Voices of the Spaghetti western – “White Comanche”

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.

 

Today we’ll cover “White Comanche”

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

Sheriff Logan – Joeph Cotten (S) José Martínez Blanco, (G) Heinz Engelmann

Johnny Moon/Notah – William Shatner (S) Paco Valladares, (G) Fred Maire

Kelly – Rosanna Yanni (S) Lola Cervantes, (G) Helga Trümper

White Fawn – Perla Cristal (S) Mayte Santamarina

Mayor Bolker - Barta Barri (S) José María Cordero

General Garcia – Mariano Vidal Molina (S) Benjamín Domingo, (G) Christian Marschall

 

Benjamín Domingo  (19??-2???)

Benjamín Domingo was an unforgettable actor and dubbing director with a magnificent, deep-register voice. Domingo was an excellent character actor who, for many years, demonstrated extraordinary mastery in lending his voice to all kinds of characters across every genre—adventure, comedy, drama, action, horror, crime.

In fact, there is one series that holds legendary status for many Spaniards ‘Cannon’, featuring the portly private investigator William Conrad, whom no villain could stop once he took on a new case. With a spectacular opening sequence, or "intro," as we would call it today, and a tone that was engaging, lively, and fun, yet rich in mystery, danger, and action, the series dominated TVE’s evening lineup. The night a new episode of ‘Cannon’ aired was, in television terms, one of the most anticipated of the week.

He was also remembered for voicing such classic films as “Dr. No” Rick Lester (Guard) in1962), “The Great Escape” James Donald as Ramsey SBO in 1963) and “Thunderball” Desmond Llewelyn as Q in 1965, Wolfgang Lukschy in “Fistful of Dollars”, Luigi Pistilli in “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in 1966

His voice was also engraved in the collective memory of Spain for being the voice of the classic and remembered messages of Legal notice and warning at the beginning of VHS videotapes.