Jean Fontaine

Jean Fontaine
Personal Information
Date of Birth	July 9, 1929
Place of Birth	Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
Date of Death	November 25, 2011 (aged 82)
Place of Death	Paris, France
Nationality	Canadian
Occupation	Actor Voice Actor Comedian Adapter
Professional Information
Areas Active	Paris Rome Montreal
Years Active	1959-2011
Status	Deceased

Jean Fontaine (July 9, 1929-November 25, 2011) was a Canadian-born French comedian, actor and voice actor.

He has dubbed many actors, either in English (including Alain Delon in most of his films) or in French (Harrison Ford, Richard Anderson, Terence Hill and Clint Eastwood). He has also lent his voice to many cartoons including the French versions of Heidi and Belle & Sebastian. Outside of dubbing he played in fifteen plays and some TV movies.

Biography

Born in Quebec City, Canada, his family moved to the capital, Ottawa, at the age of one. As a teenager, he did classical studies at the Congregation of the Holy Spirit. After that, he had two or three trades before working at the local radio station near Ottawa, as a speaker and a versatile employee, and as a speaker at Radio Canada Ottawa and the Radio Canada Montreal, where he presented the news.

He began doing English dubbing with Canadian actress, Suzanne Avon, who told him about this activity. He started with Léo Lax, under the direction of Joe Wyner where he dubs for the first time... as a sheep. Subsequently, over a long period of time, he would dub over big stars like Alain Delon in most of his films from Weak Women in 1959 to Mr. Klein in 1976, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Michel Serrault and Maurice Ronet.

In France, he began dubbing for cinema and television in French from 1962. Among many roles, he was the French voice of Agent OSS 117 in the film OSS 117 se déchaîne. In 1967, he dubbed the leading role of David Janssen in The Fugitive.

In 1971, he dubbed the cult character Alex Delarge (Malcolm McDowell) in A Clockwork Orange under the direction of Richard Heinz. The dubbing of a regular feature film was done in 6 or 7 days at the time, A Clockwork Orange took more than three weeks to complete as Stanley Kubrick's assistant was very meticulous and the reels would leave each evening for London, where Kubrick would give his input.

At the beginning of the 1970's, as his return trips between Quebec and France intensified, he crossed paths with Alain Delon and Sergio Leone. In 1977, he moved back to Quebec where he dubbed Richard Anderson (Oscar Goldman) in The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman. It was at this time he began adapting scripts and helping in artistic direction.

In Montreal, he became Clint Eastwood's official Québécois dub voice for the Canadian market.

He returned to France in 1997 and moved to Paris where he devoted himself to adaptation (Crime of Passion, The Dynasty of Carey Lewis, etc.). He died on November 25, 2011.

Filmography

Live-Action Dubbing

TV Series

• Ultra Seven (1967-1968) - Captain Kiriyama

Animation Dubbing

Animated Films

• Asterix & Cleopatra (1968) - Additional Voices
• Aladdin & The Magic Lamp (1970) - Narrator
• The Treasure of Swamp Castle (1985) - Additional Voices

Anime Dubbing

Anime

• The Jungle Book: The Adventures of Mowgli (1989-1990) - Shere Khan

Anime Films

• Anne Frank's Diary (1995) - Doctor Dussel

External Links

• Jean Fontaine at the Internet Movie Database
• Jean Fontaine at the Anime News Network's encyclopedia