2025 begins very sadly for French cinema: Benoît Allemane, who among others lent his voice to Morgan Freeman, has died.
His face and his name were perhaps not well known to the general public, but his warm and deep voice left its mark on more than one generation. The French actor specializing in theater and voice dubbing, Benoît Allemane, died on January 5, 2025 at the age of 82. In the early 1990s, he began lending his captivating voice to Morgan Freeman, whom he then followed in more than forty feature films, including RuthlessTHE Batman by Nolan, The Escapees, The Fall of the White House or even Elusive.
He also doubled the equally iconic actor James Earl Jones on several occasions, notably in Stone Gardens by Francis Ford Coppola and Chasing Red October by John McTiernan. Finally, among his major dubbing roles in cinema, it is difficult not to mention that of George Kennedy alias Ed Kocken in the trilogy Is there a cop?.
WARNING: NOSTALGIA
Benoît Allemane was not no stranger to the world of the small screen either. Frankie Faison’s Commissioner Burrell in the series ListeningCommander Spangler by Daniel von Bargen in Malcolm or even Jeffrey Meek’s Shao Khan in Mortal Kombat : Conquest : it was all him too.
Obviously, with such a stamp, he was also present in animated films and series. We owe him the Zeus of Hercule from Disney, the kind Grandfather of Little Foot in The Little Dinosaur and the Valley of Wondersthe equally nice Santa Claus in Santa’s Apprentice or Charlie the rooster Looney Tunes. He also slipped a few sentences into The Jetsons, the movie, Fiével and the Lost Treasure or even Barbie, Princess Rapunzel (the big dragon).
It is therefore another hard blow, both for the public and the profession. The death of Benoît Allemane comes after the disappearance in 2024 of two other French legends: Alain Dorval (regular French voice of Sylvester Stallone) and Daniel Beretta (who lent his to Arnold Schwarzenegger). They themselves followed other unforgettable big names such as Michel Le Royer (Christopher Lee), Med Hondo (Eddie Murphy), Claude Chantal (Maggie Smith, Daphné from Scooby-Doo) or even the immense Roger Carel (Asterix and a countless number of Disney characters).
