He got up to sing to Ally, a song written by Sting - and Sting joins him on the stage as he sings. As someone, somewhere, wrote "you don't just get up and sing with Sting"...well, not if you can't sing!



AND

Here's a link to RDJnr singing with Sting again, elsewhere, to prove he wasn't doing a lip-sinc for Ally.


Anyjazz rumaged in the garage for a few minutes and came back with two LPs, one by Robert Mitchum, one by Rhonda Fleming. Hmm - oldies eh? I found a couple of YouTube examples of their singing talent:

Robert Mitchum, live on a British TV show - he warms up considerably after the halfway mark!



Ms Fleming could definitely sing!




Throwing this open to any passing readers. There are several lists online to refresh memories, by the way.
Who, among well-known actors, has surprised you by demonstrating their singing talent?

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10 comments:

  1. mikeApril 27, 2015 9:23 AM

    I'm not anywhere near savvy enough to know when an unexpected talent erupts from an actor. I usually don't know the actor, so I have no idea what to anticipate, should they break into song and dance. The only that come to mind right now is Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway in the move "Les Miserables", but only because the information was everywhere at the time and they eventually played during the Oscars.

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  2. TwilightApril 27, 2015 10:26 AM

    mike ~ Those are good examples, yes! And though their singing wasn't really strong enough to do Les Miz proper credit, they were good enough to get by. I suppose that if the film version of Les Miz had been cast with the best from the many stage versions' casts, most of whom were not household names, the film wouldn't have brought in the required amount of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$s. Seeing "Huge" as Jean Valjean was half the fun for me.
    :-)

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  3. AnonymousApril 27, 2015 4:33 PM



    ... not only is he melodically mellifluous.
    ... but he can do quite a quick lap.

    https://youtu.be/gXp_sd5lS44



    ... somewhere, beyond the sea
    ... lurks Mack the shark ...

    https://youtu.be/loEAFCMx77A


    kidd.

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  4. TwilightApril 27, 2015 5:10 PM

    Anonymous/kidd ~ Many thanks for these two, enjoyed them both a lot - hadn't seen either before ....hmmm, I must have seen the Kevin Spacey one though. I saw "Beyond the Sea" the movie, some years ago - but had forgotten this! Need to see it again now.
    Kevin Spacey is amazingly multi-talented! :-)



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  5. AnonymousApril 27, 2015 8:18 PM

    ... He is multi-talented because ... "He's a stalker!"

    https://youtu.be/fIQMptnTf0s


    kidd.

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  6. BobApril 27, 2015 9:09 PM

    Not a heavyweight warbler but this performance by B.I. double L, Y surprised me.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfxoCicKvCc

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW3MIixEps4

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxzfUI1wSwU

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  7. TwilightApril 28, 2015 12:08 AM

    Anonymous/kidd ~ LOL! Great stuff!
    He should have Gemini prominent natally, but unless it's his rising sign (unknown) there's nothing in Gemini.

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  8. TwilightApril 28, 2015 12:18 AM

    Bob ~ Oh yes! I'd forgotten those, and RG's vocalising - 3 good clips there. Thank you!

    That was another surprising casting, that worked out well.

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  9. anyjazzApril 28, 2015 2:29 PM

    After thinking of it a bit, I realized that in addition to Eric Idle, comedian and actor, singing "The Galaxy Song" George Martin assembled four actor/comedians for his "In My Life" album. They were Billy Connolly, Goldie Hawn, Jim Carry and Robin Williams. He also included Sean Connery doing my favorite rendition of "In My Life" but that's not really singing, is it?

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  10. TwilightApril 28, 2015 2:51 PM

    anyjazz ~ Thanks - yes, they all were excellent fits for the songs they sang on that album. None of those (except maybe Connery, who narrated rather than sang) ever mind(ed) making fools of themselves - in fact that's how they made their millions. :-)

    Eric Idle would do anything for a laugh too!

    I think of all mentioned in this post and comment thread so far, I'm most surprised about "Huge", Robert Mitchum, Richard Gere and Rhonda Fleming singing - because they do/did tend to play in more serious acting roles.

    Paul Giamatti and Kevin Spacey can do both serious and zany, but am still quite surprised how darn good they both can be at the mic.

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