A text-to-speech app has been released that reads books and articles in the voices of famous late actors such as Judy Garland and Laurence Olivier.

Jul 05, 2024 14:00:00

ElevenLabs, an AI voice research and development company, announced the launch of the “ ElevenLabs Reader which uses the voices of famous actors who are no longer alive, such as Judy Garland and Laurence Olivier, to read books and articles aloud. The voices of all the stars were generated in cooperation with asset management organizations.

Listen to your favorite books and articles read by Judy Garland, James Dean, Burt Reynolds, and Sir Laurence Olivier | ElevenLabs

https://elevenlabs.io/blog/icon-voices

Laurence Olivier and Judy Garland to Narrator for Beyond the Grave Audiobooks
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/07/04/laurence-olivier-judy-garland-narrate-audiobooks/

The application works as follows:

ElevenLabs Iconic Voices – Judy Garland – YouTube

The voice cast includes Judy Garland from “The Wizard of Oz”, James Dean from “East of Eden” and “Rebel Without a Cause”, Sir Laurence Olivier, the famous British actor known for such films as “Hamlet”, “The Great Passage” and “Marathon Man”, as well as Burt Reynolds from “The Longest Yard” and “The Cannonball Run”.

I chose Judy Garland.

Next up is the content adding screen. It looks like you can choose to either “Write Text,” “Import URL,” or “Upload File.”

In the demo version, the text of “The Wizard of Oz” is loaded and read aloud.

“Judy Garland, James Dean, Burt Reynolds and Sir Laurence Olivier are some of the most iconic actors in history, and adding them to our roster of narrators is a major step forward in our mission to make content available in every language and voice,” said Dustin Blank, Head of Partnerships at ElevenLabs.

Liza Minnelli, Judy Garland’s daughter, actress and singer, and president of the estate, said: “We are thrilled to share my mother’s voice with the countless people who loved her. Our family believes that ElevenLabs’ incredible new technology will not only attract new fans of my mother, but will also delight those who already appreciate the incomparable legacy she left and continues to leave on the world.”

The iOS version of the “ElevenLabs Reader” app is scheduled to be released on the App Store on July 11, 2024. The Android version has not yet been released.