MovieChat Forums > Grace and Frankie (2015) Discussion > A question about Lily Tomlin.

A question about Lily Tomlin.


Although I have known Lily Tomlin for many years, I have not seen her in anything else besides this (and an old SNL episode). I was wondering if she has always talked the way she does now. It seems to me that at times she slurs some of her words. It is only some of her words and only some of the time. For some reason I feel like her slurring is the result of work she had done on her face, but I don't actually know that she did have work on her face. And even if she did, that's no reason to suggest that it affected her speech patterns. Anyway, I'm just wondering for those who know her and are more familiar with her work, if there is anything different about the way she speaks. P.S. as an example of when I think she is slurring her words--in the episode where she apologizes to Robert, she says "I'm so sorry Robert". The way she finishes his name sounds somewhat slurred to me. But this may just be how she speaks in general.

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I haven't noticed it, but this isn't uncommon with aging. My father got positively mush-mouthed when he was close to Tomlin's age (she's 76), and he'd always been very clearly spoken before then. My mother was concerned, but his doctor said it was nothing to worry about as this happens to a lot of older people. So if there's a difference, and there may be, I would put it down to that.

"My friends! Large sorry... you wait so fat time."

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Thanks for the response :)

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I noticed it too. I think it's because of her Botox and filler injections.

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I have been a fan of Lily Tomlin since Laugh In. I don't see a lot of difference in how she talks, other than what might be caused by ill fitting dentures.

I have never heard of her having plastic surgery or using botox or fillers. Part of her talent is what she is able to do with her facial expressions. Her ability to do that is still very evident.

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She has always talked like that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GG9GOjoxhk

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Some older people no longer talk right due to missing teeth or bad fitting dentures. But I suspect she can afford a good dentist.


I don't know everything. Neither does anyone else

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I am a speech language pathologist and totally noticed this too. I don't know the actress well and assumed it to be an element of the character (attempts to portray a level of airheadedness). That said, plastic surgery is known to cause some difficulty with speech sounds particularly those involving the lips (labial sounds). But the sounds she is slurring don't match that profile. It could be a mix of several things but her blinking and groping facial expressions while speaking seem to be an element of acting. Unless she has apraxia or something in real life.

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There's a sort of clicking sound that she makes when she speaks, which makes me think it might be due to dentures.

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