Voices of the Spaghetti Western ~ “The Savage Guns”

 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 Savage Guns”

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

Steve Fallon - Richard Basehart (I) Renato Turi, (S) Ángel María Baltanás, (G) Lothar Blumhagen, (F) Jacques Dacqmine

Franchea – Paquita Rico (I) ?, (S) Paquita Rico, (G) Marianne Wischmann, (F) Nelly Benedetti

Mike Summers – Don Taylor (I) Giuseppe Rinaldi, (S) Félix Acaso, (G) Arnold Marquis, (F) Nelly Benedetti

Danny Pose – Alex Nicol (I) ?, (S) José Guardiola, (G) Michael Chevalier, (F) Georges Aminel

Juana – Maria Granada (I) ?, (S) Carmen Morando, (G) Uta Hallant, (F) ?

Ortega – José Nieto (I) ?, (S) Teófilo Martínez, (G) Siegfried Schürenberg, (F) Yves Brainville

Don Hernán – Fernando Rey (I) ?, (S) Fernando Rey, (G) Curt Ackermann, (F) Jean-Henri Chambois

Lothar Blumhagen  (1927 -    )

Lothar Blumhagen was born in Leipzig, German on July 16, 1927, Hecompleted his acting training at the Smolny-Heerdt school in Leipzig and also attended the local Hochschule für Musik. Lothat made his stage debut in Leipzig in 1947 – in the literary cabaret Die Rampe. This was followed by stage engagements in Leipzig, Halle and Berlin.

From 1954 to 1956 Blumhagen belonged to the ensemble of the Deutsches Theater in the eastern part of the city. During this time, he also made his film debut “Hexen” (1954) and received further film roles in DEFA productions. In 1956 he moved to the western part of the city, where he found many years of engagement at the Schlosspark- and Schillertheater and also took part in the premiere of Peter Weiss' persecution and murder of Jean-Paul Marat. For his services to the stage, he was also appointed a Berlin State Actor.

In addition to his stage activities, Blumhagen was seen in film and television productions after his DEFA engagements, including in the semi-documentary films “Zeugin der Zeit – Käthe Kollwitz” (1985) and the FRG-GDR co-production “Caspar David Friedrich – Grenzen der Zeit” (1986) as well as in series guest roles such as in 1990 in an episode of ‘Hotel Paradies’.

Lothar Blumhagen has also gained particular fame with his voice. As early as 1950 he began as a radio announcer at the Leipzig station. This was followed by his first dubbing roles at DEFA. In West Berlin he continued this activity and developed into one of the most sought-after voice actors in the Federal Republic with roles in over 600 films. His distinctive voice and distinguished way of speaking often predestined him for parts with self-deprecating British understatement such as Roger Moore in the role of Lord Brett Sinclair in the German version of the crime series ‘Die Zwei or as Higgins’ (John Hillerman) in the second dubbed version of the crime series ‘Magnum PI’. Among the prominent acting colleagues to whom Blumhagen lent his voice over the years are Michael Caine, John Cleese, Gary Cooper, Tony Curtis, Kirk Douglas, Henry Fonda, Christopher Lee, Peter O'Toole, Dennis Price, Alan Rickman, Andreas Katsulas, Edward G. Robinsonand Kenneth Williams. In The Incorruptibles (1976) he dubbed "Deep Throat", a main character who is almost exclusively characterized by his voice.