AllMovie

Italian actor Oresto Lionello occupied a unique position in the Italian industry as an onscreen presence, but an invisible one: he carved out a niche for himself as one of the most popular Italian voice dubbers of American screen comics including Woody Allen, Gene Wilder, Peter Sellers, Charlie Chaplin, and Jerry Lewis. Lest Italian audiences find the said interpretations too similar, Lionello perfected the art of characterization by tailoring each voice, uniquely, to the performer at hand; for instance, he would imbue Allen's voice with the insecure neuroses that became a trademark of that actor/director. Lionello began his career as a cabaret act, where he came to specialize in on-stage impersonations of local politician Giulio Andreotti. That led to a successful tenure on television during the 1970s and 1980s and said dubbing career. Although Lionello was reportedly a gifted mimic, the press noted at the time of Lionello's death in 2009 that those Italian viewers who heard the actual voices of the actors he was channeling felt quite startled by the differences.