Biography

Renato Turi (May 12, 1920 – April 5, 1991) was an Italian actor and voice actor. Renato Turi was born in Florence on May 12 1920 to Umberto Turi and Giulia Ragni. He was considered to be an important figure in Italian dubbing. At an early age, Turi visited theatres across Italy with his parents before moving to Rome. He felt a great desire to perform on stage during those visits. During the outbreak of World War II, Turi served at the airport in Elmas, Sardinia which was bombarded by American forces, seriously injuring Turi resulting in his leg amputation. As a result, he had to give up his dreams as a theatre actor.

Nevertheless, Turi pursued an acting career in film, television and radio, acting in over six films and starring in many television productions. Despite his inability to make a stage appearance, he served as the voice of God in the 1973 musical comedy Aggiungi un posto a tavola. His voice was then re-recorded for later performances even after his death.

Turi was more successful as a voice dubber. He was the founder of the dubbing society SEDIF and he frequently collaborated with other dubbers including Giuseppe Rinaldi, Wanda Tettoni, Oreste Lionello, Gianfranco Bellini and Emilio Cigoli. Turi often provided the Italian voices of Walter Matthau, Lee Marvin, Christopher Lee, Telly Savalas, Lee Van Cleef, John Carradine, Lionel Jeffries, Charlton Heston, Sidney Poitier, Livio Lorenzon and Arthur Kennedy in most of their movies. In his animated roles, Turi voiced Jasper in the Italian version of One Hundred and One Dalmatians as well as Edgar in the Italian version of The Aristocats.