The Penguin's Voice

[Huntsman1117]

I feel like I can't hear The Penguin's voice when I'm reading Batman comics. Between Burgess Meredith, Danny DeVito, Paul Williams (The Animated Series), and Nolan North (Arkham Knight), I can't determine whose voice best represents the voice of The Penguin in the comics. It actually threw me off seeing him squawking in the latest Batman issue. I haven't heard him squawk since "Batman Returns."

[MajorHoy]

I feel like I can't hear The Penguin's voice when I'm reading Batman comics. Between Burgess Meredith, Danny DeVito, Paul Williams (The Animated Series), and Nolan North (Arkham Knight), I can't determine whose voice best represents the voice of The Penguin in the comics. It actually threw me off seeing him squawking in the latest Batman issue. I haven't heard him squawk since "Batman Returns."

I would probably default more towards Burgess Meredith, but then again I grew up watching the Batman TV show (when it originally aired, not just in later daytime reruns).
I'd rule out Danny DeVito, but I found his Penguin in Batman Returns too over-the-top for my preferences, as well as a bit too crass and vulgar (in a "Louie DePalma plays The Penguin" kind of way).

[JBatmanFan05]

I admit, it's difficult for me as well, to pinpoint, conciously or not, the ideal Penguin voice. Definitely not DeVito for some reason for me, but this weird fusion area of Burgess and Paul Williams. I love Williams, but his voice feels too gentle in some way I think. Burgess, despite the silliness of that show's Penguin, something about his harsher touch seems to ring true to me even after all these years.

[Restingvoice]

When he laughs or squawk I automatically go with Burgess Meredith, when he's calm I hear Paul Williams, and when he's angry I hear Nolan North. I think it's because unlike Joker who the writers often imagine Mark Hamill as the default, they don't have a fixed version of Penguin in their mind. Burgess is too silver age, Paul Williams don't squawk, and Nolan North is too recent.

[Dr. Skeleton]

For me, it's Paul Williams although in the past, it was whoever did Penguin's voice in the 60's Batman cartoon. Tom Kenney did an impressive job in The Batman in the mid 2000's and in Batman: Ninja.

[Jim Kelly]

I don't hear voices in my head when I'm reading, other than my own head voice. But the classic Penguin of Bill Finger and Bob Kane quotes Shakespeare and Keats, so I think of him as a transplanted Brit with a posh accent. Or given his sartorial panache, one of those aristrocrats from 1930s screwball comedies and musicals, who wear top hat and tails with a monacle and speak with a mid-Atlantic accent--such as Edward Everett Horton.

[ngroove]

Discounting Tom Kenny (The Batman)?

C'mon, that Penguin, who showed up in about a quarter of that show, was both hilariously comic relief and a Wayne Family nemesis, as Alfred Pennyworth remembered him dreadfully.

[Clark_Kent]

I don't hear voices in my head when I'm reading, other than my own head voice. But the classic Penguin of Bill Finger and Bob Kane quotes Shakespeare and Keats, so I think of him as a transplanted Brit with a posh accent. Or given his sartorial panache, one of those aristrocrats from 1930s screwball comedies and musicals, who wear top hat and tails with a monacle and speak with a mid-Atlantic accent--such as Edward Everett Horton.

Interesting! Is this by choice, or just the natural way you read them? For me, every character has a distinct voice that I hear...even random street characters have a few rotating voices I use. Maybe I'm just weird, because I never see anyone mention it, but I hear sound effects & sometimes even music, as well. If anyone could hear inside my head while I read comics, they'd be quite entertained I think!

As for Penguin, I've often had difficulty as well and for me it usually comes down to how he is drawn. If he's pretty grotesque in appearance, I use DeVito. If he's more dapper, I sometimes hear the animated series guy.

[Jim Kelly]

I'm a slow reader as it is, if I slowed down even more to imagine the voices it would take me forever to get through a story. I will do it if I'm reading a story out to kids, but I rarely bother to try and keep those voices going in my head when I'm reading for my own pleasure.

[Mistah K88]

I think with Penguin, the extremely different interpretations make him a little harder to pin down. I personally prefer Paul Williams calm voice that brings an air of sophistication, however that is because I prefer the "gentleman of crime" interpretation. However I can hear Meridith at time...

[williamtheday]

Ted Knight voiced Penguin (as well as Joker, Riddler, Mr.Freeze, Commissioner Gordon) for Filmation. His Penguin did a "coo-coo-coo" instead of "waugh-waugh".