The Voice

The Voice

voices in the wilderness

ALAN SKLAR ’56

YOU MIGHT NOT RECOGNIZE HIS FACE, BUT YOU’VE almost certainly heard Sklar’s bass-baritone before. The 82-year-old has lent his vocal talents to thousands of radio and TV commercials, non-broadcast corporate videos and film documentaries, with clients ranging from AT&T and NASA to the popular mobile game Clash of Clans. He’s also narrated more than 200 audiobooks, including Mark Bowden’s Black HawkDown and Thomas Harris’ Red Dragon—“the only voice reading today who can perfectly capture ominous threats,” according to In the President’s Secret Service author Ronald Kessler.

Sklar caught the acting bug as an English and art history major. In his senior year he became an apprentice at the American Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford, Connecticut, and had to skip his own Commencement ceremony in order to participate in the prestigious program. One gig led to another, and Sklar was soon performing as an equity actor in New York City and in various regional theater productions. “It was a terrible way to make a living, but I was determined,” he says. At age 23, Sklar was offered a sevenyear film contract from Warner Bros. Pictures. Imagining a future of vapid beach flicks, he decided to walk on the deal. “I wanted to do real theater,” he says.

Shortly after passing on Hollywood, Sklar suffered the death of his father and decided to take over the family paint products business. His training in the theater proved a huge asset as he grew the company into one of the largest distributors in the New York metro area. “I was a goddamn good salesman,” he says. “I could talk a dog off a meat wagon.” In 1983 Sklar sold the company and transitioned to a career in freelance voiceover work. Though he no longer performs on stage, Sklar relishes the opportunity to read his favorite short stories and poems at libraries near his Somers, New York, home (hear a sample on our website). “I love having a live audience,” he says. “It nurtures the ham actor in me.”

James Napoli

“I have what is called a warm, authoritative voice. It is an excellent category to be in,” says the award-winning Sklar. »