Mario Besesti

Mario Besesti (20 November 1894 – 21 June 1968) was an Italian actor and voice actor.^[1]

Mario Besesti
Besesti in The Mill on the Po (1949)
Born	(1894-11-20)20 November 1894 Milan, Kingdom of Italy
Died	21 June 1968(1968-06-21) (aged 73) Rome, Italy
Occupations	Actor voice actor
Years active	1932–1968

Biography

Besesti began a career acting on stage and screen in 1932.^[2] He made his film debut in 1938 and among his most popular filmography includes the 1949 film The Mill on the Po. Besesti was also well known as a voice dubber. Because of his strong voice and large build, he usually dubbed actors with the same stature such as Charles Laughton, Edward Arnold, Thomas Mitchell, Raymond Massey, Sydney Greenstreet, Charles Coburn and many more.

Besesti was considered to be one of Italy's most significant, well-known dubbers during the Golden Ages.^[3] He worked for the Cooperativa Doppiatori Cinematografici and made collaborations with other dubbers which included Gualtiero De Angelis, Lauro Gazzolo, Carlo Romano, Wanda Tettoni and Nino Pavese.

Besesti was also active in the Italian dubs of some of the early Disney animated films. He dubbed Stromboli in Pinocchio, The Huntsman in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Trusty in Lady and the Tramp.

Death

Besesti died in Rome on 21 June 1968 at the age of 73. He was buried at Campo Verano.

Filmography

Cinema

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1938	Pride
1940	Then We'll Get a Divorce	Il capo del personale
1943	Short Circuit	Gruner
1946	O sole mio
1947	Eugenia Grandet	Il vinaio
1949	The Mill on the Po	Clapassòn
1950	My Beautiful Daughter	Sindaco Favarelli
	The Thief of Venice	Nicolò

Voice work

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1950	La Rosa di Bagdad	Zizibé	Animated film

Dubbing

Films (Animation, Italian dub)

Year	Title	Role(s)	Ref
1938	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs	The Huntsman	[4]
1939	Gulliver's Travels	King Bombo
1947	Pinocchio	Stromboli	[5]
1948	Dumbo	Narrator	[6]
	Bambi	The Great Prince of the Forest	[7]
1950	Cinderella	The King	[8]
1951	Alice in Wonderland	Walrus	[9]
1955	Lady and the Tramp	Trusty	[10]

Films (Live action, Italian dub)

• Phineas V. Lambert in If I Had a Million
• Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame
• Sir Humphrey Pengallan in Jamaica Inn
• William Kidd in Captain Kidd
• Albert Lory in This Land Is Mine
• Uncle William "Billy" Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life
• Michael Howland in Within These Walls
• Tom Blue in The Black Swan
• Thad Vail in High Barbaree
• Reginald "Rags" Barnaby in Destry
• Jim Taylor in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
• Amory Stilham in Mrs. Parkington
• Judge Wilkins in Dear Wife
• Penrod Biddel in City That Never Sleeps
• Jimmy Norton in Meet John Doe
• Wolf Larsen in The Sea Wolf
• James R. Judson in From Here to Eternity
• Pablo in For Whom the Bell Tolls
• Pancho Villa in Viva Villa!
• Max Fabian in All About Eve

References

1. "Mario Besesti's voice acting and dubbing contributions". Il mondo dei doppiatori, antoniogenna.net (in Italian). Retrieved 18 November 2018.
2. "Mario Besesti". MYmovies. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
3. "Cronologia fondamentale dell'epoca d'oro del doppiaggio italiano Dagli albori agli anni 1970" (in Italian). antoniogenna.net. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
4. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Italian voice cast". Antoniogenna.net. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
5. "Pinocchio Italian voice cast". Antoniogenna.net. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
6. "Dumbo Italian voice cast". Antoniogenna.net. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
7. "Bambi Italian voice cast". Antoniogenna.net. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
8. "Cinderella Italian voice cast". Antoniogenna.net. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
9. "Alice in Wonderland Italian voice cast". Antoniogenna.net. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
10. "Lady and the Tramp Italian voice cast". Antoniogenna.net. Retrieved 27 September 2024.

External links

Media related to Mario Besesti at Wikimedia Commons

• Mario Besesti at IMDb
• Mario Besesti at Behind The Voice Actors