Voices of the Spaghetti western ~ “3 Graves for a Winchester”

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 “3 Graves for a Winchester”

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

Frank Sanders – Gordon Mitchell (I) Emilio Cigoli, (G) Friedrich W. Bauschulte, (F) Jacques Berthier

Ringo Carson – Mickey Hargitay (I) Pino Locchi, (G) Horst Niendorf, (F) Michel Barbey

Jane Walcom – Milla Sannoner (I) ?, (G) Ursula Heyer, (F) ?

Tom – Spartaco Conversi (I) Bruno Persa, (G) Claus Holm, (F) René Bériard

Walcom – Amedeo Trilli (I) Giorgio Capecchi, (G) Fritz Tillmann, (F) Jean Violette

Daniels – Ivano Staccioli (I) Nando Gazzolo, (G) Klaus Miedel, (F) René Bériard

Alonso – Dante Maggio (I) Carlo Romano, (G) Hans Walter Clasen, (F) ?

Claus Holm  (1918 – 1996)

Claus Holm was born in Bochum-Werne, Germany on August 4, 1918. He was a miner for three years and became a boxing champion in 1937. He began his acting career in Berlin in the mid-1940s. After the end of the war, he helped build up the Altmärkisches Theater in Salzwedel and was soon also in front of the camera for DEFA. He said the 1947 film drama “Ehe im Schatten” (Marriage in the Shadow) by Kurt Maetzig as one of his most important films. He also played at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm.

In 1953, Holm fled from the GDR to the West, where he soon returned to theatre, and had been a member of the ensemble of the Staatliche Schauspielbühnen Berlin since Boleslaw Barlog's directorship. During this time, he also sought roles as a film actor. In the 1950s, for example, he starred in some Heimatfilms. In 1957, Holm portrayed Inspector Axel Kersten in the Oscar-nominated film “Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam” and had a role in 1959’s Fritz Lang's remakes of “Der Tiger von Eschnapur” and “Das indische Grabmal”. He also appeared in three Edgar Wallace films.

From the mid-1960s, Holm mainly played in the theater. On television, he appeared in 1966 in the German science fiction television series ‘Raumpatrouille Orion’ as flight engineer Hasso Sigbjörnson. In the period after that, he appeared in only a few films, including Rainer Werner Fassbinder's television adaptation ‘Berlin Alexanderplatz’ in 1980.

Holm lived a very secluded life. He died on September 21, 1996, at the age of 78 in Berlin. He iss buried next to his wife, the singer Dagmar Holm née Stech [1918–1988], in the state-owned cemetery Heerstraße in today's Berlin-Westend district.