Dubbed in Rome

  The English language dubbers of Rome in the 1960s and 70s had a large and versatile pool of talent to choose from, but there was one area that was to prove problematic time and again: child dubbers. There simply weren’t many available, which sometimes forced the dubbing directors to cast adult females trying to impersonate children’s voices. One of the few genuine child dubbers who was active in Rome during that era was an American teenager by the name of Dan Keller . From the late 1960s on, Dan was the go-to guy for young boy voices, and in this exclusive interview he shares some wonderful and insightful memories of his time in the dubbing salas of Rome.   Johan Melle: Can you start by telling a little bit about yourself, where you’re from and how you and your family came to live in Rome during the Hollywood on the Tiber era in the 1960s?   Dan Keller: That story is told here . The short version is, in 1961 my family went to Rome for a year and stayed for 12....

  Marne Maitland (1914-1991) was another of the great English language dubbers of Rome. Unlike the majority of the Roman dubbers, the esteemed Anglo-Indian character actor is a familiar face to a lot of film buffs, with more than 190 film and television credits to his name in a wide variety of high-profile British and international productions. Few, however, are aware of Marne’s dubbing ventures, but from the time he relocated to Rome in the early 1970s and throughout the rest of his career, he did indeed spend considerable time in the Roman dubbing salas, lending his magnificently clear and precise RP-accented voice to everything from crafty Scotland Yard inspectors to posh older villains. Check out this video for a sample of some of his most memorable dubbing roles: Marne Maitland was born as James Marne Kumar Maitland on December 18, 1914 in Calcutta, India, but was to spend the majority of his life in England. There, he attended Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he took a B...