# Ted Rusoff

Ted Rusoff (May 20, 1939 – September 28, 2013) was a Canadian voiceover artist, actor, 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. 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.
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, Montevideo, 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 and the nephew of Samuel Z. Arkoff, 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. He died in Rome, Italy, on September 28, 2013, more than a month after being hit by car.

## List of dubbing roles (incomplete)

| Year | Title | Role | Actor |
| 1963 | The Whip and the Body | Christian Menliff | Tony Kendall |
| 1965 | Bloody Pit of Horror | Raul | Alberto Giordini |
| 1967 | Gamera vs. Gyaos | Shiro Tsutsumi | Kojiro Hongo |
| 1967 | Yongary, Monster from the Deep | Ilo | Oh Yeong-il |
| 1967–1968 | Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot | Jerry Mano | Akio Ito |
| 1968 | The Battle of El Alamein | Lt. Giorgio Borri | Frederick Stafford |
| 1968 | Destroy All Monsters | Dr. Otani | Yoshio Tsuchiya |
| 1968 | The Great Silence | Outlaw | Guido Simoni |
| 1969 | The Red Tent | Snowblind Di Nobile Crewmember | Donatas Banionis |
| 1969 | Machine Gun McCain | Rocco | Mino Cuspisi |
| 1969 | Battle of the Last Panzer | Lt. Hunter | Stelvio Rosi |
| 1969 | Naked Violence | Marco | Gianfranco Pellegrini |
| 1970 | Shadow of Illusion | Seth | Antonio Cantafora |
| 1970 | When the Bell Tolls | Tego | Gino Turini |
| 1970 | And God Said to Cain | Gary Hamilton | Klaus Kinski |
| 1971 | The Bloodstained Butterfly | Police Inspector | Silvano Tranquilli |
| 1971 | The Cannibal Man | Marcos | Vicente Parra |
| 1971 | Four Pistols for Trinity | Quinn Paradine | Umberto Raho |
| 1971 | Slaughter Hotel | Dr. Francis Clay | Klaus Kinski |
| 1971 | The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh | George Corro | George Hilton |
| 1972 | The Case of the Bloody Iris | Andrea Barto | George Hilton |
| 1972 | Death Walks at Midnight | Gio Baldi | Simón Andreu |
| 1972 | Milano Calibro 9 | Chino | Philippe Leroy |
| 1972 | The Red Queen Kills Seven Times | Police Inspector | Marino Masé |
| 1972 | Shadows Unseen | The Priest | Renato Romano |
| 1972 | Shadows Unseen | Sgt. Mortesi | Elio Zamuto |
| 1973 | Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eye | Dr. Franz | Anton Diffring |
| 1973 | The Violent Professionals | Vice-Commissioner Del Buono | Chris Avram |
| 1974 | Almost Human | Grandi's Assistant | Mario Piave |
| 1974 | Beyond the Door | Robert Barrett | Gabriele Lavia |
| 1974 | The Eerie Midnight Horror Show | Carlo | Gianrico Tondinelli |
| 1974 | Identikit | Police Inspector | Maurizio Bonuglia |
| 1974 | The Last Desperate Hours | Paolo Mancuso | Antonio Sabàto |
| 1975 | Deep Red | Superintendent Calcabrini | Eros Pagni |
| 1975 | Eyeball | Martinez | Raf Baldassarre |
| 1975 | Syndicate Sadists | Pino Scalia | Mario Piave |
| 1976 | Apache Woman | Tommy | Al Cliver |
| 1976 | The Big Racket | Sgt. Salvatore Velasci | Sal Borgese |
| 1976 | Black Emanuelle 2 | Paul | Angelo Infanti |
| 1976 | Colt 38 Special Squad | Inspector Vanni | Marcel Bozzuffi |
| 1976 | Last Orgy of the Third Reich | Camp Doctor | Fulvio Ricciardi |
| 1976 | The Last Round | Rico Manzetti | Luc Merenda |
| 1976 | Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man | Fred | Marc Porel |
| 1976 | My Father's Wife | Claudio | Cesare Barro |
| 1976 | Plot of Fear | Chief Inspector | Tom Skerritt |
| 1976 | SS Camp 5 – Women's Hell | Dr. Karl | ? |
| 1977 | Death Hunt | Inspector Ettore Moretti | Al Cliver |
| 1977 | Fearless | Walter 'Wally' Spada | Maurizio Merli |
| 1977 | Suspiria | Police Inspector | ? |
| 1977 | The Desert Tigers | Major Lexman | Richard Harrison |
| 1977 | The Cynic, the Rat and the Fist | Munition Expert | ? |
| 1977 | Return of the 38 Gang | Commissioner Gino Varelli | Antonio Sabàto |
| 1978 | Blazing Flowers | Commissioner Morani | George Hilton |
| 1978 | Killer Nun | Dr. Patrick Roland | Joe Dallesandro |
| 1978 | Being Twenty | Inspector Zambo | Giorgio Bracardi |
| 1978 | The Uranium conspiracy | Renzo | Fabio Testi |
| 1979 | Beyond the Darkness | Frank Wyler | Kieran Canter |
| 1979 | Escape from Hell | Dr. Farrell | Anthony Steffen |
| 1979 | From Corleone to Brooklyn | Lt. Danova | Venantino Venantini |
| 1979 | Hotel Paradise | Juan Laredo | Anthony Steffen |
| 1979 | Terror Express | Mike | Venantino Venantini |
| 1980 | Anthropophagus | Andy | Saverio Vallone |
| 1980 | Cannibal Apocalypse | Dr. Phil Mendez | Ramiro Olivares |
| 1980 | Contamination | Dr. Hilton | Mike Morris |
| 1980 | Erotic Nights of the Living Dead | Larry O'Hara | George Eastman |
| 1980 | Hell of the Living Dead | Vincent | Selan Karay |
| 1980 | Inferno | John the butler | Leopoldo Mastelloni |
| 1980 | The Rebel | Nick Rossi | Maurizio Merli |
| 1981 | Burial Ground: The Nights of Terror | Mark | Gianluigi Chirizzi |
| 1981 | Piranha 2: The Spawning | Initial Victim | ? |
| 1981 | The House by the Cemetery | Mr. Wheatley | Carlo De Mejo |
| 1982 | Nathalie | Stanley Warren | Roger Beach |
| 1982 | Panic | Captain Kirk | David Warbeck |
| 1982 | Pieces | Professor Arthur Brown | Jack Taylor |
| 1982 | The Sword of the Barbarians | Sangraal | Pietro Torrisi |
| 1982 | Violence in a Women's Prison | Chief Inspector | Jacques Stany |
| 1983 | The Ark of the Sun God | Prince Abdullah | Aytekin Akkaya |
| 1983 | Escape from the Bronx | Governor Biddle | ? |
| 1983 | The Final Executioner | Alan Tanner | William Mang |
| 1983 | Hercules | Valcheus | Gianni Garko |
| 1983 | Rats: Night of Terror | Kurt | Ottaviano Dell'Acqua |
| 1983 | Rush | Rush | Conrad Nichols |
| 1983 | Throne of Fire | Siegfried | Pietro Torrisi |
| 1983 | Emanuelle Escapes from Hell | Crazy Boy Henderson | Gabriele Tinti |
| 1984 | Monster Dog | Vincent Raven | Alice Cooper |
| 1984 | Rage – Fuoco incrociato | Rage | Conrad Nicols |
| 1984 | Monster Shark | Dr. Davis Barker | Lawrence Morgant |
| 1985 | Jungle Raiders | Tiger | Protacio Dee |
| 1985 | Miami Golem | Craig Milford | David Warbeck |
| 1986 | Bridge to Hell | Pazilbo | Carlo Mucari |
| 1986 | Days of Hell | Captain Williamson | Conrad Nichols |
| 1987 | The Cross of Seven Jewels | Marco Sartori | Marco Antonio Andolfi |
| 1987 | Wartime | Captain Rosen | Peter Hooten |
| 1988 | After Death | David | Massimo Vanni |
| 1988 | Ratman | Fred | David Warbeck |
| 1988 | Touch of Death | Lester Parson | Brett Halsey |
| 1988 | Zombi 3 | General Morton | Mike Monty |
| 1989 | Alien From the Deep | Bob | Daniel Bosch |
| 1989 | The House of Lost Souls | Massimo | Matteo Gazzolo |
| 1989 | The House of Witchcraft | Luke Palmer | Andy J. Forest |
| 1995 | The Strange Story of Olga O. | Paolo Roli | David Brandon |
| 1996 | Fatal Frames | Calzetta | Massimo Pittarello |
| 2003 | Cannibal World | Bob Manson | Claudio Morales |
| 2003 | Land of Death | Romero | Claudio Morales |
| 2003 | Snuff Trap | Peter | Carlo Mucari |
| 2011 | The Scarlet Worm | Print's Attorney | Offscreen |

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1956 | Runaway Daughters | Teenager in Crowd | |
| 1981 | Tales of Ordinary Madness | Priest | Uncredited |
| 1981 | Absurd | Dr. Kramer | |
| 1983 | The Lonely Lady | Preacher | |
| 1988 | Catacombs | Brother Brandt | |
| 1988 | The Last Temptation of Christ | Crowd Member | Voice |
| 1988 | Stradivari | 2nd Dignitary | |
| 1989 | Sinbad of the Seven Seas | Torture Chamber Keeper | Uncredited |
| 1989 | La morte è di moda | Rizzo's Friend | Uncredited |
| 1990 | Una vita scellerata | Alessandro Farnese / Pope Alexander III | |
| 1994 | The Voyeur | The Parking Attendant | |
| 1997 | Double Team | Brother Ramulu | |
| 1997 | The Eighteenth Angel | Benedetti | |
| 2004 | The Passion of the Christ | Elder No. 7 | |
| 2004 | Eternal | Italian Bookshop Owner | |
| 2006 | The Nativity Story | Old Shepherd | |
| 2009 | Christine Cristina | Frate Severino | |
| 2011 | The Scarlet Worm | Print's Attorney | Voice |