Voices of the Spaghetti Western - “Two Faces of the Dollar”

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 Faces of the Dollar”

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

Miele/Honey/Django – Maurice Poli (I) Pino Locchi, (G) Klaus Kindler

Mathematica – Jacques Herlin (I) Sergio Graziani, (G) Gerd Martienzen

Jane – Gabriella Giorgelli (I) ?, (G) Beate Hasenau

Colonel Blackgrave – Gérard Herter (I) ?, (G) Arnold Marquis

Lieutenant Benjamin Sinclair – Andrea Scotti (I) ?, (G) Norbert Langer

Colonel Talbert – Andrea Bosic (I) ?, (G) Heinz Petruo

Norbert Langer  (1941 -     )

Norbert Langer was born March 9, 1941 in Silesia, Germany. He is a German actor, voice actor, radio play speaker, director and dialogue writer. He was the German voice of Clark Gable and Burt Reynolds.

After graduating from school in Hamburg and training as an industrial clerk, Langer completed acting training at Hildburg Frese's Hamburg Acting Studio. In order to avoid military service in the Bundeswehr, he moved to West Berlin in 1962. Between 1962 and 1972 he worked in theatre engagements at the Staatliche Schauspielbühnen and also at the Grips-Theater and the Kleines Theater am Südwestkorso. He was rarely seen in cinema and television. There he appeared as a staunch opponent of the modern typewriter in the socially critical film “Liebe Mutter, mir geht es gut” (Dear Mother, I'm Doing Well) (1972) and in the school television series ‘Wer hat die Bürokratie erfunden?’ (Who Invented Bureaucracy?)

As early as 1962, Langer worked as a radio and dubbing actor. At the beginning of the 1970s, he shifted his artistic focus completely to dubbing. Since then, he has been used as a voice actor in over 1000 productions. He became particularly popular as the voice actor of Tom Selleck since his role as private detective Thomas Magnum in the series ‘Magnum’. He also voiced this role again in the RTL dubbing, as ARD had not secured the broadcasting rights, which expired towards the end of the 1980s. RTL bought the broadcasting rights, but ARD did not want to hand over the dubbing, whereupon the series was re-dubbed.

In the dubbed version of the British television crime series ‘Inspector Barnaby’, Langer lent his voice to John Nettles (DCI Tom Barnaby). In the television series ‘24’, he voiced the head of CTU, Bill Buchanan (James Morrison). In the US series ‘Blue Bloods – Crime Scene New York’, he voiced the main character of police chief Francis ("Frank") Reagan, again embodied by Tom Selleck. He can also be heard as the narrator voice in the US series ‘Pushing Daisies’ and ‘Coco, the Curious Monkey’ and the off-screen voice in Bugs Bunny and Looney Tunes and the science show ‘The Great Show of Natural Wonders’. Langer's voice was also used for commercials and radio plays. He became particularly famous as He-Man in the radio play series ‘Masters of the Universe’.