Voices of the Spaghetti western– “The Texican

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 Texican”

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

Jess Carlin – Audie Murphy (E) Audie Murphy, (S) Joaquín Díaz, (G) Klaus Kindler

Luke Starr – Broderick Crawford (E) Broderick Crawford, (S) Felipe Peña, (G) Erik Jelde

Kit O’Neal – Diana Lorys (E) ?, (S) Glòria Roig, (G) ?

Gil Rio – Aldo Sambrell (E) ?, (S) Antonio Fernández Sánchez, (G) Christian Marschall

Frank Brady – Antonio Casas (E) ?, (S) Alfonso Santigosa, (G) Klaus W. Krause

Boyd Thompson – Gerard Tichy (E) ?, (S) Dionisio Macías, (G) Herbert Weicker

Sandy Adams - Luz Márquez (E), Luisa Posada Mendoza, (G) ?

Erik Jelde  (1894 – 1982)

Erik Jelde was born in Berlin, Germany on May 1, 1894. After studying music and taking piano lessons, Jelde first found work as a conductor. Then he also performed as a singer. After he had received acting lessons, he went to Munich, where he was to make his debut on the stage. It was not until the Third Reich that he was to receive regular permanent engagements, but initially stayed away from classical spoken theatre. In 1937/1938 he was documented as an actor, director and singer at the operetta of Nordhausen and as an actor at the Berlin Prater. In the following season he moved (as singer and director) to the opera of Plauen. He remained there until the closure of all German theatres ordered by Joseph Goebbels in the late summer of 1944. At the end of the war, he fled to the West and found a job at the Nuremberg-Fürth City Theatre from 1945 to 1948. There, too, the artist, who was equipped with an extremely sonorous voice, initially stayed away from acting and was used exclusively in the field of opera/operetta.

Thanks to his strong, unmistakable voice, Erik Jelde was predestined for dubbing work and had been working as a dubbing actor since 1949. In the 1950s, he dubbed films such as “Laurel and Hardy: On the High Seas”, “Judgment at Nuremberg” and “One, Two, Three”. He often lent his voice to the British character actor Harry Andrews. Erik Jelde was also heard in the animated series “Heidi” as the grandfather. He also appeared in radio plays, such as in the BR production of “Dickie Dickens” (as Grandpa Crackle). He also appeared in BR's only Paul Temple production, namely in 1959 as Inspector Vosper in “Paul Temple and the Conrad Case”. Jelde was the German voice of Mario Brega in “A Few Dollars More”

Jelde had a son and two daughters and died in December of 1982. He was 88 years old.