Mel Welles

Mel Welles
Welles in "The Little Shop of Horrors" (1960)
Personal Information
Full Name	Ira Welles Meltcher
Also Known As	Guy de Mouchenique
Date of Birth	February 17, 1924
Place of Birth	New York City, New York, U.S.
Date of Death	August 19, 2005 (aged 81)
Place of Death	Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.
Cause of Death	Heart failure
Family	Anne (spouse)
Nationality	American
Occupation	Actor Voice actor Voice director Psychologist Producer Corporate teacher
Professional Information
Other Mediums	Theatre Radio Film
Areas Active	Rome Madrid Barcelona Los Angeles
Years Active	1953 -2005
Status	Deceased

Mel Welles (February 17, 1924 - August 19, 2005) was an American actor, voice actor and voice director.

Career

Born Ira Welles Meltcher, Mel Welles received a Ph.D. at Columbia University and started working as a clinical psychologist in New York City. Meanwhile, he had a job as a radio DJ and began working in radio plays and on stage. Soon after, Welles went to Hollywood, where he starred in several films, mostly produced by the King of B-movie cinema, Roger Corman, who also cast Welles in the part that he is probably mostly remembered for, flower shop owner Gravis Muchnik in Roger Corman's original 1960 Little Shop of Horrors.

In the 1960s, Welles moved to Europe, where he started directing his own films, like Maneater of Hydra, and dubbing foreign films into English. It was Welles who discovered Linda Gary and her husband Charles Howerton and got them started in the Roman English-language dubbing industry. As Rodd Dana and John Gayford recall, they, Welles and their fellow dubbers were sometimes flown out to different countries to dub movies there, like Madrid and Barcelona in Spain, where they worked with English language dubbing groups at studios, like Chamartín.

Later, Welles left Europe and traveled to the far east. He was responsible for producing and directing several classical music concerts in Australia and Asia. After some time, Mel Welles returned to the U.S., where he worked as a voice actor again.

In later years, Welles worked as a corporate teacher. He was fluent in five languages. He died on August 19, 2005, after suffering from heart failure.

Filmography

Live-Action Dubbing

TV Series

• Spectreman (1971-1972) - Karas, Overlord (Quality Sound Studios Dub)

Films

• The Crazy Kids of the War (1967) - Peter Hawkins
• Gamera vs. Gyaos (1967) - Tanaemon Kanemaru (AIP Dub)
• The X from Outer Space (1967) - Dr. Berman (AIP Dub)
• Beyond the Law (1968) - James Cooper
• Django, Prepare a Coffin (1968) - Jonathan
• The Great Silence (1968) - Henry Pollicut
• Machine Gun McCain (1969) - Duke Mazzanga
• Compañeros (1970) - General Mongo Álvarez
• They Call Me Trinity (1970) - Mescal
• Amarcord (1973) - Additional / Unidentified Voices

Animation Dubbing

Animated Series

• Space Strikers (1995) - Krell (ep. 11)

Anime Dubbing

Anime Films

• Panda and the Magic Serpent (1958) - Fahai
• A Thousand and One Nights (1969) - Slimon

External links

• Mel Welles at the Internet Movie Database
• Mel Welles at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Mel Welles' voice actor profile at Behind The Voice Actors
• Mel Welles' voice director profile at Behind The Voice Actors