Marne Maitland

 

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 BA in 1936, and then began his acting career on the stage. Marne was to remain busy on the stage for the rest of the 1930s and 40s, though was interrupted by wartime service in the British Army during WW2.

His film debut would not come until much later with a small part in the crime film Cairo Road in 1950, but from then on, he became a near constant presence in British film and television. Due to his dark features, hooked nose and diminutive stature, Marne was frequently typecast as sinister villains from the Far or Middle East, but rather than complain about this, he seems to have embraced these roles, playing them with a relish and perfection that made him a very popular and much in-demand character actor.

The most famous roles played by Marne are probably the ones he did for the legendary Hammer Studios, starting with his part as a gleefully sadistic Japanese prison camp captain in The Camp on Blood Island (1958) and followed by further sinister turns in the likes of The Stranglers of Bombay (1959), The Terror of the Tongs (1961) and The Reptile (1966), as well as guest spots on cult TV series’ such as The Saint (on four different occasions) and The Avengers.

 

The Camp on Blood Island (1958)

The Stranglers of Bombay (1959)

The Terror of the Tongs (1961)

The Reptile (1966)

Khartoum (1966)

The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968)

Anne of the Thousand Days (1969)

Around 1970, Marne relocated permanently to Rome, where he would remain for the rest of his life. There, he continued his acting career in Italian films and international productions shot in Rome, though he would also continue to accept roles in British productions, the most famous examples being his role as an arms dealer in the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), and as the mysterious dissident Pandit Baba in the esteemed TV mini-series The Jewel in the Crown (1984).

 

Roma (1972)

Shaft in Africa (1973)

The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)

Ashanti (1979)

 

Trail of the Pink Panther (1982)

Verdi (1982) (TV mini-series)

 

The Jewel in the Crown (1984) (TV mini-series)

The Assisi Underground (1985)

The Key to Rebecca (1985) (TV mini-series)

Mussolini and I (1985) (TV mini-series)

A Season of Giants (1990)

For an actor with nearly 200 screen credits, a video of various highlights is practically impossible, but here is nevertheless a little video featuring a few of Marne Maitland’s memorable on-screen roles - both with and without various accents:

 

While his British roles often had him speaking with an Asian accent of some sort, this was put on. In real life, Marne spoke glass-sharp RP English with no trace of an accent, and as a dubber in Rome, he thus became part of the core group of British-English dubbers that consisted of the likes of Edmund Purdom, Ken Belton, Silvia Faver, John Stacy, Christopher Cruise, Louise Lambert, John Gayford, Roger Worrod, Charles Borromel, Veronica Wells and Geoffrey Copleston. His voice can therefore often be found in films that feature a British setting, but due to his handiness with a variety of different accents, Marne’s voice was also in demand for other types of films, and he stayed busy both in dubbing studios and in front of the camera until his death on August 24, 1991 at the age of 76 (many sources erroneously list 1992 as the year of death).

Here you can watch another video with some clips of his Roman dubbing work:

 

Marne’s wife of many years was the English actress Bettine Milne, to whom we must also dedicate a bit of space. It is not known when the two of them were married, but they were acting alongside each other at least as early as 1946 when they both appeared in the plays “Much Ado About Nothing” and “Throng O’Scarlet” at the Bristol Old Vic. Marne and Bettine also often appeared together in film and television productions, though not necessarily sharing any scenes.

 

Marne's wife Bettine Milne

 

A notable production on which the two of them collaborated is the Lucio Fulci horror film The House of Clocks (1989) in which Bettine has a prominent role alongside Italian character actor Paolo Paolini as a murderous elderly couple. Bettine dubbed her own voice for the English language version, and she was joined in the dubbing studio by Marne, who provided the English voice for Paolo Paoloni.

Bettine Milne in The House of Clocks together with Paolo Paoloni, whose voice was dubbed into English by Marne.

The couple also dubbed together on other occasions, though unlike her husband, Bettine was more of a fringe dubber, typically voicing a couple of background parts in some of the films Marne worked on, and only occasionally dubbing somewhat larger parts. She remained in Italy after Marne’s death and continued to do some occasional acting and dubbing throughout the 1990s, but then apparently returned to England, where she passed away in 2006 according to the IMDb at least. In the video below, you can see Bettine dubbing herself in The House of Clocks, as well as doing three other little voice roles:

 

As always, the dubbing filmographies are a work in progress, and this is especially true of Marne’s as I have only just recently identified his voice. I’ll make sure to update it whenever I discover new roles, so that this remarkably talented actor can receive some long overdue recognition for his voice work as well as his screen roles.

 

English dubbing filmography:

 

- The Killers of the Castle of Blood (1970) - voice of Inspector Zajec (Vidal Molina)

- Slaughter on the Khyber Pass (1970) - voice of Major Castlewright (Vidal Molina)

- The Archer of Fire (1971) - voice of Sir Robert (Luis Davila)

- The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire (1971) - voice of Sgt. Jones (unidentified actor)

- The Norman Swordsman (1971) - voice of Stephen Cunningham (Luis Davila)

- 7 Murders for Scotland Yard (1972) - voice of Inspector Cuthbert Campbell (Renzo Marignano)

- What Have You Done to Solange? (1972) - voice of Mr. Leach (Rainer Penkert)

- Afrika (1973) - voice of Jeanne’s Husband (unidentified actor)

- The Hanging Woman (1973) - voice of Inspector Durban (Pasquale Basile)

- Blood Money (1974) - voice of The Warlord (Wang Hsieh)

- The Killer with a Thousand Eyes (1974) - voice of Inspector Pereira (Jacinto Ramos)

- Puzzle (1974) - voice of Dr. Archibald T. Wildgate (Tom Felleghy)

- C.I.A. Secret Story (1975) - voice of General Oufkir (Antonio Anelli)

- Love Under the Elms (1975) voice of Hella’s Father (Vincenzo Ferro)

- Death Rage (1976) - voice of Doctor (Renzo Marignano)

- Soldier of Fortune (1976) - voice of Captain De Cordova (Mario Scaccia)

- The Cat’s Victims (1977) - voice of Peretti (Gaetano Rampin)

- Nazi Love Camp 27 (1977) - voice of Colonel at Nazi Brothel (Piero Lulli)

- The Last Night of Christmas (1978) - voice of Father Christmas (Christopher Biggins)

- The Mountain of the Cannibal God (1978) - voice of Chief of Police (unidentified actor)

- Perfect Crime (1978) - voice of The Company’s Lawyer (Claudio Gora)

- The War of the Robots (1978) - voice of Professor Carr (Jacques Herlin)

- Terror Express! (1979) - voice of Harold (Gianfilippo Carcano)

- The Rebel (1980) - voice of Barman (Buddy Elias)

- Speed Cross (1980) - voice of Meyer (José Luis de Vilallonga)

- The Other Hell (1981) - voice of The Bishop (Tom Felleghy)

- Manhattan Baby (1982) - voice of Dr. Aziz (unidentified actor)

- Panic (1982) - voice of Sgt. O’Brien (José Ruiz Lifante)

- The Adventures of Hercules (1985) - voice of High Priest (Venantino Venantini)

- Just a Damned Soldier (1988) - voice of Mr. Amud (unidentified actor)

- Casablanca Express (1989) - voice of Muezzim (Omar Chenbod)

- The House of Clocks (1989) - voice of Victor Corsini (Paolo Paoloni)

This page was last updated on: May 1, 2024.