George Sanders
Is George Sanders doing his own singing in the film or is a voice double being used? If he is being dubbed, whose voice is being used?
shareIt is his own singing. He rarely sings in movie, but he starts off his acting career as a stage actor, if I am not wrong. Amazing, huh? It is a thousand pity that he did not do more musical roles.
Recommendation: Irvin Berlin's Call Me Madam (1953)
This entertaining musical is on DVD.
I am amazed I would have thought it sounded remarkably like the man from South Pacific.
shareGeorge Sanders did NOT do his own singing. His singing voice in Call Me Madam was dubbed by NY Metropolitan Opera star Giorgio Tozzi, who also, as the previous poster noted, was used in South Pacific to dub Rossano Brazzi's musical numbers. South Pacific in 1958 was the first movie to give singers who dubbed various roles screen credit for the behind-the-scenes job they did. Call Me Madam, released in 1953, did not list the vocal talent in the credits. Even post-1958, a lot of movies did not list the vocal talent - Marni Nixon dubbing Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady is just one example.
shareStrange. You are the first person I came across to say his singing was dubbed. Almost every other sources I came across said that he did his own singing. Where did you get that information, by the way?
Recommendation: Irvin Berlin's Call Me Madam (1953)
This entertaining musical is on DVD.
Anyone familiar with or a student of Mr. Tozzi know of the movie work he did uncredited prior to South Pacific in 1958. Once you hear Mr. Tozzi, you know when you hear it again. It's unforgettable and distinctly unlike anyone else. Frankly, his Italian-accented singing voice sounds nothing at all like the British-accented speaking voice of George Saunders.
shareThat is interesting. Perhaps Sanders' vocal range could not match up with Ethel Merman's. Or was it because he had not sang for a long time, so his singing ability deteriorated?
Recommendation: Irvin Berlin's Call Me Madam (1953)
This entertaining musical is on DVD.
Hi. When Sanders first sang in the film, I immediately recognized the tremendous voice of someone connected with South Pacific: Enzio Pinza, Rosanno Brazzi, someone, certainly not George Sanders. Now I read it was a singer who dubbed for one of those guys. LOL! Let's give credit: Sanders certainly knew how to emulate a singer's body language in putting over a song. If the dubbed voice hadn't been so beautiful and so familiar, it would be easy to think Sanders was doing his own singing.
shareBut then again, Vera-Ellen dubbing is revealed.
Recommendation: Irvin Berlin's Call Me Madam (1953)
This entertaining musical is on DVD.
I beg to disagree with you, but according to the scholar who does the audio commentary on the DVD, George Sanders does his own singing...now I wonder who is right; perhaps the commentator got his facts mixed up; I hope this can be cleared up...by someone.
shareSanders DOES do his own singing, definitely. He was famous for singing at Hollywood parties. His singing voice was so good that Rodgers and Hammerstein asked him to play Emile in the London production of "South Pacific", but Sanders had a bad case of stage fright and backed out. For entirely different and tragic reasons, he later backed out of another stage musical, "Sherry!", based on "The Man Who Came to Dinner". Clive Revill, Broadway's original Fagin in "Oliver!", replaced him.
Check out this article--scroll down the page.
http://.www.playbill.com/features/article/84395.html
Also:
http://www.salon.com/07/features/sanders2.html
Sanders was one of a trio of fops who debuted the hilarious We All Wear A Pink Carnation in the first production of Noel Coward's Bittersweet. The recording's in print on CD.
As for his "English accent"... he was a Russian petty aristocrat -- also quite hard to separate from his guitar.
If you want proof as to whether George Sanders did his own singing in "Call me Madam", listen to the voice of Shere Khan in "Jungle Book" and hear the same amazingly deep tones.
shareGeorge Sanders definitely did his own singing, and was heard on TV about the time this movie was done singing an aria from Verdi's opera, "Simon Boccanegra."
I have also seen a clip of his singing with Tallulah Bankhead on some TV special.
Linda
http://www.martinsheen.net
http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/WWSpoilers/
He even recorded a hard to find record of pop standards in the mid 1950's called The George Sanders Touch.
shareThere seems to be a minor argument here, but most of the posters are correct - George Sanders definitely did his own singing in "Call Me Madam" and was not dubbed by Giorgio Tozzi (who would have been a good choice had Sanders been unable to sing adequately) or anyone else. Ethel Merman, of course, was the singing mega-star of the show, but Donald O'Connor's pleasant vocalizing complemented her nicely and the lovely Vera-Ellen can be forgiven for having her songs dubbed by a voice double, since her dancing in this film (and several others, of course) is in a class by itself.
sharehe actually played the part, many years later (late 80's or early 90's, I believe)in a stock production with Joanne Worley!
shareThe pressbook for CALL ME MADAM has an extensive article on Mr. Sanders' singing with a few complimentary statments from Ms. Merman. Even though press releases can be taken with a grain of salt, I think Merman would see to it that HER quotes were real.
shareI don't know so I'll go with it being George's voice but I honestly thought he may have been dubbed too - not only because it doesn't quite sound like his speaking voice but you'll notice a lot of his singing is not done facing the camera and almost never in closeup. But it also could be he wasn't too good at mouthing to his own recordings.
shareThere isn't the slightest doubt in the world that its his own voice. He's one of those people whose voice is instantly recognisable, talking or singing. I'd know it was him if I heard it on the radio without any warning.
shareFox music department records confirm it is indeed George Sanders singing. One person posts some bad info and everybody is off to races.
shareMarnie Nixon dubbed for everybody! Hepburn, Deborah Kerr, others!
shareFilm historian Miles Kreuger, one of the leading authorities on the American Musical Theater, provides a fabulously informative and insightful audio commentary on the "Call Me Madam" dvd; there is no doubt in his mind that Sanders did his own singing, and he even cites the actor's singing stage debut in a Noel Coward musical. Sanders' vocal work in "Call Me Madam" is wonderfully expressive, with excellent intonation; "Marrying for Love" is especially moving. I can't imagine ANY overdub singer--Tozzi or no---who could match the PRECISE tone, timbre and inflection of Sander's speaking voice as flawlessly as we hear on the soundtrack. Now if mikeoak840 would please identify the source of information for his claim that Tozzi did the dubbing, I'd be very interested to hear about it.
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