John Gayford

John Gayford
Personal Information
Full Name	John Gayford Harry
Date of Birth	February 20, 1933
Place of Birth	Hertfordshire, England, UK
Date of Death	July 9, 2021
Place of Death	Rome, Italy
Nationality	British
Occupation	Actor Voice actor Voice director Writer Dialogue coach
Professional Information
Other Mediums	Film Stage
Areas Active	London Rome Barcelona Madrid
Years Active	1960s-2013
Status	Deceased

John Gayford (February 20, 1933 - July 9, 2021) was a British actor, voice actor, voice director, writer and dialogue coach.

Career

John Gayford started out in the London theatre scene, where he played in productions of The Marquise and several plays at the Old Vic.

Gayford appeared in films such as Seven Times Seven (1968) and Cleopatra (1963), albeit uncredited. He was also supposed to appear in a film by Federico Fellini, whom he had met during the casting of 8½, but was unable to do so, due to his obligation with Cleopatra.

John Gayford started his dubbing career at De Lane Lea Studios in London, before moving to Rome. During Gayford's time in London, he was forced to give flat performances, which made him swear that, if he ever got the chance, he'd try to have the actors perform as realistically as possible. Apart from his main base in Rome, John Gayford was sometimes flown to Spain, to dub films with their local dubbing groups. Even though he worked in dubbing, John Gayford never liked dubbed movies, as he thought that they robbed the original actors of their performances and voices.

Gayford also acted in several audio plays, such as Coriolanus, recorded at International Recording and featuring such names as Richard Burton and Jessica Tandy.

Apart from his acting and dubbing work, John Gayford also acted as dialog consultant to British and American stars, learning their lines with them and adapting their dialogue in a way that suited them. Among those coached by Gayford was actor Joe Mantegna, who, upon returning to the United States, wrote John Gayford a letter of appreciation.

Filmography

Live-Action Dubbing

TV Series

• Big Man (1988) - Senator (ep. 2), Leo Volterra (ep. 4), Hotel Owner (ep. 6)

Films

• Argoman the Fantastic Superman (1967) - Inspector Lawrence
• Emergency Squad (1974) - Mario Berlotti
• The Heroin Busters (1977) - Gianni
• Who Finds a Friend Finds a Treasure (1981) - Pirate Leader
• Banana Joe (1982) - Sarto

External links

• John Gayford at the Internet Movie Database