Mark Twain's Voice

You've seen his pictures, read his books, enjoyed his sharpened wit and piercing humor. But you've never heard the sound, the cadence or inflections of Mark Twain's voice. It is unlikely that you ever will hear the authentic Twain voice. The most celebrated and sought-after speaker of his century, a man heard around the world, apparently left us with his written, but not his spoken word. No voice recording is known to survive. One recording, considered to be the most reliable example of his manner of speech, was made at Harvard University in 1934 when William Gillette, a celebrated actor and former neighbor of Twain, performed his long-practiced imitation of Twain to a class of students. Video narration by Rod Rawlings.

[@rnhealer6044]

It's so regrettable that Sam Clemens's voice was not preserved for posterity, but I am glad that Mr. Gillette was able to record a likeness of what he sounded like. Thank you so much for uploading this clip for us.

[@melissasalasblair5273]

💛

[@electrictroy2010]

Probably no more accurate than Tom Hanks portrayal of Mister Rogers’ voice .

[@KristerNielsen]

It's such a tragedy all the voices lost to history. Imagine having a time machine and a camcorder. ^^

[@captaincat40]

I can't help but picture Twain having...I say having the voice of Foghorn Leghorn.

[@thetruthchannel349]

that was funny

[@ferociousgumby]

That is.

[@rwheels6471]

Man I always thought that too for some reason...

[@tmac8892]

Son. I said son...u ain't all wrong.

[@TheMikester307]

Yes! That's who it sounds like!

[@---yu4ff]

I am glad to see so many people here who admire Twain and appreciate his work, as I do.

[@galaxygeneral1200]

You know if you like him you might like me Im a blood relative of him I need a friend

[@enblanchard5492]

@@galaxygeneral1200 really ?

[@fsi_net]

Strange to think we will never hear his real voice after all the good things he said.

[@JRPLawyeress1]

I’d read Mark Twain describing his own voice as a very long, slow, deep drawl. Made an effective use of the pause. Fog Horn Leg Horn must have borrowed his voice from Mark Twain or Doc Holliday. This was a real treat. I’m such a fan. Thanks for sharing it.

[@TedBronson1918]

I'm glad it was someone talented with impressions and who had also grown up next to Clemens who recorded that. I can imagine him, a kid growing up next to the Mississippi, with the unhurried speech pattern. I have the feeling of sitting around the fireplace shooting the breeze after a long day or sitting in a bar swapping lies and stories for entertainment. Damn, I wish I had met Clemens!!!

[@jpowell180]

Makes me wonder if Mr. Clemens ever recounted his brief time aboard the Enterprise to anyone (besides Guinan)?

[@jessiejames7492]

churchill met mark twain at a function....they both were great wits. later someone asked churchill how their meeting went...... Chrchill said'great but i couldnt get a word in !'' two brilliant, witty , great conversationalists!

[@TheStockwell]

The two of them met on two occasions in 1900. The first time was at a press conference of Churchill's at Everett House in New York City on December 9th.The second meeting was four days later at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. Churchill was giving a speech there as part of his US tour. No offense intended, but I can't find anything in Churchill's account of their meetings suggesting he couldn't get a word in because of Twain.

[@jessiejames7492]

@@TheStockwell i saw it online. Will search too

[@tbolt2948]

I'm from Hannibal, Missouri and many the time I've wondered what Twain's voice sounded like. Thank you for doing this!

[@BabsChannel]

I LOVE Hannibal. My mom, husband and I went there October of 2021 for vacation and we stayed there and spent some time in your near by Marceline too. Marceline was Walt Disney's boyhood home like Hannibal was Sam's. Although, I know much more about Disney than I do Mr. Twain, I knew Hannibal would give us more to do. I've been all over the south, but I've never the one small town impressed me as much as the mountains in Eureka Springs, and that brought me joy like Tom Sawyers Island in the Magic Kingdom in Florida. If all goes as planned, we'll be coming back for my 30th birthday in May. And I can't wait. I'm looking forward to getting a sandwich from that great little general store and going back to the caves. Very excited to go back to the museums as well.

[@electrictroy2010]

no more accurate than Tom Hanks portrayal of Mister Rogers’ voice .

[@thehotyounggrandpas8207]

I find this hauntingly beautiful. I really do hope this is how Sam spoke!

[@jesipohl6717]

thank you for helping preserve this

[@Biketunerfy]

Mark Twain sounded nothing like the people I heard people play his character in film and series. Thanx for that it completely changes the way I look at him.

[@darkbrokenwingagnel]

How cool is this! I grew up in the town where Gillette had his castle. Always been interested to hear Mark Twain voice

[@DiamandaHagan]

So happy to know that Twain sounded just like everyone doing an impersonation of Mark Twain.

[@nathanosgood4959]

Thank you so much for this. About to play Twain and very useful. Wonderful amount of musicality in his voice.

[@jessiejames7492]

mark twain went on a tour of the Holy Land. He wanted to cross the Red Sea he said but the boat ride was costly evcen at that time...He said'no wonder Jesus walked on water!'' how can anyone beat such wit and intelligence and fun...i love him!

[@kimhundley7575]

he was quoting others on the tour on both counts, actually

[@DistrictWitch]

@@kimhundley7575 well, that is how people often tell jokes, you know, second hand accounts etc. His humour reminds me of older british peoples sense of humour. Given to wit and to talking about the everyday rather than the strange or surreal

[@kimhundley7575]

@@DistrictWitch omg, I can't believe u replied to this after 2 years. I don't remember even posting this. LOL! I got an email alert.

[@DistrictWitch]

@@kimhundley7575 haha, sorry! Didn't realise I was replying to some ancient comment lol

[@davidcoyle1084]

The same story was told about famed lawyer and agnostic Clarence Darrow.

[@daleandrews9356]

I have a framed picture of him hanging on my wall that was the front cover of Newsweek magazine August 9, 2010. It's about an article inside called "Twain on Twain" and was an excerpt of his autobiography. It's a black and white(of course) close up of him looking to be taken while he was in his sixties. For Twain fans, I suggest a movie made in 1945 called "The Adventures of Mark Twain" with Frederick March as Twain. He did as good of a Twain as anyone could have, looking just like him, especially in his elder years.

[@natebox4550]

Correction it was made in 1985, the rest is correct though, and I too recommend the adventures of mark twain.

[@rjoyhelvie]

@@natebox4550 Actually, there were two films of the same name; Dale got it right. The 1944 is live-action, with Twain played by Frederick March. The 1985 one is claymation, with Twain played by James Whitmore. I grew up on the 1985 film. I need to check out the 1944 film!

[@TammyWhitaker-io2vd]

Love this. I have actually visited that County. The Mark Twain Cabin.

[@dmprdctns]

Well done... Thanks for posting this... a rare opportunity. Very appreciated.

[@bandicoot5412]

You hear a lot of voices these days, this is a breath of fresh air, thanks.

[@lilajagears8317]

Great stuff, keep them coming !

[@H.pylori]

Twain, truly the greatest American author and humorist. A careful reading of his works reveals a lot about life on the planet, and the evil and good. He was able to craft books and stories to appeal to both the child and the adult. Rare talent. Just read The Mysterious Stranger. I am on my third reading and still picking up new findings on his thoughts on mankind.

[@UNOwen1]

+Rod Rawlings Fascinating! Thank you for sharing!

[@ashtonlambert7673]

Wow that Mark Twain claymation movie hit the nail on the head with his voice

[@MichaelNight]

Literally my thoughts!

[@deanjoon1527]

FANTASTIC!!!!!

[@greggibler2215]

I was fortunate enough to visit his hometown where we grew up as a boy. Hannibal MO is the place where he wrote many of his books and if you've read his books you can walk around and see the places where he invented this stories. I stood in his home and looked across the street at the fence then he talked his friends into painting. We saw a restored paddle boat on the Mississippi and it made me think of the time that he was a captain on the Mississippi in one. In water fish descriptions of him being a captain of a riverboat on the Mississippi he explained how he would have to try to evade soldiers in the civil war of both sides. It was a very enjoyable vacation and someday I plan to come back

[@CERDIP]

Those peculiar cadences reminded me of William F. Buckley.

[@LePrince1890]

Interesting as well because it is Gillette who does the recording. He's best recalled for writing the play "Sherlock Holmes" (in 1899) after Conan Doyle said he could, and becoming the greatest stage interpreter of the detective in his generation (the artist Frederick Dorr Steele, who drew Holmes in American editions of the stories, based his Holmes on Gillette's facial appearance). There may be a silent film of Gillette as Holmes. He also appeared (in 1919) in the play "Dear Brutus" that introduced Helen Hayes (who is shown in a still from the show in this short) to the American theatre. Gillette also, in a London production of "Sherlock Holmes" cast a young East End boy actor named Charles Spencer Chaplin as "Billy, the page boy" in the production, and subsequently used him again in a short curtain opener comedy, "The Painful Predicament of Sherlock Holmes".

[@UNOwen1]

+Jeff Bloomfield Mr. Wm. Gillette's Sherlock Holmes, which is from 1916, has just been released (by Flickr Alley in a dual Blu-Ray/DVD edition). It's also interesting to note - as you stated - Mr. Gillette shared all these amazing connections,, with both Messrs. Twain, and Doyle, as Gillette was a contemporary, of both of these illustrious men.

[@LePrince1890]

I have known that they did find the Gillette film recently, and it was shown last month with a pair of recently restored silent films with Harry Houdini as the star. I missed the Gillette film, unfortunately.

[@SufferingFoolsMusic]

Here's Gillette's voice recording of a couple of scenes from the Holmes play, accompanied with some clips from the silent film. kzbin.info/www/bejne/d5zPea2iqpV-ecU

[@jamespardee8534]

The spoken rhythm sounds so much like Garrison Keillor, that I think he must have heard this before

[@FloridaMaple]

+James Pardee The Mark Twain Home and Museum in Hannibal, MO, recently chose Garrison Keillor to narrate the CD-album, "Mark Twain: Words & Music," but chose Clint Eastwood to speak as Twain.

[@cardogkitchen4106]

Very interesting, thanks!

[@googoo-gjoob]

im kinda glad there are no recordings. when i see MT, i _hear_ Hal Holbrook. id just as soon leave it that way.

[@peterteacher3681]

Thank goodness for this at least

[@orrub100]

Have to say I like Hal Holbrook's version of Twain's voice better, wherever he got it from. I'm sure Twain would prefer it himself!

[@michaellawler6110]

Huh? Holbrook never heard him. This man knew him and was renowned for his impression of Twain when many in the audience might have actually heard him. Sort of the Vaugh Meader (who did a pretty good JFK) of his time.

[@TheStockwell]

I could be wrong, but I believe that both Holbrook and Fredric March ( who portrayed him in a 1944 film) studied the Gillette recording, appreciated it, but felt speaking at that deliberate a tempo would not be a good idea in their presentations. It's a bit like hearing recordings of General George S. Patton after watching the George C. Scott film; the imitation seems more impressive than the actual thing.

[@FloridaMaple]

Thanks, Richard. It's doubly sweet when I realize a criticism was aimed to help, not hurt. But it makes me feel thick-headed, too. As to the French, I never could succeed in getting those idiots to understand their own language.

[@shmuli9]

Interesting. Most people playing him make him sound kind of "crochety". He has a distinct "mid-Atlantic" accent, rather like Cary Grant.

[@jpowell180]

From what source do you make this determination? I can't imagine that he would have a Mid Atlantic accent after being raised in Hannibal, Mo, having been a riverboat captain, and having spent time out West that he would sound like Cary Grant (or Thurston Howell the Third!).

[@ferociousgumby]

There's such a thing as a cultured Southern accent. Vivien Leigh really didn't have to learn an accent to do Scarlett O'Hara. She just modified her cultured British accent and elongated her vowels slightly.

[@darkhierophant4914]

I was just watching an old episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Twain was portrayed in it. I was very annoyed by the over acting and was hoping to find real recordings of him. After hearing this impersonation or likeness, i became more annoyed. Lol

[@Chris-pi6gl]

The actor who did the performance had a mid-Atlantic accent when he spoke as himself. When be spoke as Mark Twain, he did not.

[@elizabethlinsay9193]

Cary Grant was actually English.

[@figgyboy37]

Very good! I saw an episode of Star Trek NG where the actor Jerry Hardin played Mark Twain. He sounded much like the YT recording. I was curious how he knew the manner in which the author spoke. Maybe he listened to your video. Really nice. Thanks.

[@grumblebunz]

I enjoyed that episode.

[@joenoneoyobinnes4727]

I'm in the middle of watching that episode right now, for about the tenth time. Hardin does a great job, and I was wondering if he was a Twain impersonator. Not what I was looking for, but this is a wonderful video.

[@recordednowhere]

that's funny because i ended up here because of a Lower Decks episode 😅

[@Raughwe]

This is possibly be a near perfect impression of Twain. But, imho, the origin of his family (staunch Southerners from Kentucky and Virginia), the geography of his birth (Northern Missouri, where, strangely enough, many locals have a Southern accent) his manner of dress, and the cadence of his writing could definitely culminate in an older Southern dialect. Or, in real life, he may have not adopted a Southern accent. But I'm not hearing even the most archaic, or obscure Southern drawl in this recording. I'm up for anyone's take on it, even the most novice student of linguisitics/dialects as long as you're nice;)

[@JuanPabloSelvaje]

+Seanzie_73 The impression reminded me of TS Eliot, a Missouri native who tried to affect a Mid-Atlantic accent, so it very well could be authentic. To my Michigander-Minnesotan-Washingtonian ears, the modern Northern Missouri accent sounds almost Midwestern.

[@TedBronson1918]

His early life was Missouri, but then he also worked up and down the Mississippi on riverboats, moved west to Nevada, California and then Hawaii for a time. He traveled the world all his life. He settled in Connecticut and lived in the Northeast for many years also.. It's easy for a southern accent to fade after so long just as it would have been easy for him to slip right back into it after being gone so long. I think he discussed that shortly in Life on the Mississippi.

[@billycampbell769]

Phil Savage His patents were from east tennessee. They moved a few months before his birth

[@billycampbell769]

Seanzie_73 His parents were from East Tennessee. They movied a few months or weeks before his birth.

[@billycampbell769]

His parents were from East Tennessee. They moved a few months before his birth to Missouri.

[@calvinkerley9302]

I always imagined Mark Twain having a shrill voice similar to Gene Hackman. Couldn't have been more wrong. If the actor's portrayal is correct, Twain's voice reminds me of another famous Missouri-native: Walt Disney. A kind of mild southern drawl that isn't as distinctive as that found in the Deep South.

[@Jayjamie]

Did anyone else think we were going to hear his voice?

[@richardjack4827]

My favorite author.

[@FourthDerivative]

This is fascinating! Given Twain's famously sharp wit, I always imagined him being a fast talker. But Gillette's impression reveals the slow, relaxed drawl expected of a Southern gentleman of the time.

[@Drew__Films]

I came here after watching Val Kilmer‘s documentary “Val” to see how well Val was doing Marks voice during “Citizen Twain” (Val’s one man show where he impersonated and told stories as Mark Twain) so after hearing Gillette’s impression (considering it’s accurate and really on point) I would say Val did a good job but he didn’t drag out his words as much as he should have and also could have added some more rasp.

[@MareShoop]

Loved the documentary, I have a new found appreciation for Val Kilmer.

[@zephyrus001]

I too would love to hear the sound of his voice, but in terms of what really matters, we can hear Twain's "voice" clearly across the years in his writing.

[@stag7882004]

There was still quite a British accent back then ole chap! The good ole days as Mark Twain would say indeed.

[@bradfordbarrettluckotheIrish]

I’m sure the imitation was close, I’ll ask Mark when we meet up one day.

[@publiusovidius7386]

Mark Twain was an atheist.

[@bradfordbarrettluckotheIrish]

Twain was a Presbyterian. He was critical of organized religion and certain elements of Christianity through his later life. He wrote, for example, "Faith is believing what you know ain't so", and "If Christ were here now there is one thing he would not be - a Christian".

[@ramonanubona1973]

INCRIVEL DE MAIS

[@rajivthind1491]

Sean Connery trying to sound like a Southern American literary man.

[@FloridaMaple]

Richard, thanks for the comment, but I do not understand your point.

[@thetriumphofthethrill2457]

Fascinating. Being a Sagitarrius and a well known wit and based on his appearance in photographs I assumed Twain would have had a faster, more aggressive way of speaking.

[@Lucius1958]

By the sound of it, Gillette was imitating Twain doing a 'character' voice, as the 'narrator' of the "Jumping Frog" is supposed to be drunk at the time... @joe: I've read about the Bettini cylinder, too - alas, the casualties of war...

[@Crytoma]

That's informative

[@Buggy-su4oy]

Sam was Robin Williams before Robin was himself.😊😊

[@ramisamman5674]

He spoke as if he got arrested while he was eating a meal... a succulent Chinese meal

[@user-bv8wr3vw4x]

*Nikola Tesla and Mark Twain were best friends. I'm upset that Nikola Tesla died 33 years(1943) after Mark Twain and there's no footage or audio recording of Tesla.*

[@graciegirl6699]

Tom Hanks could play Sam Clemons in a movie with Taran Killam playing a younger Sam.

[@puffpaddydotcom]

Last week somebody posted a filmed character saying: I am Mark Twain. Sepia is how I would describe the colour. He spoke about putting different types of ants in a bottle who only attacked each other when the bottle was shaken. I misplaced the link, damn it. Can anybody help ? PLease link me in if you can help.

[@Vitorruy1]

Not bad!

[@Manticorn]

Wow alright... Didnt expect a man quick-witted as Twain would speak so slowly.

[@BrucesPhonograph]

It's too bad Mark Twain did not record for Edison or Victor or even Berliner as all of these systems were around well before he died. It's even especially ironic because in the early part of the 1900's Twain was having some financial troubles as a consiquence of his investments in a type setting machine.

[@Jarris2]

Bruce Stinchcomb he did record for Edison but the recordings were destroyed

[@skylarkstarsmith3926]

Very irritating background music track. Why, oh why, can't we simply listen to the voices?

[@Msoldier94]

I always felt he'd sound like Kurt Russel.

[@yowzephyr]

I wonder if Hal Holbrook heard this imitation of Gilette's and studied it to help him do Twain.

[@jessiejames7492]

yes , hal holbrook did a fantastic mark twain. i watched a show he was in many years ago and i still remember it

[@FloridaMaple]

Thanks for offering your correction, but I do not accept it. I say “singular” to convey this dictionary definition: 1. extraordinary; remarkable; exceptional: a singular success. 2. unusual or strange; odd; different: singular behavior. 3. being the only one of its kind; distinctive; unique: a singular example. As Twain wrote, “The difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter--it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”

[@randommemebean686]

Dude this shit is funny as fuck lol

[@iasimov5960]

I imagine Mark Twain sounding like Hal Holbrook.

[@jojones4685]

In my merry oldsmobile

[@hellomcflyy]

there has to be a cylinder of his voice....somewhere......wouldn't it be nice...

[@CruzDeLaLoma]

In other words Mark Twain sounded like an Adam Sandler impression of an exaggerated jewy grandmother from south Jersey.

[@soldtobediers]

Garrison Keillor like

[@user-ko9tf2by9l]

That was creepy

[@user-wl4sr4tl7f]

Sounds like William S. Burroughs. . .

[@DaveYostCom]

1:16 Mark Twain impersonation

[@GHOST-mi4jh]

My relation & proud, 🤍.

[@georgeriley4818]

So basically he spoke like Jed Clampette.

[@rhenz111]

Who, Carrots? Rod? That's not nice. We can all learn from Mark Twain. And some of us have even learned to make a living with the long lamented author as a partner in crime!

[@sonofnergal4794]

Sounds like prince john from Robin hood

[@baileyryan488]

Mark Twain sounds like he's drunk

[@mogomarkas3187]

Sounds a bit like Lionel Barrymore

[@mkumail8209]

Oh my gosh finally I listened his voice it's very dangerous voice like monster in the hell I am shocked 😲😲😲😲😲😲😲😲😲😲😲😲😲😲😲😲

[@ychieromangubat8059]

Tom sawyer

[@thegrandreview5949]

Mark Twain's favorite comedian from his youth... Art Ward. www.etsy.com/listing/113131446/civil-war-print-art-ward-rant-charles

[@littleripper312]

That's really not how I imagined his voice

[@tammyleederwhitaker649]

Time Traveler with Tesla.⌛ I got that message.☝️727

[@lenapetersen8458]

Motivation Art Video MARK TWAIN feat. Lena Petersen

[@jessiejames7492]

when the telephone was first invented twain called the company ...to complain. It seems he made a call and since it was in its infancy, the line was very bad and scratchy with static. He told the person on the other hand'' this is a terrible invention...it will never take off! '' ha ha so funny...The fact of what he said and the fact that he was the first person to call to complain..! these days we have thousands of complaints (m I know i worked in a fault control of our countrys biggest phone company) and the telephone or what became of a phone line or phone invention is the biggest thing today!! Never say Never...for sure!

[@InsertName130]

I met him. He sounded like Gilbert Gottfried.

[@mikenagle9931]

It's "single" rcording, not "singular." Singular means peculiar or unique, not one-of-a-kind, or single.

[@russellmcnamara1645]

Sounds like he's taking a dump.

[@jeffbingaman2754]

I'm sorry I think his voice sounded completely different beings how people would pay to watch him speak. This is 29 years past tense of Mr. Clemens death. And beings Clemens was a story teller, he more than likely did the voices of his characters. Possibly speaking to this guy in a character which he said when the guy imitated him. That's all fine and we'll you trying to sound like me. Here's Mr. Clemens humor....but when you do me from now on sound like an old decrepit man. Thus this guy's honoring Mr. Clemens reflective humor of himself.

[@maxjones8853]

Well this fucking sucks.

[@dickmcwood]

Wouldn't this guy also go on to be the first actor to ever portray Sherlock Holmes?