Ted Rusoff

Ted Rusoff (May 20, 1939 – September 28, 2013)[1][2] was a Canadian voiceover artist, actor, singer, vocal coach, and translator specializing in the adaptation and translation from and into various languages of synchronized dialogue for the dubbing of films and cartoons.[3] Highly prolific with over 100 credits to his name, Rusoff is best remembered for his work adapting and performing English-language dialogue for countless Italian genre films.

Ted Rusoff
Born(1939-05-20)May 20, 1939
Winnipeg, Manitoba
DiedSeptember 28, 2013(2013-09-28) (aged 74)
Rome
OccupationActor, voice over artist, director, screenwriter

As an actor, he had appeared in more than 70 films. Fluent in many languages, he is often called upon for work as language/accent/dialogue consultant for dubbings, theater, and cinema. He has worked many times as a stage-director for regular plays and as stage-director and music-coach for opera in houses in Marseilles, Copenhagen, Munich, Prague, Riga, Montivideo, Tokyo, Auckland, and elsewhere. He has been active as a choral director, known for his "Liebslieder Waltzes" and other choral masterpieces by Brahms, as well as the music of composers of the Baroque period.

Life and career

Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Rusoff was the son of screenwriter and film producer Lou Rusoff[3] and the nephew of Samuel Z. Arkoff,[4] the head of American International Pictures. Rusoff started his career as a singer, appearing in operas, musical comedies, and on the road in various cities in Canada and the United States with his guitar during the folk-singing boom of the late 1950s and early 1960s. He specialized in foreign language songs, including Ghanaian and Māori. He also appeared in nearly all the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, acting in a wide variety of roles. He toured with a trio called The Catch Club, along with his fellow music-students from UCLA, David Reznick and Larry Pack. They sang catches, or rounds, from the English Restoration period, and appeared throughout North America whilst recording an album.

In 1963, he relocated to Europe, where using his knowledge of languages, began overseeing the dubbing of English-language AIP films into Italian, French, and German. Since then, he has worked as sync-adapter and dubbing director of more than 500 films, and as a dubber his voice can be heard in more than 1000 films, providing the voice for numerous leading men as well as many villains in a number of Italian cult favorites such as The Whip and the Body (1963), Deep Red (1975), Beyond the Darkness (1979) and many others. He has also worked extensively dubbing films into Italian and French, often supplying foreign languages or accents. As a dubbing director he is known for his extensive work for the English-language versions of foreign – predominantly Italian – films. He has also sync-adapted, acted in, and directed the dubbing of films shot in Turkish, Finnish, Greek, Danish, Hebrew, and Korean as well as the standard European cinema languages.

Since the early 1980s, Rusoff has also done much work as an actor in film and television. He started out with supporting roles – often playing authority figures or religious characters such as priests, rabbis or monks. His earliest film roles were in Joe d'Amato's horror film Absurd (1981) and in Marco Ferreri's Tales of Ordinary Madness (1981), based on the works of Charles Bukowski, and Franco Zeffirelli's La Traviata (1983) alongside Plácido Domingo. He also acted together with his wife, Carolyn De Fonseca, in the Pia Zadora starring vehicle The Lonely Lady (1983), and he and De Fonseca played husband and wife, the parents of Mussolini's mistress Claretta Petacci in the TV miniseries Mussolini and I (1985), with Bob Hoskins in the title role.

Throughout the rest of the 1980s and 1990s, Rusoff acted in low-budget B-movies such as Catacombs (1988), where he plays a monk; Sinbad of the Seven Seas (1989) with Lou Ferrigno, where he plays the keeper of the torture chamber; and the Jean-Claude Van Damme flick Double Team (1997), where he plays a hacking-inclined Italian monk. However, he also had roles in many acclaimed films such as Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), alongside Max von Sydow in the TV movie A Violent Life (1991), in which he played Pope Paul III, Tinto Brass' The Voyeur (1994) and, in a film about the life of Pope John XXIII, The Good Pope (2002), as a rabbi working with the future Pope Angelo Roncalli in his efforts to free a shipload of Jews in Istanbul and send them to Israel. Rusoff also played the Chief Elder in Mel Gibson's controversial Biblical epic The Passion of the Christ (2004) and Julius Caesar's Greek slave Strabo in the popular HBO series Rome (2005–2007).

Personal life

Rusoff was married to his long-time colleague, voice actress Carolyn De Fonseca, until her death in 2009.[4] He died in Rome, Italy, on September 28, 2013, more than a month after being hit by car.[2]

List of dubbing roles (incomplete)

YearTitleRoleActor
1963The Whip and the BodyChristian MenliffTony Kendall
1965Bloody Pit of HorrorRaulAlberto Giordini
1967 Gamera vs. Gyaos Shiro Tsutsumi Kojiro Hongo
1967Yongary, Monster from the DeepIloOh Yeong-il
1967–1968 Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot Jerry Mano Akio Ito
1968The Battle of El AlameinLt. Giorgio BorriFrederick Stafford
1968 Destroy All Monsters Dr. Otani Yoshio Tsuchiya
1968The Great SilenceOutlawGuido Simoni
1969The Red TentSnowblind Di Nobile CrewmemberDonatas Banionis
1969 Machine Gun McCain Rocco Mino Cuspisi
1969Battle of the Last PanzerLt. HunterStelvio Rosi
1969 Naked Violence Marco Gianfranco Pellegrini
1970Shadow of IllusionSethAntonio Cantafora
1970When the Bell TollsTegoGino Turini
1971The Bloodstained ButterflyPolice InspectorSilvano Tranquilli
1971The Cannibal ManMarcosVicente Parra
1971Four Pistols for TrinityQuinn ParadineUmberto Raho
1971Slaughter HotelDr. Francis ClayKlaus Kinski
1971The Strange Vice of Mrs. WardhGeorge CorroGeorge Hilton
1972The Case of the Bloody IrisAndrea BartoGeorge Hilton
1972Death Walks at MidnightGio BaldiSimón Andreu
1972Milano Calibro 9ChinoPhilippe Leroy
1972The Red Queen Kills Seven TimesPolice InspectorMarino Masé
1972Shadows UnseenThe PriestRenato Romano
1972Shadows UnseenSgt. MortesiElio Zamuto
1973Seven Deaths in the Cat's EyeDr. FranzAnton Diffring
1973The Violent ProfessionalsVice-Commissioner Del BuonoChris Avram
1974Almost HumanGrandi's AssistantMario Piave
1974Beyond the DoorRobert BarrettGabriele Lavia
1974The Eerie Midnight Horror ShowCarloGianrico Tondinelli
1974IdentikitPolice InspectorMaurizio Bonuglia
1974The Last Desperate HoursPaolo MancusoAntonio Sabàto
1975Deep RedSuperintendent CalcabriniEros Pagni
1975EyeballMartinezRaf Baldassarre
1975Syndicate SadistsPino ScaliaMario Piave
1976Apache WomanTommyAl Cliver
1976The Big RacketSgt. Salvatore VelasciSal Borgese
1976Black Emanuelle 2PaulAngelo Infanti
1976Colt 38 Special SquadInspector VanniMarcel Bozzuffi
1976Last Orgy of the Third ReichCamp DoctorFulvio Ricciardi
1976The Last RoundRico ManzettiLuc Merenda
1976Live Like a Cop, Die Like a ManFredMarc Porel
1976My Father's WifeClaudioCesare Barro
1976Plot of FearChief InspectorTom Skerritt
1976SS Camp 5 – Women's HellDr. Karl?
1977Death HuntInspector Ettore MorettiAl Cliver
1977FearlessWalter 'Wally' SpadaMaurizio Merli
1977 Suspiria Police Inspector ?
1977The Desert TigersMajor LexmanRichard Harrison
1977The Cynic, the Rat and the FistMunition Expert?
1977Return of the 38 GangCommissioner Gino VarelliAntonio Sabàto
1978Blazing FlowersCommissioner MoraniGeorge Hilton
1978Killer NunDr. Patrick RolandJoe Dallesandro
1978Being TwentyInspector ZamboGiorgio Bracardi
1978The Uranium conspiracyRenzoFabio Testi
1979Beyond the DarknessFrank WylerKieran Canter
1979Escape from HellDr. FarrellAnthony Steffen
1979From Corleone to BrooklynLt. DanovaVenantino Venantini
1979Hotel ParadiseJuan LaredoAnthony Steffen
1979Terror ExpressMikeVenantino Venantini
1980AnthropophagusAndySaverio Vallone
1980Cannibal ApocalypseDr. Phil MendezRamiro Olivares
1980ContaminationDr. HiltonMike Morris
1980Erotic Nights of the Living DeadLarry O'HaraGeorge Eastman
1980Hell of the Living DeadVincentSelan Karay
1980InfernoJohn the butlerLeopoldo Mastelloni
1980The RebelNick RossiMaurizio Merli
1981Burial Ground: The Nights of TerrorMarkGianluigi Chirizzi
1981Piranha 2: The SpawningInitial Victim?
1981The House by the CemeteryMr. WheatleyCarlo De Mejo
1982NathalieStanley WarrenRoger Beach
1982PanicCaptain KirkDavid Warbeck
1982PiecesProfessor Arthur BrownJack Taylor
1982The Sword of the BarbariansSangraalPietro Torrisi
1982Violence in a Women's PrisonChief InspectorJacques Stany
1983The Ark of the Sun GodPrince AbdullahAytekin Akkaya
1983Escape from the BronxGovernor Biddle?
1983The Final ExecutionerAlan TannerWilliam Mang
1983HerculesValcheusGianni Garko
1983Rats: Night of TerrorKurtOttaviano Dell'Acqua
1983RushRushConrad Nichols
1983Throne of FireSiegfriedPietro Torrisi
1983Emanuelle Escapes from HellCrazy Boy HendersonGabriele Tinti
1984Monster DogVincent RavenAlice Cooper
1984Rage – Fuoco incrociatoRageConrad Nicols
1984Monster SharkDr. Davis BarkerLawrence Morgant
1985Jungle RaidersTigerProtacio Dee
1985Miami GolemCraig MilfordDavid Warbeck
1986Bridge to HellPazilboCarlo Mucari
1986Days of HellCaptain WilliamsonConrad Nichols
1987The Cross of Seven JewelsMarco SartoriMarco Antonio Andolfi
1987WartimeCaptain RosenPeter Hooten
1988After DeathDavidMassimo Vanni
1988RatmanFredDavid Warbeck
1988Touch of DeathLester ParsonBrett Halsey
1988Zombi 3General MortonMike Monty
1989Alien From the DeepBobDaniel Bosch
1989The House of Lost SoulsMassimoMatteo Gazzolo
1989The House of WitchcraftLuke PalmerAndy J. Forest
1995The Strange Story of Olga O.Paolo RoliDavid Brandon
1996Fatal FramesCalzettaMassimo Pittarello
2003Cannibal WorldBob MansonClaudio Morales
2003Land of DeathRomeroClaudio Morales
2003Snuff TrapPeterCarlo Mucari
2011The Scarlet WormPrint's AttorneyOffscreen

Filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
1956Runaway DaughtersTeenager in Crowd
1981Tales of Ordinary MadnessPriestUncredited
1981AbsurdDr. Kramer
1983The Lonely LadyPreacher
1988CatacombsBrother Brandt
1988The Last Temptation of ChristCrowd MemberVoice
1988Stradivari2nd Dignitary
1989Sinbad of the Seven SeasTorture Chamber KeeperUncredited
1989La morte è di modaRizzo's FriendUncredited
1990Una vita scellerataAlessandro Farnese / Pope Alexander III
1994The VoyeurThe Parking Attendant
1997Double TeamBrother Ramulu
1997The Eighteenth AngelBenedetti
2004The Passion of the ChristElder No. 7
2004EternalItalian Bookshop Owner
2006The Nativity StoryOld Shepherd
2009Christine CristinaFrate Severino
2011The Scarlet WormPrint's AttorneyVoice

References

  1. "Ted Rusoff". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on April 24, 2019. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  2. Jones, Stephen (2014). "[Deaths]". The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror. 25 (Kindle ed.). Robinson. ISBN 9781472118714. ...died in a Rome hospital on September 28, [2013], after being hit by a care more than a month earlier. He was seventy-four.
  3. "R.I.P. Ted Rusoff (1939–2013)". Fangoria. November 7, 2013. Archived from the original on August 19, 2015. Retrieved August 17, 2015. Born in 1939 in Winnipeg City of Manitoba, Canada, Ted Rusoff wasthe son of screenwriter Lou Rusoff and nephew of AIP producer Samuel Z. Arkoff, who got him his teenaged start working as an onset production assistant for AIP and uncredited film extra where needed in the late 50s to early 60s.
  4. Jones, Stephen (2010). "[Deaths]". The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror. 21 (Kindle ed.). Robinson. ISBN 9781849016728. De Fonseca ... was married to actor/director Ted Rusoff (the nephew of AIP producer Samuel Z. Arkoff).
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