Voices of the Spaghetti Western – “The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw”

 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 these actors are as well-known as the actors they voiced.

Today we’ll cover “The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw”

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

Jonathan Tibbs – Kenneth More (E) Kenneth More, (S) Jesús Puente, (G) Klaus Miedel, (F) Marc Cassol

Kate – Jayne Mansfield (E) Jayne Mansfield, (S) Josefina De Luna, (G) Margot Leonard, (F) Nelly Benedetti

Mayor Masters – Henry Hull (E) Henry Hull, (S) Vicente Bañó, (G) Klaus W. Krause, (F) Paul Villé

Keno – William Campbell (E) William Campbell, (S) Jesús Nieto, (G) Rainer Brandt, (F) Bernard Woringer

Jack – Bruce Cabot (E) Bruce Cabot, (S) Antolin Garcia, (G) Wolfgang Lukschy, (F) ?

Uncle Lucius – Robert Morley (E) Robert Morley, (S) Antonio García Quijada, (G) Erich Fiedler, (F) Richard Francœur

Toynbee – Ronald Squire (E) Ronald Squire, (S) Manuel De Juan, (G) Alfred Balthoff, (F) Pierre Michau

Klaus Miedel  (1915 – 2000)

Klaus Miedel was born in Berlin, Germany on July 4, 1915. While Miedel had a stage background, he worked primarily with his voice, first on radio beginning in 1947 and then in dubbing. He was the standard German voice of Dean Martin and Yul Brynner (including “The King and I”) and also dubbed Telly Savalas several times, Peter Sellers in “The Wrong Box”, Theodore Bikel in “My Fair Lady”, John Gielgud in “Chariots of Fire”, and Herbert Lom in “A Shot in the Dark”. Miedel often utilized a French accent, for French actors Louis de Funès, Michel Serrault, Jacques Marin, and Pierre Tornade, and for parts like John Cleese as the French taunter in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”, James Coco in “Murder by Death”, and Romney Brent as the French ambassador in “The Virgin Queen”.

In animation, Miedel dubbed Flintheart Glomgold on “DuckTales”, Sir Hiss in “Robin Hood”, the magic mirror in the second dub of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, Monsieur D'Arque in “Beauty and the Beast”, Max in “Yellow Submarine”, and Warren T. Rat in “An American Tail”. For TV, he dubbed William Schallert on ‘Get Smart’, Roger C. Carmel as Harry Mudd on ‘Star Trek’’, the tape voice on Mission: Impossible’, and various guests on ‘Bonanza’.

On-camera, Miedel was seen in the German films “Canaris” (as a French army officer), “Hokuspokus oder: Wie lasse ich meinen Mann verschwinden...?” (co-starring with Liselotte Pulver as Englishman Mr. Graham), and “Jeder stirbt für sich allein” and appeared on ‘Tatort’.