Dubbed in Rome

  Nina Rootes (1925-2016), also known as Nina Golding, was a British voice dubbing actress, sync assistant, script adapter, literary translator and author who was active on the English dubbing scene in Rome from 1959 to 1961, lending her voice primarily to parts as ingénues or damsels in distress. Despite the fact that Nina’s time in the dubbing business was relatively short-lived and that many of the films she worked on are currently not available anywhere in English, her career is still very much worthy of closer examination, not least because of the many detailed recollections she shares in her autobiographical book Adventures in the Movie Biz (2013), an endlessly fascinating first-hand account of the inner workings of the Roman film and dubbing industry of the early 1960s. Born on November 29, 1925 in Hythe, Kent, England, her birth name was Nellie Jean Golding, but she was known simply as Nina Golding. Little is known about Nina’s early life and she doesn’t elaborate on t...

  For my very first post on this blog, I’m going to try to dig into the history of the English dubbing scene in Rome. Now, if you think that sounds overly ambitious, then you’re right! A comprehensive history of English dubbing in Rome cannot be told in a mere blog post. I am, however, going to do my best to at least get the basics covered by tracing the industry back to its humble origins and taking a closer look at how it expanded, the working methods, some of the biggest challenges faced by the dubbers, the dubbing organization ELDA, and some of the key players – hopefully, in a way that will provide interested readers with a good understanding of how English dubbing in Rome worked back in the golden years of the 1960s and 70s. Before we can fully delve into the history of English language dubbing in Rome, however, it is necessary to first a closer look at the Italian language dubbing practices of the time and their origins.   Italian dubbing traditions Italy is o...