Voices of the Spaghetti Western ~ “The Sign of the Coyote”

 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 Sign of the Coyote”

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

Leon/César de Echagüe/Galiardo/’Coyote’ – Fred Canow (I) Pino Locchi, (S) Claudio Rodríguez, (G) Gert Günther Hoffmann

Leonor/Mary Acevedo – María Lux (I) Andreina Pagnani, (S) María Romero, (G) Heidi Treutler

Governor Parker – Mario Feliciani (I) Mario Feliiani, (S) José Martínez Blanco, (G) ?

Madam Acevedo – Paola Barbara (I) Dhia Cristiani, (S) Ángela Fernández, (G) ?

Judge Clemens – Arturo Dominici (I) Arturo Dominici, (S) Salvador Arias, (G) Harald Wolff

Lenny – Piero Lulli (I) Glauco Onorato, (S) Fernando Nogueras, (G) Wolf Ackva

Beatrice – Giulia Rubini (I) Fiorella Betti, (S) ?, (G) Rose-Marie Kirstein

Andreina Pagnani  (1906 – 1981)

Andreina Pagnani was born Andreina Gentili on November 24, 1906, in Rome, Italy. She was an Italian actress and voice actress. Elegant, with a strong stage presence,s he was the protagonist of Italian stages, venturing into a rich repertoire (comedy, sacred representations, classical texts).

After winning the Filodrammatico competition in Bologna in 1928, she was offered the role of first actress in a professional company in Milan. In 1933 he was Uliva in the world premiere of “La rappresentazione di Santa Uliva” by Ildebrando Pizzetti and directed by Jacques Copeau.

Later, alongside Luigi Cimara and Romano Calò, in 1938 she formed the Pagnani-Cialente company and in 1938-39 she achieved considerable success with the company of the Teatro Eliseo in Rome. An actress endowed with great charm and an elegant acting intensity, Andreina Pagnani is remembered above all for having interpreted the works of authors such as William Shakespeare Luigi Pirandello, Jean Cocteau, Eugene O'Neill and George Bernard Shaw.

She frequently participated in the radio prose of EIAR and Rai from the mid-thirties, as well as in television, in vogue in the fifties and sixties.

Her interpretative skills were expressed through an intense voice and nuanced accents, and thanks to this quality she was, together with Lydia Simoneschi, Tina Lattanzi, Rosetta Calavetta, Dhia Cristiani and Giovanna Scotto, one of the most quoted and requested dubbers of her generation, starting from 1930, lending her voice to great divas, such as Bette Davis and Marlene Dietrich, also Katharine Hepburn, Gloria Swanson, Barbara Stanwyck and Greta Garbo. She also voiced several Italian actresses, including Gina Lollobrigida.

Andreina Pagnani died on November 22, 1981, in Rome, Italy two days short of her 75^th birthday.