Arnold Marquis (6 April 1921 – 24 November 1990) was a German actor and

voice talent Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...

. He was one of the best known and most frequently used dubbing voices of Germany, known especially as the voice of "tough guys" like

John Wayne Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed The Duke or Duke Wayne, was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films made during Hollywood's Gol ...

Charles Bronson Charles Bronson (born Charles Dennis Buchinsky; November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003) was an American actor. Known for his "granite features and brawny physique," he gained international fame for his starring roles in action, Western, and war ...

or Lee Marvin.

Early life

Arnold Marquis was born in

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

on 6 April 1921 as the son of a banker. He was brought in contact with theatre by the head of the ''

Bochum Bochum ( , also , ; wep, Baukem) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 364,920 (2016), is the sixth largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) of the most populous Germany, German federal state o ...

Schauspielhaus'' (theatre)

Saladin Schmitt Saladin Schmitt (18 September 1883 – 14 March 1951), real name Joseph Anton Schmitt, also active under the pseudonym Harald Hoffmann) was a German theatre director. Life Born in Bingen am Rhein, Schmitt came from a family of wine merchants a ...

who also gave him his first acting job in 1939. Shortly thereafter Marquis was drafted into the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

and wounded several times during World War II. Returning to Germany, he moved to Berlin. After some acting jobs, he was contacted by a representative of the

Rank Organisation The Rank Organisation was a British entertainment conglomerate founded by industrialist J. Arthur Rank in April 1937. It quickly became the largest and most vertically integrated film company in the United Kingdom, owning production, distribu ...

who was looking for a dubbing voice for

Stewart Granger Stewart Granger (born James Lablache Stewart; 6 May 1913 – 16 August 1993) was a British film actor, mainly associated with heroic and romantic leading roles. He was a popular leading man from the 1940s to the early 1960s, rising to fame thr ...

. His sonorous voice impressed the British film executives and in 1946 he received his first voice-acting assignment for

Madonna of the Seven Moons ''Madonna of the Seven Moons'' is a 1945 British drama film directed by Arthur Crabtree for Gainsborough Pictures and starring Phyllis Calvert, Stewart Granger and Patricia Roc. The film was produced by Rubeigh James Minney, with cinematography ...

(1945).

Career

Although he appeared in a number of film and TV productions over the decades, beginning in 1948 and ending in 1989 ('), he never succeeded in establishing a "normal" acting career for himself. He was, however, the best-paid German voice actor, receiving daily wages of around DM 1,000. Among those actors he dubbed for the German version were Robert Mitchum,

Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in ''The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. Do ...

Yves Montand Ivo Livi (), better known as Yves Montand (; 13 October 1921 – 9 November 1991), was an Italian-French actor and singer. Early life Montand was born Ivo Livi in Monsummano Terme, Italy, to Giovanni Livi, a broom manufacturer, Ivo held strong ...

, Richard Widmark,

James Coburn James Harrison Coburn III (August 31, 1928 – November 18, 2002) was an American film and television actor who was featured in more than 70 films, largely action roles, and made 100 television appearances during a 45-year career.AllmoviBi ...

, George C. Scott,

Lino Ventura Angiolino Giuseppe Pasquale Ventura (14 July 1919 – 22 October 1987), known as Lino Ventura, was an Italian actor who grew up in France and starred in many French films. Born in Italy, he was raised in Paris by his mother. After a first caree ...

, Trevor Howard, Bud Spencer,

Jack Klugman Jack Klugman (April 27, 1922 – December 24, 2012) was an American actor of stage, film, and television. He began his career in 1950 and started television and film work with roles in ''12 Angry Men'' (1957) and '' Cry Terror!'' (1958). D ...

, and Lee Marvin. To German viewers, his distinctive gravelly voice became closely associated with many of these international film stars. This effect was most pronounced in the case of John Wayne, who reportedly personally selected Marquis as his voice-actor. After Wayne's death in 1979, Marquis published a music single "John Wayne, der Held" (also known as "Ich war die Stimme von John Wayne"). Marquis has been described as the "King of Dubbing Artists" (''König der Synchronsprecher''), and he was one of the most-used voice-artists ever, having accumulated over a thousand credits to his name. He did not like the label ''Synchronsprecher'' (speaker), preferring ''Synchron-Schauspieler'' (actor) instead. He also appeared on stage at Berlin Boulevard theatres and his voice appeared in cigarette commercials for a brand that was using a Western theme for its advertising. According to his obituary in ''Der Spiegel'': "As he grew older, he became ever more like his alter ego, John Wayne."

Personal

He was married three times and had a daughter called Gwendolyn. Marquis had problems with alcoholism and had to go through rehab. After smoking 80 cigarettes a day for decades, he died of lung cancer on 24 November 1990, in Berlin, Germany.

Filmography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marquis, Arnold 1921 births 1990 deaths German male voice actors Deaths from lung cancer in Germany 20th-century German male actors