It is with immense sadness that we learned this Monday January 6, 2025 of the death of the actor Benoît Allemane when he had just celebrated his 82nd birthday on December 28. Richard Darboishe is what we can call one of the last sacred monsters of French dubbing since he was, among other things, known for being the French voice of Morgan Freeman since 1992. For our generation, he was the voice of VHS trailers Disney but also that of Zeus, the father of Hercules and more.
Benoît Allemane, the legend of French dubbing
Benoît Allemane on December 28, 1942 in Clermont-Ferrand. After spending his childhood in Nancy, Benoît Allemane entered the National Theater School of Strasbourg at seventeen. After his studies, he played in several plays such as Richard III, Otto, Caligula and Antigone. Subsequently, Benoît Allemane met the director Robert Hossein who involved him in several of his shows or feature films such as Angélique, Marquise des Anges, It Was Bonaparte, Liberty or Death.
After a difficult start, Benoît Allemane entered the world of dubbing in 1969 by interpreting King Babar for a program broadcast on ORTF. He has lent his voice to many actors including Brian Cox, John Goodman, Michael Clark Duncan, James Earl Jones, Ian McKellen, Sam Waterston but above all Morgan Freeman to whom he has lent his voice since 1992 in films, series and documentaries. The two actors met only a few months ago. Last June, when he received an honorary prize at the Monaco International Television Festival, Morgan Freeman had invited Benoît Allemane be the translator of his acceptance speech.
Benoît Allemane has voiced many animated characters. Among the most emblematic, we can cite Santa Claus in various films, series and advertisements but also the lion Tony in the Kellog’s Frosties advertisements, Charlie the rooster from Looney Tunes or even Baloo in the series Super Baloo as well as Zeus, the father of Hercules in the film (and the series) Disney eponym. Benoit Allemane was also the voiceover for the VHS Disney of the 1990s, thus rocking several generations.
Disney voices performed by Benoît Allemane
Cinema room:
- Robin Hood : King Richard (alternative dub)
- Hercule : Zeus
- The magical world of Beauty and the Beast : Bathtub
- Fantasy 2000 : James Earl Jones
- Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones : Old Su
- Mickey, the bad guys club : Commissioner Finot
- Planet of the Apes: Origins: César (Andy Serkis)
- Number four : Principal Simms (Garrett M. Brown)
- The Ice Age: the laws of the universe : The narrator
- The Nutcracker and the Four Realms : Drosselmeyer (Morgan Freeman)
Television:
- Super Baloo : Baloo
- The Little Mermaid, the series : Commandant Shabada
- X-Files: On the Borders of Reality : Joseph McGrath (Frédéric Coffin)
- Gargoyles, angels of the night : Goliath, Thailog
- The Jungle Book: Childhood Memories : Baloo
- Timon and Pumbaa : various voices
- Hercules, the series : Zeus
- Malcolm : Commandant Edwin Spangler (Daniel von Bragen)
- Alias : Gordon Dean (Allen Tires)
- Grey’s Anatomy : William Bailey (Frankie Faison)
- Os :Arthur Lang (Richard Grant)
- L’Orville : L’amiral Tucker (Rum Canada)
- 24 hour chrono : Inspector Michael Norris/Colonel Benjamin Tuma (Tony Todd)
- Ghost Whisperer : Bob (Jay Powell)
- American Horror Story : Inspector Granger (Charles S. Dutton)
- Château :Harvey Milton (Allen Tires)
- Marvel: Agents of SHIELD : Dr Streiten (Ron Glass)
- Doctor Doogie Will (Barry Botswick)
- The dropout : George Shultz (Sam Waterston)
- Little beautiful things : Jacques (Roger Aaron Brown)
- The Rookie : Le Flic de Los Angeles/The Rookie : FEDS : Christopher ‘Cutty’ Clark (Frankie Faison)
- Muppets Rock : Morgan Freeman
- Echo : Skull (Graham Greene)
Video games:
- Star Wars : X-Wing Alliance : The commander of the cruiser Défiance
- Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace : various voices
- The Jungle Book: Groove Party : Baloo
- The Lion King: Simba’s Great Adventure : Mufasa
- Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds : Rooster Pattern
- Kingdom Hearts 2 :Yen Sid
- The Simpsons, the game : Space Museum commentator
- Epic Mickey :Yen Sid
- Star Wars: The Old Republic : Colonel Grang
- Epic Mickey 2: Return of the Heroes :Yen Sid
Documentaries:
- National geographic : In search of Noah’s ark / Encountering the flood : narrator (Neil deGrasse Tyson)
Glasses :
- Tale as old as time, Disney symphony concerts : narrator
- Disney et concerts : narrator
Advertisements and trailers
- Disney VHS from the 1980s-1990s
- The Nightmare Before Christmas (various derivative products)
- Epic Mickey
- Disneyland Paris
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