By Johan Melle
July 1, 2025
Irene Guest was a dubbing actress who was very active on the English dubbing scene in Rome throughout the 1960s and 70s. In the early days of her career, she dubbed several glamorous supporting roles as well as occasional leads, but it was not until the early 1970s that Irene really came into her own by establishing herself as a character dubber with a specialty for voicing mature or middle-aged women – of both the seductive and the more matronly sort.
Sadly, Irene is another of those Rome dubbers who is so obscure that there isn’t even a picture available of her, despite the fact that she was a very good and versatile dubber who could do both serious and comedic parts, and if you have an interest in giallo, western Eurocrime, Nazisploitation and the like, then you’ll surely recognize Irene’s characteristic voice in the video below:
As initially mentioned, there are very few biographical details available on Irene. In fact, I had never even heard of her until dubbing actor Roger Browne mentioned her to me in an email in 2023 that Irene was someone who often dubbed older women.
“Irene Guest was essentially an opera singer, I think,” Browne went on to explain. “She dubbed some but was never one of the top women like Susan [Spafford] or Carolyn [de Fonseca]. More of a brusio type. Not a sweet voice. I guess a coloratura, as if I knew what that was! She went with Tommy Lo Monaco, a teacher.”
Dubbing actor Rodd Dana, who used to supplement his acting and dubbing career in Rome with a lot of opera work, remembered Irene very fondly when I asked him about her:
“Dear friend. She and I sang Aida together, and duets from Rigoletto, many times,” Dana recalled. “Lovely lady and a wonderful talent. Her long-time beau was my last singing teacher, Thomas Lo Monaco, who in 1968-9 (I forget) deserted us all to move to New York.”
Further information has been very difficult to come by, but I do believe that Irene was originally from Millburn, New Jersey (c1932), as I’ve come across a notice in the ‘Club and Social News’ section of the New Jersey newspaper The Item of Millburn and Short Hills (October 3, 1963) stating that “Miss Irene Guest, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Guest of Woodfield drive, left last week for Rome, Italy, where she will spend a year studying opera.” This has to be the same person as our Irene Guest – especially since it is indeed around 1963 that Irene’s voice starts popping up in various Italian films, suggesting that she became involved in the English dubbing scene rather quickly upon her arrival in Rome.
Initially, Irene was used to dub a lot of supporting or co-starring roles – as well as the odd lead – played by such glamorous Italian starlets as Femi Benussi, Dominique Boschero, Ursula Davis, Wandisa Guida, Hélène Chanel, Gianna Serra and Rosalba Neri.
The early 1970s saw Irene shifting more and more towards character parts played by older actresses, but unlike her dubbing colleagues Cicely Browne and Louise Lambert, who were the go-to actresses for dubbing old ladies, Irene instead established herself as somewhat of a specialist in providing voices for more mature or middle-aged women. Her talent and versatility ensured that she was very successful in this field and kept herself busy all through the 1970s.
Irene remained a much in-demand character dubber until the early 1980s, but then all trace of her stops after 1981. What became of her is not known, although Rodd Dana believed she had left Rome for New York at some point. In a very surprising turn of events, however, Irene would go on to resurface on the Roman dubbing scene more than 20 years later – as part of the dubbing cast for the English version of the animated Italian Christmas film Opopomoz (2003)!
The English dub of Opopomoz has not been widely seen, but it was included as an alternate language track on the film’s Italian DVD release. The English opening and closing credits are not included on this release, but instead a text of the full English dubbing credits is included among the supplement material – revealing that the role of Adele the grandmother is voiced by none other than Irene Guest!
Now, this was a most fortuitous discovery indeed as this is Irene’s only known credited acting role, and it is thanks to this that it was possible to identify her voice, albeit with some difficulty given the large time gap between this role and her old dubbing parts from the 60s and 70s. Irene obviously sounds much older in Opopomoz, but one can nevertheless recognize several of the more characteristic inflections – especially when comparing with her dubbing of Clara Colosimo in The Gun (1978), featured in the video at the top.
But how did Irene end up back in Rome doing dubbing again in the early 2000s!? Unfortunately, I have no idea, but it’s my hope that more information about her life and career can eventually be unearthed. But in the meantime, we no at least have a name to go with the voice of this very talented and long-time dubbing actress who throughout the years enriched dozens upon dozens of Italian genre films with her colorful dubbing performances.
English dubbing filmography:
(Highlighted titles are Spaghetti westerns)
- The Scourge of the Barbarians (1964) - voice of Grenda (Moira Orfei)
- Death on the Fourposter (1964) - voice of Frankie (Gloria Milland)
- A Game of Crime (1964) - voice of A Friend of the Luganis (Elisa Mainardi)
- Maciste in King Solomon’s Mines (1964) - voice of Queen Fazira (Wandisa Guida)
- Zorikan the Barbarian (1964) - voice of Anna (Anita Todesco)
- A Coffin for the Sheriff (1965) - voice of Lupe’s Woman (Maria Vico)
- The Desert Renegades (1965) - voice of Farida (Leila Sheir)
- Ghosts of Rome (1961; dubbed in 1965) - voice of Nella (Franca Marzi)
- Pia of Ptolemy (1958; dubbed in the mid 1960s) - voice of Pia (Ilaria Occhini)
- An Angel for Satan (1966) - voice of Rita (Ursula Davis)
- Target for Killing (1966) - voice of Sandra Perkins (Karin Dor)
- The Wild, Wild Planet (1966) - voice of Vicky Halstead (unidentified actress)
- Death Walks in Laredo (1967) - voice of Debra Smith (Gianna Serra)
- The Fantastic Argoman (1967) - voice of Regina Sullivan/Jenabell (Dominique Boschero)
- A Fistful of Diamonds (1967) - voice of Sherry (Antonella Murgia)
- Deadly Inheritance (1968) - voice of Simone Marot (Femi Benussi)
- Killer, Goodbye (1968) - voice of Fanny Sand (Rosalba Neri)
- The King of Kong Island (1968) - voice of Ursula (Adriana Alben)
- This Man Can’t Die (1968) - voice of Melina (Rosalba Neri)
- Naked Violence (1969) - voice of Signorina Romani (Danika La Loggia)
- A Place in Hell (1969) - voice of Betsy (Hélène Chanel)
- The Case of the Scorpion’s Tail (1971) - voice of Lara Florakis (Janine Reynaud)
- Finders Killers (1971) - voice of Connie (Femi Benussi)
- Hands Up, Dead Man! You’re Under Arrest (1971) - voice of Maybelle (Helga Liné)
- The Naked Cello (1971) - voice of Costanza’s Mother (Elsa Vazzoler)
- Paid in Blood (1971) - voice of Zenda (Esmeralda Barros)
- The Price of Death (1971) - voice of Mrs. Randall (Laura Gianoli)
- When Men Carried Clubs and Women Played Ding-Dong (1971) - voice of Didi (Valeria Fabrizi)
- An Animal Called Man (1972) - voice of Yvette (Gillian Bray)
- Christiana the Devil Nun (1972) voice of Mother Superior (unidentified actress)
- Cry Out in Terror (1972) - voice of Vanessa (Giuliana Rivera)
- Don’t Torture a Duckling (1972) - voice of Signora Spriano (Rosalia Maggio)
- The Eye in the Labyrinth (1972) - voice of Orphanage Directress (Elisa Mainardi)
- Hector the Mighty (1972) - voice of Cassandra (Franca Valeri)
- It Can Be Done... Amigo (1972) - voice of Mrs. Warren (Serena Michelotti)
- Knife of Ice (1972) - voice of Mrs. Britton (Silvia Monelli)
- More Sexy Canterbury Tales (1972) - voice of Lucrezia (Monica Audras)
- The Murder Mansion (1972) - voice of Mrs. Tremont (Yelena Samarina)
- The Other Canterbury Tales (1972) - voice of Widow Collagia (Assunta Costanzo)
- The Poseidon Explosion (1972) - voice of Angela (Draga Olteanu Matei)
- Hospitals, the White Mafia (1973) - voice of Baronessa Lanciani (unidentified actress)
- Suppose... I Break Your Neck (1973) - voice of Prostitute (Lina Franchi)
- Women in Cell Block 7 (1973) - voice of Chief Matron (Olga Bisera)
- The Eerie Midnight Horror Show (1974) - voice of Satanic Priestess (Bruna Beani)
- Erotomania (1974) - voice of Gertrude (Maria Antonietta Beluzzi)
- Innocence and Desire (1974) - voice of Lola (Anna Maria Pescatori)
- My Darling Domestic (1974) - voice of Lola Mandragali (Femi Benussi)
- Spasmo (1974) - voice of Woman in Car (Rosita Torosh)
- The Three with Pink Leaves (1974) - voice of Mrs. Terenzi (Marisa Merlini)
- Women’s Prison (1974) - voice of Susanna (Marilù Tolo)
- C.I.A. Secret Story (1975) - voice of Licia Pinelli (Dominique Boschero)
- Eyeball (1975) - voice of Nurse (Rina Mascetti)
- The Masters (1975) - voice of Sebastiano’s Mother (Carla Calò)
- The Teenage Prostitution Racket (1975) - voice of Gisella’s Mother (Giuliana Rivera) and Psychiatrist (Franca Aldrovandi)
- The Au Pair Girl (1976) - voice of Maddalena (Patrizia Webley)
- The Cop in Blue Jeans (1976) - voice of Mamma Teresa (Iolanda Fortini)
- Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man (1976) - voice of Menica (Gina Mascetti)
- Smooth Velvet, Raw Silk (1976) - voice of Crystal (Susan Scott)
- The Tough Ones (1976) - voice of Signora Assante (Mara Mariani)
- The Cat’s Victims (1977) - voice of Signora Dezzan (Jill Pratt)
- The Cynic, the Rat and the Fist (1977) - voice of Landlady at the ‘Gabriella’ (Ermelinda De Felice)
- In the Beach House (1977) - voice of Gloria (Clara Algranti)
- The Red Nights of the Gestapo (1977) - voice of Esther (Niki Penati)
- Sister Emanuelle (1977) - voice of Sister Cécile (Pia Velsi)
- SS Camp 5 – Women’s Hell (1977) - voice of Alina (Rita Manna)
- SS Girls (1977) - voice of Frau Inge (Marina Daunia)
- Stunt Squad (1977) - voice of Anna (Claudia Giannotti)
- Women’s Camp 119 (1977) - voice of Kapo Marta (Ria De Simone)
- Fearless Fuzz (1978) - voice of Teresa Vincenzo (Luciana Turina)
- The Gun (1978) - voice of Pitta Callini (Clara Colosimo)
- Last Feelings (1978) - voice of School Teacher (Deddi Savagnone)
- Loggerheads (1978) - voice of Gerda (Lea Lander)
- The War of the Robots (1978) - voice of Commander King’s Assistant (Licinia Lentini)
- Emanuelle and Joanna (1979) - voice of Emanuela’s Mother (Catherine Zago)
- Escape from Hell (1980) - voice of Marie Antoinette (Anna Maria Panaro)
- Honey (1981) - voice of The School Mistress (Susan Scott)
Animation dubbing:
- Opopomoz (2003) - voice of Grandma Adele
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