Voices of the Spaghetti Western “Four Bullets for Joe”

 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 “Four Bullets for Joe”

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

Frank Dalton – Paul Piaget (S) José Martínez Blanco

Sheriff Paul – Fernando Casanova (S) Claudio Rodríguez

Katy - Liz Poitel (S) Lola Cervantes

Margaret - Barbara Nelli (S) Ángela González

Judge - Rafael Bardem (S) Eduardo Calvo

Eduardo Calvo  (1918 – 1992)

Eduardo Calvo Muñoz was born in Lozoyuela, Madrid, Spain on March 26, 1918. The son of actor Rafael Calvo (Rafael Calvo Ruiz de Morales) [1911-1966] and the nephew of actor Ricardo Calvo (Ricardo Calvo Agosti) [1875-1966]. He is the brother of actor Rafael Luis Calvo (Rafael Luis Calvo Muñoz) [1911-1988].

Eduardo and his older brother Rafael Luis Calvo were children of the famous film actor Rafael Calvo, and in the 1940s they decided to follow in his footsteps by playing small roles in the movies and dubbing foreign films.  Rafael Luis settled in Barcelona while Eduardo stayed in Madrid. Eduardo He began his career on stage in 1937 and ten years later, he made his screen debut in "El Verdugo", but his career in cinema didn't take off until the 1970s. He is known for his work on “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” (1988), “The Heifer” (1985) and “Travelling Companion” (1979).

Unlike his brother, Eduardo combined his work in front of and behind the cameras until the end of his career, which brought a characteristic rough voice and a veteran presence.  He became a habitual dubber of cinematographic minorities like John Carradine and Walter Brennan and also dubbed himself in international co-productions.  In the cinema he worked under the direction of directors like Carlos Saura, Jaime de Armiñán, Juan Antonio Bardem, Luis Berlanga, Pilar Miró, Pedro Almodóvar, Jesus Franco and Francisco Rodríguez.  He acted in the TVE series ‘El picaro’ giving life to the character of Monipodio.  In 1983 he dubbed Alfred Hitchcock in the television series ‘Alfred Hitchcock Presents.’

All sources say erroneously that he died August 13th but it was actually July 25,1992.