MONEY DOES THE TALKING; ADVERTISERS GLADLY PAYING FOR BIG-NAME ACTORS TO PITCH THEIR PRODUCTS ON COMMERCIALS.Byline: Mark Caro Chicago Tribune Chicago Tribune Daily newspaper published in Chicago. The Tribune is one of the leading U.S. newspapers and long has been the dominant voice of the Midwest. Founded in 1847, it was bought in 1855 by six partners, including Joseph Medill (1823–99), who made the paper Joel Cory used to be the voice of Eckrich Smoked Sausage, ending its television commercials with the soothing line, ``Eckrich Smoked Sausage, from our house to yours.'' But one day while watching TV, he was surprised to discover that he'd been replaced. ``On came one of the spots, and it wasn't me,'' the mellow-voiced Chicago actor recalled. ``It had this sort of strange quality to it, and I realized who it was: It was Bruce Dern Bruce MacLeish Dern (born June 4, 1936) is an Academy Award-nominated American screen actor. Dern is the father of actress Laura Dern and was formerly married to actress Diane Ladd. . Bruce Dern always plays psychos in the movies. How would you come up with Bruce Dern for breakfast sausage A breakfast sausage (or country sausage) is a type of fresh pork sausage usually served at breakfast. It is not cured or smoked. It is essentially highly seasoned ground meat, so it does not keep and should be stored and handled appropriately. - `from our house to yours'?'' Actually, such decisions have become increasingly common, as celebrities have been mounting a steady takeover of the commercial voice-over business. Long the domain of voice actors who made a healthy living toiling anonymously for union scale, voice-overs have become an easy way for name performers to collect large paychecks while the products presumably pre·sum·a·ble adj. That can be presumed or taken for granted; reasonable as a supposition: presumable causes of the disaster. benefit from their reflected starlight. ``They take all the big-money spots,'' lamented Tom Ciappa, who began doing voice-overs eight years ago. ``They're associated with all the cars. They're associated with all the big-buy spots (that are repeated often on networks). Those were the brass rings you'd shoot for. ``The advertisers don't want to pay regular-scale performers huge money, and they continually want to scale our contracts down, yet they're willing to fork over to hand or pay over, as money; to - G. Eliot. See also: Fork millions to celebrities, and some people will recognize their voices and some people won't.'' For instance, did you know that Paul Newman Noun 1. Paul Newman - United States film actor (born in 1925) Newman, Paul Leonard Newman is now the voice of Texaco? Or that Lauren Bacall lends her vocal talents to Fancy Feast cat food? Or that Mandy Patinkin Mandel Bruce Patinkin (born November 30, 1952) is a Tony Award winning and Emmy Award winning American actor of stage and screen, as well as a renowned tenor. Biography Early life replaced Gene Hackman on the United Airlines ads? Or that Hackman's United predecessors were Robert Duvall and Burgess Meredith Oliver Burgess Meredith (November 16, 1908<ref name="date" /> – September 9, 1997), known as Burgess Meredith, was a versatile American actor. ? Or that other A-list movie and TV stars such as George Clooney George Timothy Clooney (May 6, 1961) is an American actor, director, producer and screenwriter who gained fame as the lead doctor in the long-running television drama, ER , Sigourney Weaver Sigourney Weaver (born Susan Alexandra Weaver on October 8, 1949 in New York City) is an Oscar-nominated American actress. Early life Weaver is the daughter of late NBC television executive Pat Weaver (d. 2002) and Elizabeth Inglis, a former British actress (d. , Richard Dreyfuss Richard Stephen Dreyfuss (born October 29, 1947) is an Academy Award-winning American actor. Biography Early life Dreyfuss was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Norman, an attorney and restaurateur, and Geraldine, a peace activist. , Kathleen Turner, Drew Carey Drew Allison Carey (born May 23, 1958) is an American comedian, actor, and game show host. After serving in the U.S. Marines and making a name for himself in stand-up comedy, Carey eventually gained popularity starring on his own sitcom, The Drew Carey Show , Jack Lemmon and Kelsey Grammer currently can be heard off-camera in commercials? New acceptance Sharon Wottrich, president of the Chicago-based Voices Unlimited talent agency, estimates that 45 percent of the voice-over jobs - entailing broad television and radio campaigns - now go to celebrities. Twenty years TWENTY YEARS. The lapse of twenty years raises a presumption of certain facts, and after such a time, the party against whom the presumption has been raised, will be required to prove a negative to establish his rights. 2. ago that number would have been close to zero. ``In the early '80s, most of the celebrities looked down on doing commercials, though they would fly over to Japan to do commercials for huge money because nobody in the United States would see them,'' Wottrich said. For movie stars, the stigma was attached not only to participating in commercials but also to appearing on television, period. Crossing over was reserved for the washed up. But as cable programming proliferated and television work became more lucrative and respected, more movie actors branched out. Nowadays, performers such as Clooney and Helen Hunt successfully bounce between the big and small screens, while acclaimed film actors such as Glenn Close and Meryl Streep have acted in television movies, and John Lithgow stars in a series, ``3rd Rock From the Sun.'' ``Today everyone does everything,'' said Jeff Danis of International Creative Management in Los Angeles, who represents celebrities such as Newman, Weaver, Turner and Jeff Goldblum in their voice work. As for voice-overs, Danis added, ``The taboos went away when the commercials became hipper. And when the budgets became bigger to afford celebrities, that was also another added incentive. It's not only OK to do it, but advertisers only want stars who are hot.'' Although actors such as Orson Welles and John Houseman previously delivered distinctive readings while appearing on-camera in ads, Martin Sheen is considered the first high-profile movie actor to do an unidentified voice-over, for Pepsi in the early '80s. James Coburn and Gene Barry also were early riders on the voice-over bandwagon, which has taken off over the past decade. The agents said their high-profile clients generally receive six- and occasionally seven-figure paychecks for their voice-over work. Danis said contracts tend to be for ``a few TV commercials and a few recording sessions over the course of one year. ... And with technology today, you can record anywhere in the world, so the commitment is easier to maintain than (if the actor is appearing) on-camera.'' Image projected Here's the contradictory part: What appeals to the advertisers is that their spokespeople are well-known. What appeals to the celebrities - aside from making lots of money for little effort - is they're able to shill shill Slang n. One who poses as a satisfied customer or an enthusiastic gambler to dupe bystanders into participating in a swindle. v. shilled, shill·ing, shills v.intr. without necessarily being known. ``They like the anonymity it affords them,'' Danis said. So if the celebrities are not identified and aren't necessarily identifiable to many listeners, what's the payoff for advertisers? ``I think the public is very smart, and I think a great percentage (recognize the voices),'' said Joan Ellis, manager of the talent and music department at DDB DDB - device independent bitmap Needham Chicago. ``At the very least, they would say, `Gee, that voice sounds familiar to me,' and that can be a nice thing.'' Also important, insiders said, is the company's desire to be associated with the celebrity - perhaps to gain stature in the industry, to motivate the sales team or even just because a company official can hang out with a star. ``If the chairman of the board's wife wants to meet so-and-so, she'll whisper it in his ear, and you get a call,'' the L.A. talent agent said. Speaking of celebrity voices, who's plugging what Here are some of the celebrities who can be heard doing commercial voice-overs: Adam Arkin - Compaq computers Lauren Bacall - Fancy Feast cat food Alec Baldwin - Chevy trucks Jim Belushi - Black & Decker Powers Boothe - Acura Drew Carey - Chevy Venture John Cleese - Lexus George Clooney - AT&T Peter Coyote - Chiquita bananas, Brita water filters William Devane - Maxwell House coffee Richard Dreyfuss - Apple computers, Honda Robert Duvall - Lexus Hector Elizondo - Buick Scott Glenn - Jeep and the Navy Kelsey Grammer - Lexus Charlton Heston - Bud Light Gene Hackman - Oppenheimer Funds Linda Hunt - Federal Express Jeremy Irons - Lexus Kris Kristofferson - Chevy trucks Christine Lahti - Delta Air Lines, Michigan tourism Jack Lemmon - Honda John Lithgow - Fidelity Investments Paul Newman - Texaco Rosie O'Donnell - California Prunes Mandy Patinkin - United Airlines Chris Penn - Nissan Joe Pesci - Lexus Cliff Robertson - Union Bank George C. Scott Noun 1. George C. Scott - award-winning United States film actor (1928-1999) Scott - Kellogg's Corn Flakes Harry Shearer - Chevy Cavalier Tom Skerritt - MCI (1) (Media Control Interface) A high-level programming interface from Microsoft and IBM for controlling multimedia devices. It provides commands and functions to open, play and close the device. (2) (Microwave Communications Inc. Sylvester Stallone - Pontiac Daniel Stern - 7Up Patrick Stewart - Porsche and GTE GTE General Telephone & Electronics GTE Génie Thermique et Énergie (French) GTE Gas Turbine Engine GTE Global Tropospheric Experiment GTE Geothermal Energy GTE Gas Turbine Efficiency plc (Sweden & USA) Donald Sutherland - Volvo Kathleen Turner - Bell Atlantic Sigourney Weaver - Buick Sources: Sharon Wottrich (Voices Unlimited) and Jeff Danis (ICM ICM Intercom ICM Integrated Crop Management ICM International Congress of Mathematicians ICM Information Classification and Management ICM Intelligent Contact Management (Cisco) ICM International Creative Management ). - Chicago Tribune CAPTION(S): 6 Photos, Box Photo: (1) Jack Lemmon Honda automobiles (2) Paul Newman Texaco products (3) Lauren Bacall Fancy Feast cat food (4) George Clooney AT&T services (5) Kelsey Grammer Lexus luxury cars (6) Sigourney Weaver Buick automobiles Box: Speaking of celebrity voices, who's plugging what (See Text) |
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