Ted Rusoff
Birthday: 1939-05-20
Place of Birth: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Synopsis
Ted Rusoff was an extremely prolific dubbing editor, director, and voice actor. He started as an opera singer in Los Angeles in the early 1960's before landing ADR work with his uncle Samuel Z. Arkoff at American International Pictures. Arkoff sent Rusoff to Italy in the late 60's to help get their dubbing system set up to American standards but Rusoff ended up living in Rome for the rest of his life. Rusoff's voice can be heard in the English versions of over 250 Italian, Japanese, Russian, and various European films. He also lent his voice to several big budget American films including THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST. Beginning in the late 1970's, Rusoff tried his hand at acting in front of the camera too as it was relatively easy for native English speakers in Italy to find acting work at the time. He acted alongside greats including Bob Hoskins and Max von Sydow, and in the dubbing studio alongside such dubbing legends as Robert Rietty, Geoffrey Copleston, Nick Alexander, Lewis E. Cianelli, and Mickey Knox.
Cast mostly as monks, elders and religious figures due to his large beard, Rusoff appeared in such bible epics as THE DAY CHRIST DIED and THE NATIVITY STORY as well as monks in DOUBLE TEAM and CATACOMBS. His most prestigious role is perhaps as the chief elder in PASSION OF THE CHRIST who throws the bag of money at Judas. Rusoff, being fluent in several languages including traditional Hebrew and ancient Aramaic, worked as chief translator for the film as well.
Rusoff married fellow voice actor / dubber Carolyn De Fonseca but the two had an open marriage. Rusoff fathered 9 daughters to different mothers over a span of 40 years, including one who was still an infant at the time of his death in 2013.
Acting
The Scarlet Worm
as Print's Attorney
An aging killer trains a young hired gun in a plot to assassinate a meek brothel owner performing barbaric abortion acts on his prostitutes.
Nightworld: Lost Souls
as Humphrey Garrett
As a family moves into their new country home, strange events occur, making them believe that their autistic daughter is somehow communicating with the victims of an unsolved murder 8 years earlier.
The Eighteenth Angel
as Benedetti
Mythology and religious dogma are slowly revealed when an attractive young woman is approached by a modeling agency that pulls her into an underworld of priests that are not Christian but rather want to resurrect Satan by collecting the souls of 18 beautiful children.
Catacombs
as Brother Brandt
In the 17th century, an order of monks in Italy capture and entomb a demon that has possessed a member of their group. 400 years later, school teacher Elizabeth Magrino visits the monastery in order to do some research. What she and the current monks do not realize is that the evil hiding within the catacombs has unwittingly been released.
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Absurd
as Dr. Kramer
A priest-doctor chasing a man with supernatural regenerative abilities, who has recently escaped from a medical lab, reaches a small town where the mutant goes on a killing spree.
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Voyage Into Space
as Jerry Mano (voice)
Earth is invaded by an interstellar terrorist group, Big Fire (the Gargoyle Gang in the American version), led by Emperor Guillotine who spends most of his time in a multicolored space ship hidden at the bottom of Earth's ocean, from which he issues his orders. Big Fire is capturing scientists to create an army of monsters to conquer Earth. A boy named Daisaku Kusama (Johnny Sokko in the American version) and a young Unicorn agent named Jūrō Minami (Jerry Mano in the American version) are shipwrecked on an island after being attacked by a sea monster and subsequently captured by Big Fire. They flee to where a Pharaoh-like giant robot is being built by captive scientist Lucius Guardian, who gives Daisaku and Jūrō its control device. Guardian helps them escape before he is shot to death; before he dies, he triggers an atomic bomb which destroys the base. The radiation activates the robot, which now obeys only Daisaku.
