RIP Ursula Heyer

 

German actress and voice dubber Ursula Heyer died in Berlin, Germany on March 25^th. She was 86. Ursula was known for her dubbing work in international films, including providing German voices for Stanley Kubrick's “A Clockwork Orange” (1971), “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” (1988), and Nicholas Hytner's “The Crucible” (1996). Born on February 15, 1940, in Berlin, Germany, Heyer maintained a long career primarily in German television and theater, with appearances in series such as “A Case for Two” (1981) and “Café Wernicke” (1979). She was married to the actor Rainer Brandt until his death in 2024. Her work spans decades, bridging German-language productions with dubbing for English-language features. Heyer dubbed the German voice of multiple actresses in twelve Euro-westerns: “ Apache Gold” 1963 German voice of Dunja Rajter, “Frontier Hellcat” in 1964 again as the German voice of Dunja Rajter, “The Sheriff was a Lady” in 1964 as the German voice of Beba Loncar, “A Fistful of Dollars” in  1965 as the German voice of Marianne Koch, “A Few Dollars for Django” in 1966 as the German voice of Gloria Osuna, “Three Graves for a Winchester” in 1966 as the German voice of Milla Sannoner, “Django Kills Silently” in 1967 as the German voice of Giovanna Lenzi, “Django Kill” in 1967 as the German voice of Patrizia Valturri, “Killer Caliber .32” in 1967 as the [German voice of Agnès Spaak, “If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death” in 1968 as the German of Heidi Fischer, “Sonora” in 1968 as the German voice of Donatella Turri and “Have a Good Funeral” in 1970 as the German voice of Helga Liné.

8 Little Known Spaghetti Western actors ~ Nacho Diaz

[These daily posts will cover little known actors or people that have appeared in more recent films and TV series. Various degrees of information that I was able to find will be given and anything that you can add would be appreciated.]

Nacho Diaz is a Spanish supporting and character actor. He was born in Spain on January 8, 1892. I can find no biographical information on him

Nach has appeared in three Spaghetti westerns: “Six Bullets to Hell” in 2013 as Niño and as Manuel Rodríguez in “Bullets for the Bad” and as a townsman in “The Price of Death” both in 2017.

DIAZ, Nacho [1/8/1982, Spain -     ] – producer, cameraman, film actor.

Six Bullets to Hell – 2013 (Niño)

Bullets for the Bad – 2017 (Manuel Rodríguez)

The Price of Death – 2017 (townsman)

Spaghetti Western Directors, Screenwriters, Cinematographers

Spaghetti Western Director ~ Edwin J. Collins 

Edwin Joseph Collins was a British film director, actor, and writer known for his prolific contributions to silent cinema in the United Kingdom during the 1910s and 1920s.

Born in 1875 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, Collins worked extensively in early British film production, directing numerous shorts and features that included literary adaptations, comedies, and period dramas. His notable directorial works include ''God and the Man'' (1918), ''The Green Caravan'' (1922), and an adaptation of ''The Taming of the Shrew'' (1923).

He also appeared as an actor in several productions and contributed as a writer to some of his films. Collins died on January 14, 1937. in Richmond, Surrey, England. He was 62 years old.

Edwin J. Collins directed two Silent western films: “A Rake's Romance” in 1910 and “The Scapegrace” in 1913

COLLINS, Edwin J. (aka Ed Collins) (Edwin Joseph Collins) [1875, Cheltenham, England U. K. - 1/14/1937, Richmond, Surrey, England U.K.] – director, writer, cameraman, actor.

A Rake's Romance - 1910

The Scapegrace – 1913

Spaghetti Western Screenwriter ~ Hal Brady

Hal Brady is an alias for Emilio Paolo Miraglia born in Casarano, Puglia, Italy in 1924. He was an Italian film director and assistant director, best known for his work in the giallo genre during the early 1970s.

Miraglia began his career in cinema as an assistant director and technician, contributing to numerous productions in the 1950s and 1960s. He transitioned to directing in the late 1960s, helming a series of films that blended elements of thriller, horror, and mystery, often featuring stylish visuals and intricate plots typical of Italian genre cinema.

Miraglia's most notable works include the atmospheric giallo films “The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave” (1971), which explores themes of psychological terror and family secrets, and “The Red Queen Kills Seven Times” (1972), a supernatural-tinged murder mystery centered on a cursed family legend. These two films, produced during the peak of Italy's exploitation cinema boom, established his reputation for crafting tense, visually striking narratives with strong female leads and baroque set pieces. His directorial output was relatively modest, spanning only about six feature films from 1967 to 1972, after which he largely retired from active filmmaking.

Miraglia died in Rome at the age of 58 on August 26, 1982.

As Hal Brady Emilio Miraglia co-wrote the screenplay for only one Spaghetti western, “Spara Joe... e così sia!” (Joe Dakota) in 1971 with Jean Josipovici

BRADY, Hal (aka Emilio Miraglia, Emilio P. Miraglia) (Emilio Paolo Miraglia) [1924, Casarano, Puglia, Italy – 8/26/1982, Rome, Lazio, Italy] – director, assistant director, writer, cameraman.

Joe Dakota – 1971 (co)

 

Spaghetti Western Cinematographer ~ Manfred Ensinger

Manfred Ensinger is a German cinematographer known for his contributions to German television series and films during the second half of the 20th century.

Born on May 31, 1929, in Haltingen, Baden, German, Ensinger established a long career as a director of photography, camera operator, and camera supervisor. He worked on a range of productions, including episodes of the long-running crime anthology series ‘Tatort’ (“Scene of the Crime”), the police procedural ‘Polizeiinspektion 1’, and the science-fiction series ‘Telerop 2009 – Es ist noch was zu retten’, as well as feature films such as “Die Banditen vom Rio Grande”.

As mentioned above Manfre Ensinger was the cinematographer on only one Euro-western, “Die Banditen vom Rio Grande” (The Bandits of the Rio Grande) in 1965

ENSINGER, Manfred [5/31/1929, Haltingen, Baden-Würtemberg, Germany -     ] – director, cinematographer, cameraman.

The Bandits of the Rio Grande - 1965

Who Are Those Gals? ~ Marta Flores

 

Marta Flores was a Spanish actress known for her prolific career in film and theater that spanned more than six decades, with over eighty credited film appearances. Born Marta Mateos de Paz in Madrid, Spain on January 18, 1913, she emerged from Spain's theater scene, beginning in amateur productions at age thirteen and turning professional by seventeen, when she adopted her stage name with her breakout role in “Julieta y Romeo”.

During the 1930s and 1940s, Flores established herself as a leading lady in Spanish cinema, starring in films such as” El 13.000” and “Melodías prohibidas”, while also working as a voice dubbing actress and contributing to film magazines. In 1949, she relocated to Buenos Aires, where she spent seven years with Radio Belgrano before returning to Spain and transitioning to supporting and character roles in later works, including “That Man in Istanbul”, “Crónica sentimental en rojo”, and “El aire de un crimen”. Beyond acting, she worked as a casting director, operated her own talent agency in Catalonia starting in 1978, and received the Gold Medal from the Spanish Academy of Cinematic Arts and Sciences for her contributions to the industry. Flores died in Barcelona in 2005

Flores died in Barcelona, Spain on February 18, 2005, at the age of 92.

FLORES, Marta (aka Martha Flores) (Marta Mateos de Paz) [1/18/1913, Madrid, Madrid, Spain – 2/18/2005, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain] – casting director, photonovela, film, radio, TV, voice actress, married to ? ((1931-1934), mother of a son (1934-    ), awarded Gold Medal of the Brotherhood of Cinema [1984].

Tomb for an Outlaw - 1965 (Johnny, Frank’s mother)

Guns of the Revolution – 1969 (Margarita)

Twenty Paces to Death - 1969 (Widow Potts)

A Cry of Death – 1971 (Maria Morris)

The Federal Man – 1972 (Maria Morris)

Voices of the Spaghetti Western “If You Want to Live… Shoot”

As we know most of the Euro-westerns were co-productions from Italy, Spain, Germany and France which incorporated British and American actors to gain a worldwide audience. The films were shot silent and then dubbed into the various languages where they were sold for distribution. That means Italian, Spanish, German, French and English voice actors were hired to dub the films. Even actors from the countries where the film was to be shown were often dubbed by voice actors for various reasons such as the actors were already busy making another film, they wanted to be paid additional salaries for dubbing their voices, the actor’s voice didn’t fit the character they were playing, accidents to the actors and in some cases even death before the film could be dubbed.

I’ll list a Euro-western and the (I) Italian, (S) Spanish, (G) German and (F) French, (E) English voices that I can find and once in a while a bio on a specific voice actor as in Europe.

Today we’ll cover “If You Want to Live… Shoot”

[(I) Italian, (S) Spanish, (G) German, (F) French, (E) English]

Johnny Dark/Django – Sean Todd (I) Pino Locchi, (G) Christian Brückner

Stark – Giovanni Cianfriglia (I) Sergio Graziani, (G) Michael Chevalier

General Alvarez - Franco Cobianchi (I) Corrado Gaipa, (G) Horst Niendorf

Marlowe - Tom Felleghy (I) Mario Feliciani, (G) Friedrich Schoenfelder

Paquita - Cristina Penz (I) Flaminia Jandolo, (G) Beate Hasenau

Hans Muller – Aldo Cecconi (I) Bruno Persa, (G) Arnold Marquis

Special Birthdays

Nino Imparato (actor) would have been 110 today but died in 1980.

Michele Cimarosa (actor) would have been 100 today but died in 1993.

Klaus Löwitsch (actor) would have been 90 today but died in 2002.

RIP José Ulloa

 

Spanish writer, assistant director and director José Ulloa died in Caldes de Montbui, Barcelona, Spain on April 5^th he was 92. Born José Ulloa Blancas in Madrid on January 18, 1934, Ulloa is known for directing “The Refuge of Fear” (1974), starring Patty Shepard, a science fiction film in which a matrimony exists in a fallout shelter. With Manuel Vázquez Montalbán he penned “Tatuaje” (1978). He also directed “Juventud sin freno” (1978), “La amante ingenua” (1977), “Juventud sin freno” (1978), and “Andalucía chica” (1989). Ulloa worked as an assistant director for Leon Klimovsky, José María Elorrieta, Mariano Ozores but most of all for Ignacio F. Iquino, It’s not commonly known that Ulloa directed much of the 1970 Spaghetti western “Twenty Paces of Death” because director Manuel Esteba had problems with the production company and there were many days when he disappeared from filming, He’s only credited as the assistant director. Jose Ulloa was an assistant director on fourteen Spaghetti westerns: “Joe Dexter” in 1965, “$5.00 for Ringo”, “Seven Pistols for a Gringo” both in 1966, “Death Knows No Time” in 1968, “El Puro” in 1969, “Stagecoach of the Condemned” and “Twenty Paces to Death” both in 1970, “And the Crows Will Dig Your Grave”, “Dig Your Grave Friend... Sabata's Coming” and “Four Candles for Garringo” in 1971, “Too Much Gold for One Gringo”, “God in Heaven... Arizona on Earth” and “My Horse, My Gun, Your Widow” in 1972 and “Dallas” in 1974. Also, a proposed 1996 TV series 'The Ghost of Jesse James" which was to star Craig Hill was to be directed by Ulloa.