Stacy Keach and Liev Schreiber have a lot in common — besides acting.
Not only is Keach guest-starring in two upcoming episodes of Schreiber’s Showtime series, “Ray Donovan” (Sunday at 9 p.m.), but the actors have longstanding careers as ubiquitous TV voiceover artists.
Keach will play a character called “The Texan,” a retired fixer from Ray’s past, in the show’s Aug. 7 and Aug. 14 episodes. And, like series star Schreiber, who’s narrated, among others, HBO’s “Sports of the 20th Century” and “24/7” documentaries, Keach has carved a unique niche for himself — particularly as the narrator of CNBC’s “American Greed,” which charts the rise and fall of corrupt business types.
“In the early ’70s, in New York, I got asked to do the voiceover for a show called ‘Search for Solutions,’ which was a science show,” says Keach, 75. “It was my first experience doing that and I realized I had a lot to learn — and I’ve sort of been a student of the game over the years.”
That’s putting it modestly. In addition to narrating “American Greed” (airing Thursday at 10 p.m.), Keach has lent his distinct pipes to series including “Nova,” “World’s Most Amazing Videos,” “The Twilight Zone” radio series, “Haunted Lives: True Ghost Stories,” “National Geographic” documentaries and PBS’ “American Experience” (narrating “The Kennedys,” among others).
“The thing I’ve learned is that you have to be a good ‘cold’ reader, reading copy quickly and making adjustments to explore alternatives — ways of saying lines in terms of the quality of intonation … a tone of discovery,” Keach says. “As an actor, I began to think that maybe I should treat this [narrator] as sort of like a character, so each time I step into the role, I try to give it something personal that’s appropriate for that show.”
For “American Greed,” that’s his “Evil Stacy” tone. “They always want [he lowers his voice] down and dirty, like this nasty motherf–ker. That’s the tone they’re looking for,” he says. “It’s fun to do. But I don’t want to use that all the way through. They also want me to emphasize when someone’s guilty, when the verdict comes in — and to hit it over the top when I say they’re guilty and how long their sentence is. There’s a certain pleasure to saying [in his very low ‘American Greed’ voice] ‘He was sentenced to 45 years in prison’ … that kind of indignation and anger and resentment.
“It’s both ironic and playful,” he says. “The voice is a cop, a priest and a judge, [relating] that awe that people would either succumb to such sucker deals or the perpetrators, depending on who we’re talking about. I think we’ve discovered over the years that the tone of [‘American Greed’] has to embody a straight narrative — telling the story of what happened, who these people screwed.
“There’s no end to it.”
“Ray Donovan” airs at 9 p.m. Sunday on Showtime