Anthony La Penna

Anthony La Penna (April 22, 1918 - January 27, 2011 ), also known as Leslie Daniels, was an American actor, voice actor, director and screenwriter based in Italy.

He is arguably best known for his roles as JJ in Hammer's Room To Let (1950) and as Kurt in The Brain that Wouldn't Die (1962). During the mid-1960's, he moved to Italy, where his career turned extensively toward dubbing Italian cinema into English.

Biography
La Penna acted since childhood and was a self-taught pianist. He began acting school in Greenwich Village and later started teaching Off-Broadway, among his students including Kirk Douglas. Fascinated by the stories of Italy he had heard since childhood, La Penna traveled to Rome in 1945, where he would be cast in Roberto Rossellini's Paisan in 1946. There he met his wife, actress Natalia Ray, during a party at The Excelsior Hotel during the Carnival of 1946. La Penna and Ray later moved back to New York, where they would stay for several years before moving back to Rome in 1964.

Starting in the late 60's, La Penna largely moved toward dubbing (something he had done prior for Titra Studios in New York) for the English Language Dubbers Association (later Associated Recording Artists), including voice acting, voice direction, dialogue adaptation, casting, and supervising synchronization and sound mixing.

La Penna retired in the mid 1980's to look after his wife, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's in the late 70's. Her health declined, and eventually died in 1991. Through retirement, La Penna enjoyed playing the Piano, and would occasionally do some minor dubbing or commercial roles. La Penna died in January 2011.

Films

 * Mothra (1961) - Dr. Shinichi Chujo
 * Confessions of a Police Captain (1971) - Commissioner, Senator
 * How to Kill a Judge (1974) - Alberto Traini-Luis
 * Deep Red (1975) - Doctor
 * The Big Racket (1976) - Pepe
 * The Cynic, the Rat & the Fist (1977) - Natali
 * The Heroin Busters (1977) - Roman Colonel
 * Master with Cracked Fingers (1979) - Jackie's Uncle
 * Cannibal Ferox (1981) - Wilson
 * Hercules (1983) - Narrator