Ted Rusoff

Ted Rusoff

Born: May 20, 1939
Died: September 28, 2013
in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
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.

Movies for Ted Rusoff...

Eurocrime! The Italian Cop and Gangster Films That Ruled the '70s
Title: Eurocrime! The Italian Cop and Gangster Films That Ruled the '70s
Character: Self
Released: March 30, 2012
Type: Movie
A documentary concerning the violent Italian 'poliziotteschi' cinematic movement of the 1970s which, at first glance, seem to be rip-offs of American crime films like DIRTY HARRY or THE GODFATHER, but which really address Italian issues like the Sicilian Mafia and red terrorism. Perhaps even more interesting than the films themselves were the rushed methods of production (stars performing their own stunts, stealing shots, no live sound) and the bleed-over between real-life crime and movie crime.
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The Scarlet Worm
Title: The Scarlet Worm
Character: Print's Attorney
Released: August 27, 2011
Type: Movie
An aging killer trains a young hired gun in a plot to assassinate a meek brothel owner performing barbaric abortion acts on his prostitutes.
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Christine Cristina
Title: Christine Cristina
Character: Frate Severino
Released: May 7, 2010
Type: Movie
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The Nativity Story
Title: The Nativity Story
Character: Old Shepherd
Released: November 30, 2006
Type: Movie
Mary and Joseph make the hard journey to Bethlehem for a blessed event in this retelling of the Nativity story. This meticulously researched and visually lush adaptation of the biblical tale follows the pair on their arduous path to their arrival in a small village, where they find shelter in a quiet manger and Jesus is born.
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Title: Rome
Character: Strabo
Released: August 28, 2005
Type: TV
A down-to-earth account of the lives of both illustrious and ordinary Romans set in the last days of the Roman Republic.
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The Passion of the Christ
Title: The Passion of the Christ
Character: Elder
Released: February 25, 2004
Type: Movie
A graphic portrayal of the last twelve hours of Jesus of Nazareth's life.
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Man and Cat
Title: Man and Cat
Character: Talking Insect
Released: November 8, 2001
Type: Movie
Man lives with his best friend, Cat, to defend others from big bad.
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Nightworld: Lost Souls
Title: Nightworld: Lost Souls
Character: Humphrey Garrett
Released: March 1, 1999
Type: Movie
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.
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Riddler's Moon
Title: Riddler's Moon
Character: Pastor Nolan
Released: February 21, 1999
Type: Movie
Teenager Elias has watched his farming community struggle through season after season of bad crops. When unexplained visions--perhaps from another world--give Elias hope of a coming miracle, he becomes the key to saving his town.
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Double Team
Title: Double Team
Character: Brother Ramulu
Released: April 4, 1997
Type: Movie
A CIA agent is interned for failing to kill an international terrorist. Escaping from his island exile, he teams up with a flamboyant arms dealer and sets out to find the terrorist and rescue the agent's family. Together they're a two-man arsenal... with enough voltage to rock the free world.
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Title: Pocahontas: Princess of the American Indians
Character: Tachi
Released: January 15, 1997
Type: TV
In her journey, Pocahontas and her spiritual companion Hopi Ho, get the chance to become acquainted with the different ways of living of the different American Indian tribes that they visit.
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The Eighteenth Angel
Title: The Eighteenth Angel
Character: Benedetti
Released: January 1, 1997
Type: Movie
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.
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Sinbad of the Seven Seas
Title: Sinbad of the Seven Seas
Character: Torture Chamber Keeper (uncredited)
Released: April 1, 1989
Type: Movie
Sinbad returns from the sea to find his country subjected to the will of two unscrupulous sorcerers.
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Fashion Crimes
Title: Fashion Crimes
Character: Rizzo's Friend
Released: January 1, 1989
Type: Movie
On her way home, a fashion model, Gloria, saw a man fought against a woman and killed her in a strangely noisy room in the old villa where a German Countess named Greta Stella used to live. But when the police Commissioner, who is crazy about fishing, and his dull assistant go to the problematic villa in the next morning, the villa is perceived to have been empty for twenty years and there seems to be nothing criminal left. And then Gloria asks help from a playboy-typed psychiatrist, Gianmarco Contini, who is one of the eight joint-owners of the problematic villa...
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The Last Temptation of Christ
Title: The Last Temptation of Christ
Character: Crowd Member (voice)
Released: May 28, 1988
Type: Movie
Jesus, a humble Judean carpenter beginning to see that he is the son of God, is drawn into revolutionary action against the Roman occupiers by Judas -- despite his protestations that love, not violence, is the path to salvation. The burden of being the savior of mankind torments Jesus throughout his life, leading him to doubt.
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Catacombs
Title: Catacombs
Character: Brother Brandt
Released: May 14, 1988
Type: Movie
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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Miami Golem
Title: Miami Golem
Character: voice dubbing (US version) (uncredited)
Released: November 12, 1985
Type: Movie
A Miami TV reporter is sent to a local university to do a story on a professor who is cloning a cell from DNA found inside a meteorite. Soon after the reporter leaves, a gunman kills everyone in the professor's lab and steals the cell for a wealthy businessman. When the reporter learns that he is targeted for assassination as well, he enlists the help of two scientists to discover who is behind the crimes, why they stole the cell, and whether or not the cell should be allowed to continue living.
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Mussolini and I
Title: Mussolini and I
Character: Francesco Saverio Petacci
Released: April 14, 1985
Type: Movie
A compelling drama/documentary chronicling the life and death of Il Duce himself, from his days as a terrorist to his alliance with Hitler to the betrayal of his son-in-law and untimely demise.
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Piranha II: The Spawning
Title: Piranha II: The Spawning
Character: Opening Victim (voice) (uncredited)
Released: August 14, 1982
Type: Movie
A scuba diving instructor, her biochemist boyfriend, and her police chief ex-husband try to link a series of bizarre deaths to a mutant strain of piranha fish whose lair is a sunken freighter ship off a Caribbean island resort.
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Absurd
Title: Absurd
Character: Dr. Kramer
Released: October 1, 1981
Type: Movie
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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The Day Christ Died
Title: The Day Christ Died
Character: Temple Guard
Released: March 26, 1980
Type: Movie
A dramatization of the events from the Last Supper through the arrest and trial of Jesus to the Crucifixion.
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Voyage Into Space
Title: Voyage Into Space
Character: Jerry Mano (voice)
Released: January 1, 1970
Type: Movie
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.
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Yongary, Monster from the Deep
Title: Yongary, Monster from the Deep
Character: Illoo Nami (Voice, English dub)
Released: August 13, 1967
Type: Movie
Earthquakes in central Korea turn out to be the work of Yongary, a prehistoric gasoline-eating reptile that soon goes on a rampage through Seoul.
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Title: The Last of the Mohicans
Character: Great Serpent
Released: December 31, 1969
Type: TV