Voices of the Spaghetti Women ~ “The Tall Women”

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 Tall Women”

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

Marry Ann – Anne Baxter (E) Anne Baxter, (S) Elsa Fábregas, (G) Ilse Kiewiet

Ursula – Maria Perschy (E) Maria Perschy?, (S) María Luisa Solá, (G) ?

Dorothy – Maria Mahor (S) Consuelo Vives, (G) ?

Pilar – Perla Cristal (S) Roser Cavallé, (G) ?

Katy Grimaldi - Rosella Como (S) Asunción Vitoria, (G) ?

Bridget – Christa Linder (S) Elvira Jofre, (G) ?

Betty Grimaldi – Adriana Ambessi (S) Rosa Guiñón, (G) ?

White Cloud – Fernando Hilbeck (S) José Luis Sansalvador, (G) Randolf Kronberg

Gus Macintosh – Gustavo Rojo (E) Gustavo Rojo?, (S) Rogelio Hernández, (G) Rainer Brandt

Elsa Fábregas  (1921 – 2008)

Elsa Fábregas Munill was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on June 30, 1921. She was the niece of Spanish theater and voice actor Emilio Fábregas. Elsa was one of the most important and recognized dubbing actresses in Spain. His first appearance in a dubbing was in 1935 in the film Little Jacques.

A regular voice for several of the great actresses of Hollywood's golden age (among others Doris Day, her favorite, or Katharine Hepburn), perhaps her most emblematic contribution is in the dubbing of Vivien Leigh's character Scarlet O'Hara in the film “Gone with the Wind”, made between the end of 1938 and the beginning of 1939. Seventy-three years of profession in the world of dubbing.

Other great roles were Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz”, Rita Hayworth in “Gilda” (1945), Gloria Swanson in “Twilight of the Gods” (1952), Bette Davis in “What Happened to Baby Jane?” and Eleanor Parker in “When the Crowd Roars” (1954).

Elsa also dubbed on television and in animation as the bored witch in ‘The Three Twins’ in the Catalan version. She participated in more than 1500 dubbing sessions before her death on December 21, 2008, in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. She was 87 years old.