Dubbed in Rome
By Johan Melle
December 4, 2023
Stephen Garrett was one of the all-time great character
voices of the English dubbing scene in Rome. He was one of the real old-timers
whose dubbing credits date back all the way to at least the early 1950s, and
this, combined with his premature death in the mid 1960s, unfortunately means
that a great deal of his work has most likely been lost to the sands of time.
For fans of Italian cinema of the early 1960s, though, Stephen’s delightfully
gruff and imposing voice should still be instantly recognizable. He lent his
fantastic voice to countless colorful villains from that era and was especially
active in peplum and swashbuckler films, often dubbing the likes of Andrea
Aureli and Livio Lorenzon. Check out the video below for samples of a few of
his most memorable dubbing roles:
As with so many of the dubbing old-timers of Rome,
there’s very little information available about Stephen, and it has not been
possible to determine where he was from or when and why he originally ended up
in Rome. The earliest films in which I’ve found Stephen’s voice are from 1956;
however, the BFI database credits him with speaking the English commentary for
an obscure French documentary film named Animals of Paris from 1951, and thus
establishing that he was doing voice work since at least the early 1950s. He
may well have started out even earlier, too, but given the overall
unavailability of English language dubs of Italian films pre-Hercules (1958),
this is impossible to determine.
[Stephen Garrett (second from the right) with fellow
1950s dubbers Bill Kiehl, Nina Rootes, George Higgins III and Michael
Billingsley in 1959. Picture taken from Nina Rootes' book Adventures in the
Movie Biz (2013) in which the picture caption describes him only as
"Steve, a fine actor".]
What little information I have about managed to find
about Stephen’s life comes from the few surviving dubbers whose careers go far
enough back to remember him.
Dubbing actor Rodd Dana remembered his old colleague with
much fondness, stating: “Steve Garrett was a Mel Welles-sounding, gruff/elderly
character voice. He was the master of those kinds of voices, however died early
in my time... I think in 1963-64. A truly kind, wonderful and loving human
being. Had lived in Rome for decades. Incredible intellectual giant, I recall.”
Dubbing actor Roger Browne also shared some memories:
“Steve Garrett was one of late fifties ELDA dubbers and I really didn’t get
going until 1961. Nice fellow, but a rather bearded, unkempt schlub. I think he
was a writer, possibly of adaptations, and might have done dialogue coaching
for films. I recall hearing him speak of a conversation he had with Sophia
Loren where he was using an accent for no reason and didn’t know how to stop
it.”
As Roger Browne recalled, Stephen was indeed a writer of
dubbing scripts, and the opening titles of the peplum adventure Romulus and the
Sabines (1961) credits him and Frank Gregory with writing the English version.
Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules (1961) is another
film which credits Stephen Garrett and Frank Gregory with writing the English
version, with Stephen also receiving a credit for directing the dubbing.
Unfortunately, it’s impossible to say how much directing he may or may not have
done since the credits usually do not cite the dubbing directors and/or
writers…
What we do know, though, is that Stephen was a very
prolific character actor dubber all through the Italian peplum era. His
marvelously deep and gruff voice made him a favorite for dubbing heavies, and
he had a particularly memorable evil laugh that always stands out. Two
much-loved Italian character actors that he dubbed particularly often were
Livio Lorenzon and Andrea Aureli, and his voice fitted them both like a hand in
a glove. Check out the two videos below for some examples of Stephen dubbing
Lorenzon and Aureli:
But while he dubbed a great number of villains, Stephen
could also do a warmer and more grandfatherly kind of voice that made him much
in demand as a narrator. The most famous example was as the narrator of the
original Mondo Cane (1962), but he also narrated several other mondo
documentaries, and here is a video featuring a few examples:
Like many other dubbing actors, Stephen also did a bit of
acting in front of the camera. In the mid 1950s, he did a few guest starring
roles on Conrad Nagel Theater and The Three Musketeers, two syndicated American
TV series shot in Rome and which are now impossible to find, as well as minor
roles in some Hollywood productions shot on location in Rome, such as War and
Peace (1956). His largest on-screen role by far, though, was as the slimy King
Petra, the main antagonist of Hercules and the Princess of Troy (1965), a
Rome-lensed television pilot starring Gordon Scott as Hercules, which was
unfortunately never picked up for a series.
Sadly, Hercules and the Princess of Troy would prove to
be one of the last things Stephen worked on as his career was cut tragically
short soon afterwards. Exactly what happened to him is unclear, but an article
about the dubbing scene in Rome published in Variety in May 1971 called “Rome’s
Inner-Colony of Those Trained in Sound-Track Dubs”, written by dubbing actress
and adaptor Ruth Carter, states that “of the early arrivals who are no longer
on the dubbing scene, one of the most brilliant and gifted voices of them all,
Steve Garrett, was lost to the dubbing community by death.”
No date of death is mentioned, but I’ve not been able to
find Stephen’s voice in anything after 1965, so we can only assume he must have
died around that time. A real tragedy as he did not look particularly old in
his on-screen appearance in Hercules and the Princess of Troy. His premature
passing also meant that he never got to play a part in the spaghetti western
boom. Had he been around for that and the subsequent giallo and Eurocrime waves
that followed, it’s likely that Stephen’s fantastic voice would have become one
of the most iconic and beloved among fans of Italian cinema. Instead, he and
his work has become almost completely forgotten, but hopefully, this post can
bring some long overdue recognition to the great work done by this
extraordinarily talented dubber!
As always, the dubbing filmographies are a work in
progress. Since so much of Stephen’s voice work was done in the 1950s and is
unlikely to ever resurface, his filmography will never be even close to
complete. Nevertheless, the 68 voice roles I’ve managed to find so far gives a
good indication of just how prolific he was during 1960-65, and I’m hopeful
that with time, I’ll manage to add some additional titles to his dubbing
filmography.
English dubbing western filmography:
The Shadow of Zorro (1962) - voice of Fencing Master
(Guillermo Mendez)
Samson and the Slave Queen (1963) - voice of Rabek
(Andrea Aureli)
The Three Swords of Zorro (1963) - voice of Don Manuel
Paredes (Antonio Prieto)
Behind the Mask of Zorro (1964) - voice of Don Esteban
Garcia (Roberto Paoletti)
Gunmen of the Rio Grande (1964) - voice of Burt (Beni
Deus)
The Last Gun (1964) - voice of Jess Lindahl (Livio
Lorenzon)
Lost Treasure of the Aztecs (1964) - voice of Beaver
(Antonio Gradoli)
