Stephen Garrett

 

Stephen Garrett was one of the all-time great character voices of the English dubbing scene in Rome. He was one of the real old-timers whose dubbing credits date back all the way to at least the early 1950s, and this, combined with his premature death in the mid 1960s, unfortunately means that a great deal of his work has most likely been lost to the sands of time. For fans of Italian cinema of the early 1960s, though, Stephen’s delightfully gruff and imposing voice should still be instantly recognizable. He lent his fantastic voice to countless colorful villains from that era and was especially active in peplum and swashbuckler films, often dubbing the likes of Andrea Aureli and Livio Lorenzon. Check out the video below for samples of a few of his most memorable dubbing roles:

As with so many of the dubbing old-timers of Rome, there’s very little information available about Stephen, and it has not been possible to determine where he was from or when and why he originally ended up in Rome. The earliest films in which I’ve found Stephen’s voice are from 1956; however, the BFI database credits him with speaking the English commentary for an obscure French documentary film named Animals of Paris from 1951, and thus establishing that he was doing voice work since at least the early 1950s. He may well have started out even earlier, too, but given the overall unavailability of English language dubs of Italian films pre-Hercules (1958), this is impossible to determine.

 

Stephen Garrett (second from the left) with fellow 1950s dubbers Bill Kiehl, Nina Rootes, George Higgins III and Michael Billingsley in 1959. Picture taken from Nina Rootes' book Adventures in the Movie Biz (2013) in which the picture caption describes him only as "Steve, a fine actor".

 

What little information I have managed to find about Stephen’s life comes from the few surviving dubbers whose careers go far enough back to remember him.

Dubbing actor Rodd Dana remembered his old colleague with much fondness, stating: “Steve Garrett was a Mel Welles-sounding, gruff/elderly character voice. He was the master of those kinds of voices, however died early in my time... I think in 1963-64. A truly kind, wonderful and loving human being. Had lived in Rome for decades. Incredible intellectual giant, I recall.”

Dubbing actor Roger Browne also shared some memories: “Steve Garrett was one of late fifties ELDA dubbers and I really didn’t get going until 1961. Nice fellow, but a rather bearded, unkempt schlub. I think he was a writer, possibly of adaptations, and might have done dialogue coaching for films. I recall hearing him speak of a conversation he had with Sophia Loren where he was using an accent for no reason and didn’t know how to stop it.”

As Roger Browne recalled, Stephen was indeed a writer of dubbing scripts, and the opening titles of the peplum adventure Romulus and the Sabines (1961) credits him and Frank Gregory with writing the English version.

Credit from Romulus and the Sabines.

Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules (1961) is another film which credits Stephen Garrett and Frank Gregory with writing the English version, with Stephen also receiving a credit for directing the dubbing. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to say how much directing he may or may not have done since the credits usually do not cite the dubbing directors and/or writers…

Credit from Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules.

What we do know, though, is that Stephen was a very prolific character actor dubber all through the Italian peplum era. His marvelously deep and gruff voice made him a favorite for dubbing heavies, and he had a particularly memorable evil laugh that always stands out. Two much-loved Italian character actors that he dubbed particularly often were Livio Lorenzon and Andrea Aureli, and his voice fitted them both like a hand in a glove. Check out the two videos below for some examples of Stephen dubbing Lorenzon and Aureli:

 

 

But while he dubbed a great number of villains, Stephen could also do a warmer and more grandfatherly kind of voice that made him much in demand as a narrator. The most famous example was as the narrator of the original Mondo Cane (1962), but he also narrated several other mondo documentaries, and here is a video featuring a few examples:

Despite not receiving an on-screen credit in the film itself, Stephen scoring the narrator gig in Mondo Cane earned a brief mention in Variety (10 October 1962).

Like many other dubbing actors, Stephen also did a bit of acting in front of the camera. In the mid 1950s, he did a few guest starring roles on Conrad Nagel Theater and The Three Musketeers, two syndicated American TV series shot in Rome and which are now impossible to find, as well as minor roles in some Hollywood productions shot on location in Rome, such as War and Peace (1956). His largest on-screen role by far, though, was as the slimy King Petra, the main antagonist of Hercules and the Princess of Troy (1965), a Rome-lensed television pilot starring Gordon Scott as Hercules, which was unfortunately never picked up for a series.

Stephen Garrett as the evil King Petra in Hercules and the Princess of Troy.

For a look at some of Stephens rare on-screen work, check out the video below: 

 

Sadly, Hercules and the Princess of Troy would prove to be one of the last things Stephen worked on as his career was cut tragically short soon afterwards. Exactly what happened to him is unclear, but an article about the dubbing scene in Rome published in Variety in May 1971 called “Rome’s Inner-Colony of Those Trained in Sound-Track Dubs”, written by dubbing actress and adaptor Ruth Carter, states that “of the early arrivals who are no longer on the dubbing scene, one of the most brilliant and gifted voices of them all, Steve Garrett, was lost to the dubbing community by death.”

No date of death is mentioned, but I’ve not been able to find Stephen’s voice in anything after 1966, so we can only assume he must have died around that time. A real tragedy as he did not look particularly old in his on-screen appearance in Hercules and the Princess of Troy. His premature passing also meant that he never got to play much of a part in the spaghetti western boom. Had he been around for that and the subsequent giallo and Eurocrime waves that followed, it’s likely that Stephen’s fantastic voice would have become one of the most iconic and beloved among fans of Italian cinema. Instead, he and his work has become almost completely forgotten, but hopefully, this post can bring some long overdue recognition to the great work done by this extraordinarily talented dubber!

As always, the dubbing filmographies are a work in progress. Since so much of Stephen’s voice work was done in the 1950s and is unlikely to ever resurface, his filmography will never be even close to complete. Nevertheless, the 81 voice roles (68 when originally posted) I’ve managed to find so far gives a good indication of just how prolific he was during 1960-65, and I’m hopeful that with time, I’ll manage to add even more titles to his dubbing filmography.

 

English dubbing filmography:

 

- Animals of Paris (1951) - voice of Narrator

- Roland the Mighty (1956) - voice of Agramante (Cesare Fantoni)

- Hercules (1958) - voice of Chirone (Afro Poli)

- The Warrior and the Slave Girl (1958) - voice of Lucanus (Rafael Luis Calvo)

- Cavalier of the Devil’s Castle (1959) - voice of Guidobaldo (Livio Lorenzon)

- The Devil’s Cavaliers (1959) - voice of Duke of Vas (Andrea Aureli)

- The Night of the Great Attack (1959) - voice of Momo (René Dary)

- The White Warrior (1959) - voice of Akmet Khan (Renato Baldini) and Tsar Nicholas (Milivoje Živanović)

- Assignment: Outer Space (1960) - voice of Al (Archie Savage)

- Esther and the King (1960) - voice of Narrator

- The Mask of Satan (1960) - voice of Professor Choma Kruvajan (Andrea Checchi)

- Revolt of the Slaves (1960) - voice of Claudius (Gino Cervi)

- Battle of the Worlds (1961) - voice of General Varrick (Carlo D'Angelo)

- Drakut the Avenger (1961) - voice of King Nicolas (Walter Barnes)

- Duel of the Titans (1961) - voice of Sulpitius (Piero Lulli)

- The Invincible Gladiator (1961) - voice of Itus (Livio Lorenzon)

- The Last of the Vikings (1961) - voice of Haakon (Andrea Aureli)

- The Mercenaries (1961) - voice of Fra Silenzio (Folco Lulli)

- Rage of the Buccaneers (1961) - voice of Captain Tortuga (José Jaspe)

- Romulus and the Sabines (1961) - voice of Stilicone (Walter Barnes)

- Suleiman the Conqueror (1961) - voice of Captain Orlovich (Stane Potokar)

- The Trojan Horse (1961) - voice of Achilles (Arturo Dominici)

- Ursus in the Valley of the Lions (1961) - voice of Janus (Gianni Solaro)

- Ali Baba and the Sacred Crown (1962) - voice of Hassan (Amedeo Trilli)

- The Avenger (1962) - voice of King Latino (Mario Ferrari)

- Caesar the Conqueror (1962) - voice of Julius Caesar (Cameron Mitchell)

- Mondo Cane (1962) - voice of Narrator

- The Rebel Gladiator (1962) - voice of Gladiator Trainer (Andrea Aureli)

- The Red Sheik (1962) - voice of Hassan (Mel Welles)

- The Shadow of Zorro (1962) - voice of Fencing Master (Guillermo Mendez)

- The Slave (1962) - voice of Gulab (Enzo Fiermonte)

- Vulcan, Son of Jupiter (1962) - voice of Jupiter (Furio Meniconi)

- Zorro at the Court of Spain (1962) - voice of Captain Morales (Livio Lorenzon)

- The Black Duke (1963) - voice of Morialdo (Giovanni Vari)

- Gentlemen of the Night (1963) - voice of Doge Gradenigo (Gastone Moschin)

- Revenge of the Musketeers (1963) - voice of Porthos (Walter Barnes)

- Samson and the Sea Beasts (1963) - voice of Murad (Daniele Vargas)

- Samson and the Slave Queen (1963) - voice of Rabek (Andrea Aureli)

- The Shortest Day (1963) - voice of The Sergeant (Franco Giacobini)

- The Slave Girls of Sheba (1963) - voice of Friar Medicina (Walter Barnes)

- The Slave Queen of Babylon (1963) - voice of Ghelas (Gianni Rizzo)

- Taur the Mighty (1963) - voice of King of Surupak (Erminio Spalla)

- Thor and the Amazon Women (1963) - voice of Narrator

- The Three Swords of Zorro (1963) - voice of Don Manuel Paredes (Antonio Prieto)

- The Whip and the Body (1963) - voice of Count Menliff (Gustavo De Nardo)

- The Wild, Weird, Wonderful Italians (1963) - voice of Narrator

- Behind the Mask of Zorro (1964) - voice of Don Esteban Garcia (Roberto Paoletti)

- The Devil of the Desert Against the Son of Hercules (1964) - voice of Abdul (Giacomo Furia)

- Dog Eat Dog (1964) - voice of Kostis (Ivor Salter)

- The Giants of Rome (1964) - voice of Prianus (Aldo Cecconi)

- Go! Go! Go! World (1964) - voice of Narrator

- Gunmen of the Rio Grande (1964) - voice of Burt (Beni Deus)

- Hercules Against the Barbarians (1964) - voice of Genghis Khan (Roldano Lupi)

- Hercules Against Rome (1964) - voice of Rosio (Andrea Aureli)

- Hercules and the Black Pirate (1964) - voice of The Black Pirate (Andrea Aureli)

- Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon (1964) - voice of Salmanassar (Livio Lorenzon)

- Hercules of the Desert (1964) - voice of Sheik Hassar (Vladimiro Tuicovich)

- Hercules, Prisoner of Evil (1964) - voice of Zerah (Furio Meniconi)

- King of the Mongols (1959; dubbed in 1964) - voice of General Tadar (Jun Tazaki)

- The Last Gun (1964) - voice of Jess Lindahl (Livio Lorenzon)

- Lost Treasure of the Aztecs (1964) - voice of Beaver (Antonio Gradoli)

- The Magnificent Gladiator (1964) - voice of Old Shepherd (Salvatore Campochiaro)

- The Masked Man Against the Pirates (1964) - voice of Captain Gomez (Luciano Benetti)

- Revenge of the Gladiators (1964) - voice of Genseric (Livio Lorenzon)

- Saul and David (1964) - voice of Narrator

- The Spartan Gladiators (1964) - voice of Nemete (Livio Lorenzon)

- Sword of the Empire (1964) - voice of Cleander (Pasquale Basile)

- Tarzak Against the Leopard’s Men (1964) - voice of Tribal Chief (Alfred Thomas)

- Challenge of the Gladiators (1965) - voice of Commodius (Livio Lorenzon)

- Desperate Mission (1965) - voice of Cheng (Milton Reid)

- Giant of the Evil Island (1965) - voice of Don Alvarado (Arturo Dominici)

- Goliath at the Conquest of Damascus (1965) - voice of Rhalek (Andrea Aureli)

- Garibaldi (1961; dubbed in 1965) - voice of Giuseppe Garibaldi (Renzo Ricci)

- Hansel and Gretel (1954; dubbed in 1965) - voice of Mr. Potbelly (Wolfgang Eichberger)

- Operation Atlantis (1965) - voice of Ben Ulah (Beni Deus)

- Passport to Hell (1965) - voice of Doliukin (Fernando Sancho)

- Red Dragon (1965) - voice of Joe Harris (Paul Dahlke)

- Samson and Gideon (1965) - voice of Gideon (Ivo Garrani)

- Spy Hunt in Vienna (1965) - voice of Igor (Gustav Knuth)

- Death Pays in Dollars (1966) - voice of Sgt. Lester (Silvio Bagolini)

- The Hills Run Red (1966) - voice of Mr. Horner (Geoffrey Copleston)

 

This page was last updated on: March 27, 2024.