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 “Ballad of a Gunman”
[(I) Italian, (S) Spanish, (G) German, (F) French, (E)
English]
Rocco/Blackie/Kud - Anthony Ghidra (I) Emilio
Cigoli, (G) Kurt Mühlhardt
Hud - Angelo Infanti (I) Angelo Infanti, (G) Claus
Jurichs
El Bedoja - Alfio Caltabiano (I) Giancarlo Maestri,
(G) Edgar Ott
Explosion – Dante Maggio (I) Enzo Tarascio, (G) Alexander
Welbat
Chiuchi- Anthony Freeman (I) Luciano Melani, (G) Gerd
Martienzen
Maruja's Mother – Ellen Schweirs (I) Adriana de
Roberto, (G) Ellen Schweirs
Kurt Mühlhardt
(1903 – 1980)
Kurt Mühlhardt was born in Berlin, Germany on September
11, 1903. After receiving relevant training, he worked there from the 1920s as
an actor, cabaret artist and singer.
After successful appearances in the short sound films
Cabaret Program No.2 and Cabaret Program No.4 directed by Kurt Gerron in 1931,
he was also engaged in feature films, such as the 1932 Harry Piel film “The
Secret Agent” (also “A Man Falls from Heaven”), where he plays a singer. After
that, he received more roles in feature films. He also worked as a narrator in
cultural and industrial films.
After the Second World War, he continued to get roles in
film at DEFA in the GDR and later on television. He appeared in two DEFA opera
adaptations, both directed by Gottfried Kolditz, and also appeared in two
episodes of the satirical short film series “Das Stacheltier”, in 1957 in “Immer
Kavalier” with Gisela May and in 1958 in “Mutters Geburtstag”.
After the Berlin Wall was built, he moved to West Berlin
in 1961. There he continued to work as an actor in radio and television. He
remained connected to feature films as an actor and as a narrator in the
dubbing studio.
He was just as successful in Berlin in the 1920s as a
singer in the field of operetta tenor, which brought him together with many
well-known colleagues. But he is best known as a chorus singer for various
orchestras on records. Without being named on the label, he also sang choruses
on many cheap, department store and small records that used matrices of the
"Kristall".
After WWII Mühlhardt also worked as a chorus singer, now
for bands such as "Amiga", a brand of VEB Deutsche Schallplatten
Berlin.
Kurt Mühlhardt died in Eckernförde, Schleswig-Holstein,
Germany on June 20, 1980 at the age of 76.
