Artificial Intelligence (AI) audio firm ElevenLabs announced in a blog post its partnership with the estates of iconic stars Judy Garland, James Dean, and other legends to bring their voices to the voice library of its newly released Reader app, published July 2. 

“Judy Garland, James Dean, Burt Reynolds, and Sir Laurence Olivier are some of the most celebrated actors in history. We deeply respect their legacy and are honored to have their voices as part of our platform,” ElevenLabs Head of Partnerships Dustin Blank said. 

The app lets users listen to articles, PDFs, epubs, newsletters, e-books, or other digital texts with emotionally rich, context-aware voiceovers,  including the stars, found exclusively under the Iconic Voices feature. 

ElevenLabs envisions users to try out L. Frank Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” voiced by Judy Garland or “Sherlock Holmes” narrated by Sir Laurence Olivier, and emphasizes that the heirs of the late stars are ‘excited to see their legacies live on.’ 

Liza Minelli, daughter of Judy Garland and representative of the Garland Estate, said, “It’s exciting to see our mother’s voice available to the countless millions of people who love her. Through the spectacular new technology offered by ElevenLabs, our family believes that this will bring new fans to Mama and be exciting to those who already cherish the unparalleled legacy that Mama gave and continues to give to the world.”

The agreements with the estates specify that Garland, Dean, Reynolds, and Olivier’s voices will not be incorporated into the company’s broader audio database for creating shareable content. 

According to Tina Xavie, the Chief Marketing Officer of CMG Worldwide, the management firm for these estates, “As someone who has had the privilege of representing iconic figures throughout history for decades, I am incredibly excited about our partnership with ElevenLabs. We appreciate their thoughtful approach to working with talent in the right way. We are excited by the new opportunities they are providing our clients and look forward to more to come.”

Currently, the Reader app is only available for iPhone, but an Android app is in development and will be available in the future.