Voices of the Spaghetti western – “Hallelujah for Django”

 

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 “Hallelujah for Django”

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

Billy 'Rum' Cooney – George Hilton (I) Sergio Graziani, (I) Juan Miguel Cuesto, (G)    Michael Chevalier

Santo/David Phaylard - Hunt Powers (I) Pino Locchi, (S) Luis Porcar, (G)         Jürgen Thormann

Jarret/Clay Thomas – Walter Barnes (I) Carlo Romano, (S) José María Cordero (G)      Alexander Welbat

Mara – Sarah Ross (I) Rita Savagnone, (S) Mari Pe Castro, (G) ?

Jenny – Erica Blanc (I) Vittoria Febbi, (S) Pilar Gentil, (G) Beate Hasenau

Mark – Jeff Cameron (I) Massimo Turci, (S) Diego Martín, (G) Fred Maire

Sheriff Martin Cooney – Enzo Fiermonte (I) Renato Turi, (S) Fernando Mateo, (G) Hans Wiegner

Juan Miguel Cuesto  (? - ?)

Juan Miguel Cuesta was truly great actor with one of the best and most beautiful voices in Spanish dubbing, with an extraordinary deep voice register that's one of the most romantic and seductive, thanks to its warmth and charm. He lent his voice to Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland, Paul Newman, Ian McKellen, and Michael Caine and dubbed Sonny Corleone (film and TV series), Mandible, and Ernie on Sesame Street, among many other characters.

I can find no biographical information on Juan other than the Spanish dubbing data base “el doblaje” states he’s died. No dates or locations as to his birth and death can I find. Another great film personality gone and forgotten.