George Guidall
{{Short description|American audio book narrator and actor}}
George Guidall (born June 7, 1938) is a prolific American audiobook narrator and theatre actor.{{cite web |url=http://www.audiofilemagazine.com/narrators/george-guidall/ |title=George Guidall |work=AudioFile |access-date=November 26, 2014}}{{cite web |url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/audio-books/article/62237-talking-with-george-guidall.html |title=Talking with George Guidall |work=Publishers Weekly |first=Shannon |last=Maughan |date=May 9, 2014 |access-date=November 26, 2014}}{{cite web |first=Joyce |last=Saricks |title=Voice of Choice: George Guidall |work=Booklist |date=June 1, 2013 |access-date=November 26, 2014 |url=http://www.booklistonline.com/ProductInfo.aspx?pid=6147409&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130813053155/http://www.booklistonline.com/ProductInfo.aspx?pid=6147409&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1 |archive-date=2013-08-13 }} As of November 2014, he had recorded over 1,270 audiobooks, which was believed to be the record at the time.{{cite web |url=http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/21/book-review-podcast-deep-down-dark/ |title=Book Review Podcast: 'Deep Down Dark' |work=New York Times |first=John |last=Williams |date=November 21, 2014 |access-date=November 26, 2014}}{{cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/17/books/george-guidall-audiobooks.html | title = Why George Guidall Is the Undisputed King of Audiobooks | date = 17 August 2017 | access-date = 18 April 2018 | newspaper = The New York Times | first = Aimee Lee | last = Ball }}
Biography
{{external media
| topic = Video
George Guidall narrates
| headerimage = 70px
| caption = {{center|[https://www.c-span.org/video/?161512-1/tides-war-recording-audio-version Tides of War]
C-SPAN3, December 2000{{cite web |url=https://www.c-span.org/video/?161512-1/tides-war-recording-audio-version |title=Tides of War: Recording the Audio Version |work=Book TV |first=George |last=Guidall |date=December 1, 2000 |access-date=October 17, 2018}}}}
| float = right
| width = 210px
}}
Guidall is from New Jersey. His family name is Shapiro; his stage name is Guidall, which is a permutation of his Hebrew name: Gedalyah. Guidall's father was a pharmacist, and his four brothers also went into the medical profession, but Guidall decided to go into theatre instead. He received a master's degree in social work in his 50s, going on to provide counseling during the day while acting at night. He heard about audiobook narration through a fellow actor.
Guidall lives in White Plains, New York and narrates his works in a small basement studio in nearby Irvington, New York. He typically takes 3 to 4 days to complete a book.
His narrations include Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow in 1986, and then again in 2014 as a new recording.{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/23/books/review/gravitys-rainbow-read-by-george-guidall.html |title='Gravity's Rainbow,' Read by George Guidall |work=New York Times |first=Tom |last=McCarthy |author-link=Tom McCarthy (novelist) |date=November 21, 2014 |access-date=November 26, 2014}} Guidall said the book took about 1 month working full-time daily and was one of his most difficult works.
Guidall says he reads all his books beforehand and seeks to understand the book, not to just impart information but emotion and performance. Guidall says many narrators are "just reading out loud. They don't have an emotional underpinning. There’s a rhythm to speech in terms of what's implied. If it's raining in the book, there’s got to be something about the voice that evokes the rain." Guidall says audiobook narration "expands the author's intent, brings it into an immediacy. I am the author when I'm doing it. I'm a literary hermit crab finding a home in someone else's imagined truth."
Guidall provides occasional presentations at libraries called "The Art and Artifice of Audiobook Narration".
Awards and honors
- Off-Broadway Theater Award (Obie) for his performance in the Off Broadway play Cinders
- Audie Award for John Irving's A Widow For One Year
- Audie Award for Wally Lamb's I Know This Much Is True
- Audio Publishers Association Special Achievement Award (lifetime achievement).{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/05/29/temp/ |title=Billy Crystal's memoir named Audiobook of the Year |newspaper=Washington Post |first=Ron |last=Charles |author-link=Ron Charles (critic) |date=May 29, 2014 |access-date=November 26, 2014}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100424193338/http://www.georgeguidall.com/ George Guidall]}}, official website.
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guidall, George}}
Category:20th-century American male actors
Category:21st-century American male actors
Category:American male voice actors
Category:Male actors from New Jersey