Frontier Enterprises

**Frontier Enterprises** (フロンティア・エンタープライズ) was a Tokyo-based company dedicated to the dubbing of Japanese films and media for the English language. Frontier did jobs for Toho International, Toei Animation and Shochiku Company, dubbing their films into English for export.

Along with New York’s Titra Studios, Rome's Associated Recording Artists, and Hong Kong’s Axis and Omni Productions, Frontier was one of the early pioneers in English language dubbing.Template:Infobox studio

## Voice Acting and Dubbing Works

### TV Series

* The Samurai (1962-1965)
* Phantom Agents (1964-1966)

### Films

* The Hidden Fortress (1958)
* Yojimbo (1961)
* The Last War (1961)
* Sanjuro (1962)
* The Lost World of Sinbad (1963)
* Attack Squadron (1963)
* Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966)
* The War of the Gargantuas (1966)
* Gappa: The Triphibian Monster (1967)
* The Killing Bottle (1967)
* Son of Godzilla (1967)
* Booted Babe, Busted Boss (1968)
* Destroy All Monsters (1968)
* Battle of the Japan Sea (1969)
* The Bullet Train (1975)
* Legend of Dinosaurs & Monster Birds (1977)
* Princess from the Moon (1987)

### Anime

#### Series

* Phantaman (1967-1968)
* Choppy & the Princess (1967-1968)
* Captain Harlock (1978-1979, 2 episodes, Incomplete dub)

#### Films

* The Little Prince & the Eight-Headed Dragon (1963)
* Lupin the 3rd: The Mystery of Mamo (1978)
* Galaxy Express 999 (1979)
* Cyborg 009: The Legend of the Super Galaxy (1980)
* Voltus 5 (1980) (compilation film)
* Space Warrior Baldios (1981)
* Swan Lake (1981)
* Aladdin & the Wonderful Lamp (1982)
* Arcadia of My Youth (1982)
* The Dagger of Kamui (1985)
* Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies (1986)

### Video Games

* Ys III: Wanderers from Ys (1989)
* Last Alert (1989)
* Scramble Cobra (1995)
* Operation Tiger (1998)
* Landing High Japan (1999)
* Covert Ops: Nuclear Dawn (2000)
* Dynasty Warriors 2 (2000)
* Snowboard Heaven (2000)
* Stunt Typhoon (2000)
* WinBack: Covert Operations (2000)

## Talent Pool (English Voice and Dubbing Actors)

* Alan
* Avi Landau
* Barry Gjerde
* Bill Calhoun
* Bill Sullivan
* Brian Pardus
* Bud Widom
* Burr Middleton
* Byron McClure
* Cliff Harrington
* Clay Lowrey
* Corey Marshall
* Craig Williams
* David Schaufele
* Dean Harrington
* Dennis Falt
* Dennis Gunn
* Derrick Holmes
* Dick Wieand
* Didi Moore
* Don Johnson
* Don Knode
* Don Pomes
* Douglas Kirkpatrick
* Eric Jacobsen
* Eric Kelso
* Frank Rogers
* Fritz M. Schmitz
* Greg Starr
* Jack Marquardt
* James Keating
* Jean Le Roy
* Jeff Manning
* Jerry Davidson
* Jim McGill
* Jonathan Hammond
* Jonathan Hammond
* Joseph Zucatti
* Joshua Popenoe
* Ken Frankel
* Lanny Broyles
* Leighton McClure
* Lonnie Hirsch
* Lyle Fisher
* Mark Hagan
* Mel Ballinger
* Michael Coleman
* Michael Naishtut
* Mike Worman
* Paul Drisdria
* Paul Lucas
* Peter Von Gomm
* Richard Grosse
* Richard Nieskens
* Robert Belgrade
* Robert Dunham
* Sam Peterson
* Scott McCulloch
* Smitty
* Steve Knode
* Tim Knowles
* Toby Williams
* Tom Clark
* Tom Killough
* Tom Korzeniowski
* Walter Carroll
* Will Gluck
* William Ross
* Barbara Knode
* Carole Wyand
* Carrie Sakai
* Colleen Lanki
* Debora Davidson
* Deborah DeSnoo
* Donna Zucatti
* Faith Bach
* Gerri Sorrells
* Jasmine Allen
* Joan P. Dreisker
* Judith Sackheim
* Justine Simons
* Lenne Hardt
* Lindsay Martell
* Lisle Wilkerson
* Lynn Eve Harris
* Mary Malone
* Maya Sackheim
* Michelle Hart
* Nancy Cullucci
* Nancy Link
* Patricia Kobayashi
* Patricia Salmon
* Rumiko Varnes
* Ruth Hollyman
* Tracy Gleason

## Clients

* CAVE Interactive
* Genki
* Koei
* NEC Technologies, Inc.
* Shochiku Company
* Sony
* Taito
* Toei Animation
* Toho International

## Background

Frontier Enterprises was founded in 1964 by Cincinnati-born Korean War veteran William Ross, whose initial postwar plans were to join the Japanese State Department but instead became involved with the Japanese film industry. He became involved in the dubbing industry in 1959, upon recommendation by Japanese actor Sō Yamamura. He showed such a talent for the industry, that the Japanese dubbing director left Ross in charge on the first day.

As the other Tokyo-based dubbing companies began to fold, Ross decided to found Frontier Enterprises, which soon began working for all the major studios, having dubbed over 500 live-action and animated films and TV Shows. Ross worked as dialogue writer, dubbing director and voice actor, with his wife doing most translations for the English scripts.

Instead of using professional talent, Ross was forced to rely on whatever native English speakers he could find in Tokyo. Businessmen, students, musicians, anyone, regardless of acting experience were eligible to provide their voices to Frontier dubs. Even so, Ross would hold auditions, making sure to hire the best people available, and trained them thoroughly before recording sessions.

Frontier is possibly best known for dubbing some of the early Godzilla films such as *Ebirah, Horror of the Deep* (later known as *Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster*), *Son of Godzilla*, and *Destroy All Monsters*. However, for reasons unclear, American International Pictures would produce their own dubs for these movies (dubbed by Titra Studios in New York) likely due to them not finding the Frontier dubs of good enough quality. As a result, fans will typically refer to the Frontier dubs as the “International dubs” as these would often appear in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking European countries. The Frontier dubs have often appeared on recent DVD and Blu-Ray releases as well.

In the 1970’s, Toho moved to Hong Kong’s Axis International and Omni Productions for English-dubbed Godzilla films. The reasons for this is unclear, though Toho would go on to commission Frontier to dub *The Mystery of Mamo* for JAL flights. With this, Frontier began to largely move into Japanese animated films in the late 70’s and throughout the 1980’s. These films would mostly be released on VHS by Celebrity Home Entertainment under their “Just For Kids” label throughout the 80’s (Until 1989).

By 1990, Frontier began to move into voice acting and dubbing video games which is where it would mostly focus until Ross retired and the company closed in 2000.