>It's
>really excruciating to get intimately familiar with one's verbal
>mannerisms.
In the last couple of weeks I've watched Gods and Monsters, a movie starring Ian McKellen that came out about ten years ago, and part of a 30 year old BBC production of McKellen doing a kind of lecture where he talks about acting Shakespeare. He goes back and forth between telling stories from his acting experience and then doing monologues from Shakespeare plays.
What struck me watching the BBC show, which I saw after Gods and Monsters, was how while McKellen's face looks quite different now and his hair has turned snow white, his voice sounds exactly the same as it did 30 years ago.