I’m used to his work in his later years where his voice is kind of gravelly. But I’m watching him right now on an episode of Boris Karloff’s Thriller when he was young and his voice sounds quite a bit smoother back then.
shareI think it's just due to rough living, he really hit the bottle hard for awhile and had some big legal issues because of this.
shareMost people's voices get a little deeper and rougher as they get older.
shareA couple days ago I watched Defending Your Life, Albert Brooks' movie from 1991. Rip Torn had a big role in it. He said all of his lines in that same voice we're all used to from Larry Sanders, Men In Black, etc. Everything I've ever seen him in, he has that same voice. I always assumed it was just his normal speaking voice.
So I was surprised when I watched his interview on the disc, conducted in '91 shortly after the movie was in theaters, and his normal speaking voice was noticeably less deep and gravelly. It wasn't a shocking night and day difference that made me fall out of my chair, but I thought it made it pretty obvious that his iconic extra deep and gravelly voice was actually an affectation he deliberately committed to when performing.