British VO from THE DAMNED

[PointedMonkey]

I'm trying to identify an English-language voice actor whose voice appears in a number of Italian productions in the '60s and '70s. The lack of a comprehensive database for dubbing VOs makes it otherwise impossible to find such people.

The actor in question has a strong, very-RP English accent and somewhat (but not noticeably) nasally voice. The highest-profile role I could find him in was dubbing Umberto Orsini in Luchino Visconti's The Damned (a.k.a. La caduta degli dei). It's notable because it's a big-budget, major studio film, and he appears to be the only member of the main cast to be re-dubbed by someone else (presumably because of his IRL accent.)

Here's a link to the movie on YouTube, at 4:58 there's an exchange between him and Charlotte Rampling, and you can clearly hear his voice (https://youtu.be/f7p_xwxzjDQ?t=299).

What's odd is that I can't recall hearing that particular VO in many other English-dubbed Italian films, even at this period. The only other one I could find is the 1979 Umberto Lenzi film From Hell To Victory, (Contro 4 bandiere) where he dubs the voice of Jean-Pierre Cassel. (link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMc5Rjy ... oDetective)

Any help identifying this VO would be greatly appreciated.

[Emiliano]

Unfortunately, I am not an expert on dubbers, I cannot help you. Try addressing your question to the webmaster of this forum: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/altriforum/ or write a mail to: antonio@antoniogenna.net

[Johan Melle]

umberto orsini charlotte rampling the damned.jpg

I'm trying to identify an English-language voice actor whose voice appears in a number of Italian productions in the '60s and '70s. The lack of a comprehensive database for dubbing VOs makes it otherwise impossible to find such people.

Hello, Troy, and welcome to the forum

You are right. It can - and usually is - a nightmare to try to identify the Rome-based English-language dubbers. Emiliano has provided a link to the Antonio Genna dubbing database and forum, which is a great resource full of information about Italian dubbers, but I'm afraid the people there have little knowledge in the English dubbers, even if many of them also did dubbing for Italian-language versions.

The dubber you are trying to identify is well-known to me. His name is Christopher Cruise, and he seems to have been part of the core group of British voice actors that were always used in films set in Britain and typically in WW2, Eurospy etc. Cruise was a former actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company and moved to Rome in the early-to-mid 1960s and ended up working extensively as a dubbing actor and director, even handling the English dubbing of a couple of Fellini films. He mostly did supporting roles, but he did occasional leads, too, such as Giuliano Gemma in Kiss Kiss... Bang Bang (1966), Gianni Garko in Cold Eyes of Fear (1971) and George Hilton in All the Colors of the Dark (1972).

Initially, I thought his voice was that of John Gayford, which turned out to be wrong. I was able to identify him thanks to a some art documentary for which he provided credited narration. Had I not found that, I'd probably never have managed to identify him.

[PointedMonkey]

Thanks for clearing that up, you don't know how long I was trying to figure out who this was!

If I'm not mistaken, John Gayford does do some dubbing in The Damned, a couple of the minor roles. He's the one with the very nasally, effete voice, correct?

[Johan Melle]

If I'm not mistaken, John Gayford does do some dubbing in The Damned, a couple of the minor roles. He's the one with the very nasally, effete voice, correct?

Yeah, Gayford was frequently used to dub fey and effeminate (and even transsexual) characters.

[PointedMonkey]

I think this is him at 37:04, dubbing the Gestapo officer talking to Helmut Griem. [https://youtu.be/f7p_xwxzjDQ?t=2224]

[Johan Melle]

I think this is him at 37:04, dubbing the Gestapo officer talking to Helmut Griem. [https://youtu.be/f7p_xwxzjDQ?t=2224]

You're right. That's John, and in the same scene there's even also Geoffrey Copleston dubbing the chief of police played by Bill Vanders. In addition to dubbing work, John also made a number of uncredited appearances in various films, so I might create a topic for him here one of these days (we already have topic for Copleston, Larry Dolgin and John Karlsen, with Richard McNamara on the way).