National Post (National Edition)
VOICE ALMIGHTY
The secret behind Morgan Freeman’s way with words.
His voice shall cascade over the town in just a few days, which seemed as good an excuse as any to share Morgan Freeman’s prescription for tip-top sonorousness.
Yawning. That seems to be the trick, according to the legendary actor, in town next week to receive an award at the Toronto Centre for the Arts. Yawn: ’cause “God” said so. Yawn, because it “relaxes your throat which relaxes your larynx,” which then “relaxes your vocal chords.” So Freeman revealed recently to the website Collider, while out promoting his latest movie, Oblivion, in which he stars with Tom Cruise.
“If you want a deeper, more mellifluous voice,” he went on, “spend a lot of time yawning.”
Mr. Mellifluous himself will be here, by the way, to receive an honour at a gala thrown by the Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Hosted by two-time Emmy winner Paul Saltzman, and chaired by veteran movie producer Robert Lantos, the evening will cap with the award, which Freeman is receiving for “his dedication to combatting racism and promoting knowledge and education worldwide.” (See cfhu.org for more deets/tix.)
One of Freeman’s more notable endeavours? The funding of the first racially integrated prom in Charleston, Miss. — a feat that was chronicled by Saltzman in the 2009 film Prom Night in Mississippi and that showed, among other things, that understanding (like yawning!) can be contagious.