Nordine had no involvement. Famed "jazz poet" Ken Nordine (who was the voice of the old Levi's ads of the 70s) was mistakenly identified as the voice of the Thief somewhere, because someone confused Jonathan Winters' voice for his. I e-mailed Ken Nordine and he told me that he wasn't involved at all.

I can still imagine those wheezes coming from Richard Williams' mouth. To me, they sound very similar in timbre and pitch to his voice. But hey, what do I know? I could be incredibly wrong...