Voices of the Spaghetti Westerns ~ “A Fistful of Songs”

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 “A Fistful of Songs”

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

Betty Johnson – Vivi Bach (G) Vivi Bach

Chief Big Vulture – Gustavo Rojo (G) Gert Günther Hoffmann

Franz – Thomas Alder (G) Michael Cramer

Sheriff Toro – Renzo Palmer (G) Martin Hirthe

Mr. Lewis – Umberto D’Orsi (G) Hugo Schrader

Jack – Nino Vangelli (G) Arnold Marquis

Martin Hirthe  (1921 – 1981)

Martin Hirthe was born on February 13, 1921, in Berlin, Germany. He attended acting school and then entered the army during World War II. He was captured and became a British prisoner of war. While a captive he starred in a presentation of “Black and White”. After the war he remained in Austria and appeared in his first theatrical engagementes in Klagenfurt, Graz and Vienna before returning to Germany and playing in Baden-Baden, Kassel and Göttingen. In 1962 he returned home to Berlin and performed at the Schiller Theater. During his stage career he made several TV appearances. Hirthe was probably better known for his voice then his face as he became of the busiest German film dubbers in the 1960s and ‘70s. He was the German voice of such actors as Walter Matthay, Martin Balsam, Telly Savalas and Ernest Borgnine. During this time, he was the voice of Bud Spencer in seven films including the westerns “God Forgives, I Don’t” and “Ace High” both in 1968. He was the voice of Fernando Sancho in “Django Shoots First” and “The Return of Ringo” and “$7.00 to Kill” all in 1966, “$10,00 for a Massacre” (1967). He voiced Eli Wallach in “Ace High” (1968) and “The White, the Yellow and the Black” (1975). Among other westerns he was the voice of Telly Savalas, Frank Wolff, Jack Palance, Rod Steiger and Roberto Camardiel. Martin died on August 9, 1981, in Berlin. Today we celebrate what would have been Martin Hirthe’s 90th birthday.