Voices of the Spaghetti Western – “Up the MacGregors”

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 “Up the MacGregors”

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

Gregor MacGregor – David Bailey (I) Pino Locchi

David MacGregor – Hugo Blanco (I) Sergio Graziani

Dick MacGregor – Alberto Dell Acqua (I) Massimo Turci

Johnny MacGregor – Saturno Cerra (I) Sergio Tedesco

Kenneth MacGregor – Paolo Magalotti (I) Renato Turi

Mark MacGregor - Julio Pérez Tabernero (I) Luciano De Ambrosis

Peter MacGregor – Nazzareno Zamperla (I) Cesare Barbetti

Rosita Carson – Agata Flori (I) Melina Martello

Alistair Mac Gregor - George Rigaud (I) Bruno Persa

Maldonado – Leo Anchóriz (I) Glauco Onorato

Luciano De Ambrosis  (1937 -    )

Luciano De Ambrosis was born in Turin, Piedmont, Italy on March 28, 1937. He made his debut in cinema as a child actor at the age of five with “I bambini ci guardano” (1943) by Vittorio De Sica, followed by “L'angelo del miracolo” (1944) by Piero Ballerini and “Senza famiglia” by Giorgio Ferroni, shot in 1944, In 1948, Vittorio De Sica called him again to play the role of Precossi in the film Cuore, the first complete film adaptation of the novel by Edmondo De Amicis. In the group of boys there are some of the best-known child actors of the period: Gino Leurini, Vito Annicchiarico, Carlo Delle Piane, Maurizio Di Nardo and Enzo Cerusico.

In the world of dubbing he is known for being the main voice of James Caan, Burt Reynolds, Albert Finney and for having dubbed many other actors, including Dennis Farina, Frank Langella, John Mahoney, Jon Voight, Seymour Cassel, Nick Nolte, Brian Cox and Sean Connery (who became the main voice after the death of Pino Locchi in 1994).

In 2012 he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Leggio d'oro event. In 2014 he participated in the documentary “Protagonisti per sempre” by Mimmo Verdesca, a film that won in 2015 at the Giffoni Film Festival as Best Documentary, in which, for the first time, he recounts the experiences and choices that have characterized his career and his life, first as a popular child actor and then as a great voice actor.