Leslie La Penna

 

 

Leslie La Penna is an Italian-American dubbing actor/director who has been active in the Roman dubbing industry ever since the 1960s, having worked extensively with both English and Italian dubbing. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, then his very deep and resonant voice surely will, as Leslie can be heard in the English versions of just about every single Italian low-budget horror and action film made during the 1980s and 90s. Just take a look at the video below, which contains clips from a few of Leslie’s most famous English dubbing roles:

 

 

Born as Leslie James La Penna in Rome on May 13, 1954, Leslie's parents were the legendary American dubbing actor/director Tony La Penna and his Italian actress wife Natalia Ray. At the time, Tony was already a well-established name on the English dubbing scene, having played a big part in building up the English dubbing industry in Rome since its meager beginnings in the late 1940s.

 

Leslie's parents, Natalia Ray and Tony La Penna, in a scene from the Roberto Rossellini film Journey to Italy (1954) in which they appear together.

  

A few years after Leslie’s birth, however, the small family decided to leave Italy and relocate to New York, where Tony was originally from. There, Tony was to find a lot of regular dubbing work at the famous Titra Studios, and also appeared in his most well-known on-screen role in the cult horror film The Brain That Wouldn’t Die (1962).

In 1963, the family returned to Rome, where Tony was to continue to work very prolifically with dubbing roles and adapting and directing the English dubbing for hundreds of films, and it was somewhere around this period in the mid-1960s that Leslie first got involved with dubbing. As child dubbers were in short supply, with females often given the task of voicing such characters, Tony decided to recruit his young son as a dubber, and in an Italian language interview, Leslie recalled that he got his very first dubbing job in 1965 at the age of 11, dubbing a child protagonist in a spaghetti western on which his father was the dubbing director.

It was not until several later, though, that Leslie was to become a more active force in the Roman dubbing world. The earliest dubbing role I have managed to find for him is in Paolo Cavara’s giallo Plot of Fear (1976) in which Leslie, then aged 22, provides the English voice of leading man Michele Placido. By then, Leslie had developed a very deep and sonorous voice that would serve him well in the coming decades.

 

Michele Placido in Plot of Fear (1976) - an early leading role dubbed by Leslie

 

Unfortunately, not many other 1970s dubbing roles have been unearthed so far, but Leslie’s career seemed to really take off in the early 1980s, and throughout that decade his voice seems to pop up just about everywhere – in both leading and supporting roles. You can hear him in nearly every Lucio Fulci and Bruno Mattei film of that era, as well as all sorts of horror, action and erotic films. Check the video below for a sample of some of Leslie’s more obscure dubbing work:

Continuity in terms of dubbing the same actor with the same voice was seldom a top priority, but there are some examples of Leslie dubbing the same actors on more than one occasion:

 

Ottaviano Dell'Acqua - dubbed by Leslie in Zombi 3 (1988), Strike Commando 2 (1988) and Miami Cops (1989).

Stephane Ferrara - dubbed by Leslie in High Risk (1993), Balkan Runner (1994) and Olga O's Strange Story (1995).

Vassili Karis - dubbed by Leslie in Black Cobra (1987) and Leathernecks (1989).

 

Arguably, Leslie’s the most famous English dubbing role was that of the handsome police inspector played by Urbano Barberini in Dario Argento’s renowned horror film Opera (1987). Which is somewhat ironical, considering that Leslie was in fact not the one to originally dub this role. Originally, Opera was dubbed (not particularly well) in London by Gambit International with a cast of UK dubbers, but when the film originally premiered at Cannes, audiences reacted with scornful laughter at the voice used to dub Urbano Barberini. Not only was the voice actor clearly much older than Barberini, but his rather prim and slightly effeminate voice did not suit the character at all. Consequently, the film was rushed to Rome, where Barberini’s voice was re-dubbed at International Recording with the more masculine and resonant voice of Leslie La Penna, who had already dubbed Barberini before in Lamberto Bava’s Demons (1985). For a comparison between the original UK dub of Barberini and the Rome re-dub with Leslie’s voice, take a look at the video below:

 

 

In addition to regular voice dubbing, Leslie sometimes also provided short narrations as his voice was perfect for such parts. Here are a few examples:

But it wasn’t just voice acting that kept Leslie busy. Following in the footsteps of his dad, he also began to do adaptations and directions, and he is credited with the English versions of many low-budget Italian genre films, such as Iron Warrior (1987), Gipsy Angel (1990), Arizona Road (1991), High Risk (1993), Balkan Runner (1994), P.O. Box Tinto Brass (1995), Deadly Weapon (1995) and Fatal Frames (1996), but due to the English dubbing directors usually going uncredited it is, unfortunately, impossible to compile a comprehensive list of credits.

 

Leslie's dubbing credit from the ending titles of Iron Warrior (1987).

 

Leslie has not limited himself only to English dubbing, though. As a natural bilingual, he has also found work in Italian language dubbing. Initially, he was mostly used to dub characters that required a strong American accent, but in time, he has graduated to more traditional Italian dubbing and has amassed a vast list of credits in this field. Here you can see a few examples of his Italian dubbing work:

Interestingly, there are several examples of films for which Leslie was entrusted with directing the dubbing of both the English and the Italian versions. One such film was the neo-giallo Fatal Frames (1996), where in addition to directing, Leslie also cast himself as a dubber in both the English and Italian versions. He did not dub the same character in both versions, however. For the English dub, he did Ugo Pagliai's voice, whereas for the Italian dub he provided the voice for David Warbeck. Check out this video for a look at the two dubbing performances:

Leslie is one of the last remaining dubbers from the golden age of English dubbing in Rome that is still doing dubbing today, although nowadays he’s working almost exclusively with Italian dubbing since English dubbing dried up and largely disappeared during the 1990s and 2000s. Leslie’s most famous Italian dubbing role by far is that of Brian the dog in the Italian language version of the animated comedy series Family Guy (called I Griffin in Italian), which he has been doing ever since the series’ Italian premiere back in 2000.

Brian Griffin, Leslie's most famous character.

Leslie (in the center) at work with some Italian dubbing colleagues in the late 2000s.

 

It is my great hope that one of these days, there’ll be an exciting new Italian horror film and that we’ll have the pleasure of hearing Leslie dubbing one of the actors into English. But even if not, he still has a vast English dubbing filmography for us to explore and enjoy! Below, I’ve compiled a list of all the English dubbing credits I’ve found for Leslie so far, and while it is of course very much incomplete, it is at least a start, and I’ll be adding more roles to it as I discover them.

English dubbing filmography:

 

- Plot of Fear (1976) - voice of Inspector Gaspare Lomenzo (Michele Placido)

- Kira - The House Near the Lake (1979) - voice of Miguel (Antonio Mayans) and Rupert (Alberto Squillante)

- Skin Deep (1979) - voice of Danny (Juan Carlos Naya)

- Antropophagus (1980) - voice of Arnold (Bob Larson)

- Blue Island (1982) - voice of Billy (Fabio Meyer)

- 2020 Texas Gladiators (1983) - voice of Jab (Harrison Muller)

- The Art of Love (1983) - voice of Macarius (Michele Placido)

- Hearts and Armour (1983) - voice of Ganelon (Giovanni Visentin)

- Spy Connection (1983) - voice of Wayne’s Colleague (Guerrino Crivello) and Biker Leader (Roberto Dell’Acqua)

- Zeder (1983) - voice of Mirko (Enea Ferrario)

- The Diamond Connection (1984) - voice of Mark (Bülent Bilgiç)

- Rats - Night of Terror (1984) - voice of Video (Gianni Franco)

- Demons (1985) - voice of George (Urbano Barberini)

- Devil’s Crude (1985) - voice of Kurt (Paco de Onis)

- The Erotic Dreams of Cleopatra (1985) - voice of Spurina (Andrea Coppola)

- Formula for a Murder (1985) - voice of Father Davis (Loris Loddi)

- Miami Golem (1985) - voice of Dr. Elliott (Loris Loddi)

- Phenomena (1985) - voice of Kurt (Michele Soavi)

- The Pleasure (1985) - voice of Edmund (Marco Mattioli)

- War Bus (1985) - voice of Ronny (Don Gordon Bell)

- Bizarre (1986) - voice of Corbi (Luciano Bartoli)

- Black Tunnel (1986) - voice of Werner (Lino Salemme)

- Bodycount (1986) - voice of Tony (Stefano Madia)

- Bridge to Hell (1986) - voice of Milan (Zdenko Jelcic)

- Demons 2 (1986) - voice of Actor in Film on TV (Pascal Persiano)

- The Professor (1986) - voice of Goffredo La Sciarra (Marcello Romolo)

- Aenigma (1987) - voice of Dr. Robert Anderson (Jared Martin)

- Apocalypse Mercenaries (1987) - voice of Flyer (Thomas Rauser)

- Black Cobra (1987) - voice of Purvis (Vassili Karis)

- Brothers in Blood (1987) - voice of Danny DeMayo (Carlo Mucari)

- The Cross of Seven Jewels (1987) - voice of Police Inspector (unidentified actor)

- Hotel Colonial (1987) - voice of Anderson (Claudio Baez)

- Iron Warrior (1987) - voice of Narrator

- Opera (1987) - voice of Inspector Alan Santini (Urbano Barberini)

- Specters (1987) - voice of Andrea (Riccardo De Torrebruna)

- A Taste for Fear (1987) - voice of Georges (Gérard Darmon)

- Urban Warriors (1987) - voice of Maury (Björn Hammer)

- Big Man: Boomerang (1988) - voice of General (Mario Erpichini)

- Big Man: The Diva (1988) - voice of Marcel (Jean-Claude Braquet)

- Cross Mission (1988) - voice of William (Richard Randall)

- Delta Force Commando (1988) - voice of Newman (unidentified actor)

- Last Platoon (1988) - voice of Sinclair (David Brass)

- The Murder Secret (1988) - voice of Thomas (Maurice Poli)

- Phantom of Death (1988) - voice of Agent Marchi (Renato Cortesi)

- The Red Monks (1988) - voice of Richard Garlini (Gaetano Russo) and Notary Berti (Ludovico Dello Jojo)

- Strike Commando 2 (1988) - voice of Jimmy (Ottaviano Dell’Acqua)

- Summer Temptations (1988) - voice of Roberto (Marino Masé)

- Ten Zan: The Ultimate Mission (1988) - voice of Rick (Rom Kristoff)

- Too Beautiful to Die (1988) - voice of Lt. Brandam (François Marthouret)

- Touch of Death (1988) - voice of Randy (Al Cliver)

- Until Death (1988) - voice of Maresciallo (Stefano De Sando)

- Zombi 3 (1988) - voice of Roger (Ottaviano Dell’Acqua)

- After Death (1989) - voice of Dan (Jim Gaines) and Narrator

- Alien From the Deep (1989) - voice of Lee (Robert Marius)

- Black Angel (1989) - voice of Detective De Rosa (Carlo Mucari)

- The Black Cat (1989) - voice of Dan Grudzinski (Maurizio Fardo)

- Brothers in War (1989) - voice of Josy (Victor Rivers)

- Cobra Mission 2 (1989) - voice of Gabriel (Jeff Moldovan)

- Cy Warrior (1989) - voice of Lieutenant (unidentified actor)

- Dangerous Women (1989) - voice of Angelo (Pierangelo Pozzato)

- Fashion Crimes (1989) - voice of Giorgio (Giancarlo Prete)

- The House of Clocks (1989) - voice of Peter (Al Cliver) and Storekeeper (Massimo Sarchielli)

- Leathernecks (1989) - voice of Tony (Vassili Karis)

- Miami Cops (1989) - voice of Curtis (Ottaviano Dell’Acqua)

- School of Fear (1989) - voice of Mauro Lamberti (Stefano De Sando)

- Shocking Dark (1989) - voice of Narrator

- The Sweet House of Horrors (1989) - voice of Roberto Valdi (Pascal Persiano)

- Valentina (1989) (TV series) - voice of Checco (Antonello Fassari)

- Appointment in Black (1990) - voice of John Baldwin (Andy J. Forest)

- Black Cobra 3: Manila Connection (1990) - voice of Lawrence Brennan (unidentified actor)

- Delta Force Commando II (1990) - voice of Sgt. Ted Coleman (unidentified actor)

- Demonia (1990) - voice of Lt. Andy (Michael J. Aronin)

- Gispy Angel (1990) - voice of Al (Maurizio Lodi)

- Killer Crocodile 2 (1990) - voice of Mr. Baxter (unidentified actor)

- Last Flight to Hell (1990) - voice of Lin (unidentified actor)

- Arizona Road (1991) - voice of Sheriff Baker (Franco Diogene)

- Buck at the Edge of Heaven (1991) - voice of Hunk (Mino Sferra)

- Caged Women (1991) - voice of Frank Nolan (Christian Lorenz)

- Detective Malone (1991) - voice of Detective Jackson (Bobby Rhodes)

- Voices From Beyond (1991) - voice of Giorgio Mainardi (Duilio Del Prete)

- Body Puzzle (1992) - voice of Cemetery Director (Gianni Giuliano)

- Wild Attraction (1992) - voice of Giorgio (Jesse Eastern)

- Craving Desire (1993) - voice of Goffredo (Antonio Ferrante)

- The Final Contract (1993) - voice of Judge Varzi (Luigi Diberti)

- High Risk (1993) - voice of Mike (Stephane Ferrara)

- Kreola (1993) - voice of Marco (Marco Carbonaro)

- The Washing Machine (1993) - voice of Nikolai (Laurence Regnier)

- Balkan Runner (1994) - voice of Marc (Stephane Ferrara)

- The Last Mission of Detective Malone (1994) - voice of Detective Robert Malone (Fred Williamson)

- Madness (1994) - voice of Nico Vannelli (Gabriele Gori)

- Power and Lovers (1994) - voice of Consigliere (Timothy Martin)

- Ready to Kill (1994) - voice of Albino (Gustavo Camazcho)

- The Room Next Door (1994) - voice of Desmond (Massimo Sarchielli)

- War Dogs (1994) - voice of Bowles (Sixto Blanco)

- The Web of Silence - A.I.D.S. (1994) - voice of Father Gino (Guido Ruvolo)

- Olga O’s Strange Story (1995) - voice of Inspector Michael Manning (Stephane Ferrara)

- P.O. Box Tinto Brass (1995) - voice of Tinto Brass (as himself)

- Fatal Frames (1996) - voice of Inspector Valenti (Ugo Pagliai)

- The White Elephant (1998) (TV mini-series) - voice of King Shai (Remo Girone)

- Sleepless (2001) - voice of Inspector Manni (Paolo Maria Scalondro)

- In the Land of the Cannibals (2003) - voice of Lt. Wilson (Lou Randall)

- Snuff Trap (2003) - voice of Jean Louis (Gabriele Gori)

- The Tomb (2006) - voice of Narrator

- Pompei (2007) - voice of Caius (Luca Ward)

 

Animation dubbing:

 

- Ali Baba (1996) - voice of The Sultan and Ruthless

- Jesus - A Kingdom Without Frontiers (1996) (TV series) - voice of Wise Man