Voices of the Spaghetti Western ~ “Two Crosses at Danger Pass”

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 “Two Crosses at Danger Pass”

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

Alex Mitchell – Peter Martell (I) Cesare Barbetti, (S) José Guardiola

Judy Mitchell – Mara Cruz (I) Melina Martello, (S) Mara Cruz

Mark – Luis Gaspar (I) Vittorio Stagni, (S) Luis Gaspar

Charlie Moran – Anthony Freeman (I) Massimo Turci, (S) Francsico Valladares

Powell – Miguel S. del Castillo (I) Bruno Persa, (S) Benjamín Domingo

Gloria Moran - Dyanik Zurakowska (I) Serena Verdirosi, (S) María Luisa Rubio

Vittorio Stagni  (1937 -    )

Vittorio Stagni was born Vittorio Cazzulli in Milan, Lombardy, Italy on December 17, 1937. He is the son of the actor and theater administrator Ferruccio "Vittorino" Stagni, he studied acting with Pietro Sharoff and Lee Strasberg and took mime courses with Jacques Lecoq and Giancarlo Cobelli, as well as training as a clown and acrobat with the Circus Orfei.

Stagni made his debut, still a child, both as an actor and as a voice actor and worked in the theater with various companies, being directed among others by Luchino Visconti, who launched him into the world of theater when Stagni was just 7 years old; performances directed by Aldo Trionfo, Virginio Puecher, Franco Enriquez, Orazio Costa, Vittorio Gassman, Gigi Proietti, Giancarlo Sbragia and Giorgio Albertazzi, as well as Sharoff and Cobelli themselves, followed. As a voice actor he participated in the Italian editions of numerous Disney classics and later became the recurring Italian voice of the actor Rick Moranis; he also voiced Warwick Davis, in the role of Filius Flitwick, in the Harry Potter film saga and in the animated series “The Fairly Odd Parents”. He gave his voice to several characters, including one of the antagonists, Professor Denzel Crocker, as well as directing the dubbing. He has also voiced actresses, such as Anne Ramsey in “The Goonies” and Linda Hunt in “The Year of Living Dangerously”, as well as Italian actor Alvaro Vitali in many of his roles in the seventies; in one of these films, “La compagna di banco”, he himself acted alongside Vitali. In 2001 he was also the protagonist of the film “The House of Chicken” by Pietro Sussi.

In addition to his career as an actor and voice actor, Stagni also works as a musician and composer: after singing, while still a child, at the wedding of Tyrone Power and Linda Christian, he wrote and often directed or performed the incidental music of shows in which he often also takes part as an actor, as well as soundtracks for film and television products and songs intended for the record market.

Stagni is the husband of the voice actress Lorenza Biella [1945- ], with whom he has a daughter Ilaria Stagni [1967- ], also a voice actress. He is the grandfather of the voice actor and singer-songwriter Jacopo Castagna [1993- ], son of Ilaria, and Alessandro Sussi, born from his daughter's second marriage, and a voice actor at the beginning.