Voices of the Spaghetti Western ~ “Son of a Gunfighter”

 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 “Son of a Gunfighter”

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

Johnny Ketchum – Russ Tamblyn (S) Jesús Nieto, (G) Michael Chevalier, (F) Michel Cogoni, (E) Russ Tamblyn

Deputy Mace Fenton – Kieron Moore (S) Ángel María Baltanás, (G) Arnold Marquis, (F) Georges Aminel, (E) Kieron Moore

James ‘Ace’ Ketchum – James Philbrook (S) Rafael Navarro, (G)           Martin Hirthe, (F) Michel Gatineau, (E)James Philbrook

Don Perdo Fortuna – Fernando Rey (S) Fernando Rey, (G) Siegfried Schürenberg. F) Jean-Henri Chambois, (E) ?

Pilar Fortuna – María Granada (S) Ana María Saizar, (F) ?, (E) ?

Juan Morales – Aldo Sambrell (S) Aldo Sambrell, (F) Henry Djanik, (E) ?

Michel Cogoni  (1936 – 1969)

Michel Cogoni was a French journalist, radio and television host, and singer. Hired by Lucien Morisse, after winning the 1959 European 1 Playmakers' Cup, he presented Séance de nuit with Harold Kay for several years. He was a regular on the RTL ‘Super Hit-Parade’, and at the same time, on the same channel, he produced a program for women, ‘Écoutez-moi’. He pursued a career as a singer, recording several albums. His revival of "Monia" in 1969 was a respectable success. In 1968, he joined Radio Monte Carlo. During this time, he also did some film dubbing. On August 9, 1969, he was killed in a car accident: while driving a Peugeot 3 cabriolet at around 2 a.m. on the Route de l'Esterel, between Théoule-sur-Mer and Cannes, he suddenly lost control of his steering. His car swerved and, after rolling over, fell, upside down crushing him under its weight. He was taken to hospital in Cannes but did not survive his injuries. He was 33 years old.