Corrado Gaipa

Born in Palermo, Gaipa enrolled in the Silvio d’Amico Academy of Dramatic Arts, where he studied for three years and performed an adaptation of the play You Can't Take It with You. He then graduated in 1946. In 1948, Gaipa joined a theatre group based in Rome and he began doing radio dramas which were broadcast in many cities across Italy such as Turin, Florence and Milan. He also appeared in many films such as the 1969 film That Splendid November.[3] Internationally, he was well known for having played Don Tommasino the 1972 film The Godfather directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

While also active on stage, radio and television, he was mainly active as a voice actor and a dubber. As for Gaipa's activity as a voice actor, he was the Italian voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi (portrayed by Alec Guinness) in the Star Wars original trilogy as well as Bagheera in the Italian-Language version of The Jungle Book. He also dubbed over the voices of Lionel Stander, Eli Wallach, Peter Ustinov, Rod Steiger, Orson Welles, Burt Lancaster and Spencer Tracy. He also assisted with the foundation of a dubbing company in the 1970s alongside Renato Turi, Giancarlo Giannini, Valeria Valeri, Oreste Lionello and other historical dubbers.[4]

In Gaipa's later years, he suffered serious health problems. He went from using a walking stick to using a wheelchair and he died in Rome on September 21, 1989, at the age of 64.[5] At the time of his death, he had just signed to reprise the role of Don Tommasino in The Godfather Part III. The role was instead passed on to Vittorio Duse.

Media related to Corrado Gaipa at Wikimedia Commons

• Corrado Gaipa at IMDb
• Corrado Gaipa at AllMovie