George Roubicek
Encyclopedia
George Roubicek is an actor, and a dialogue director and script adaptor for English-language versions of foreign films and television shows. Born in Austria
in 1935, Roubicek appeared in a number of small roles throughout the 1950s, 60s and 70s, including the films The Bedford Incident
, Billion Dollar Brain
and The Dirty Dozen
. In 1967, he appeared in The Tomb of the Cybermen
, a four-part Doctor Who
serial. Roubicek had a small role in A New Hope
, the first Star Wars movie, as the Imperial
Commander Praji. He also appeared in two James Bond
movies, You Only Live Twice
and The Spy Who Loved Me
.
Although he continued acting in small roles during his later years, his later career was more focused on dubbing foreign films and television shows into English-language versions. He directed the dubbing of 13 previously unaired episodes of the cult Japanese series Monkey
, a show he previously performed voice acting for in the late 1970s. In 2008, he adapted the French animated film Azur & Asmar: The Princes' Quest to an English language version.
play Verdict
, where he played the role of Lester Cole, the student of a professor who has fled from prosecution in his home country. The play was first staged at the Strand Theatre
in London on May 22, 1958. Roubicek's first film roles were bit parts in the late 1950s, including as a German prisoner in the 1957 British World War II
film The One That Got Away, and a police constable in the 1963 murder mystery Blind Date
. Roubicek continued performing in small roles in a number of films in the early 1960s. Among them were a cleaning service man in the 1962 British horror film Burn, Witch, Burn!, a Russia
n sentry in the 1963 British war film The Victors
, and the character Lieutenant Berger in the 1965 American Cold War
film The Bedford Incident
. In 1967, he played Private Arthur James Gardner in The Dirty Dozen
, an American war film and, to that point, by far his most impressive film credit. That year, he also appeared in the British espionage film Billion Dollar Brain
, where he played the small part of Edgar.
Roubicek also appeared in The Tomb of the Cybermen
, a four-part Doctor Who
serial that aired in September 1967. He portrayed Captain Hopper, the commander of a rocket that brought an archaeological expedition to the planet Telos
to study the Cybermen, a race of cyborgs. Andrew Cartmel
, a science-fiction writer who served as a Doctor Who script editor in later episodes after The Tomb of the Cybermen, strongly criticized Hopper's dialogue in his book, Through Time: An Unauthorised and Unofficial History of Doctor Who. Hopper, who is supposed to be an American, frequently uses the word "guy" and what Cartmel called "odd fake American idioms" like, "It's not exactly peaches." Although Cartmel did not address Roubicek's performance, he said the dialogue was written "in a way that suggests the English writers have never travelled across the Atlantic and have paid precious little attention to the films or books that have flowed the other way".
In 1976, Roubicek was cast in Star Wars
, where he played the small role of Praji, a commander with the Galactic Empire
. He appeared early in the film, speaking with Darth Vader
after the Imperial forces have seized the Rebel Alliance
starship Tantive IV
and captured Princess Leia Organa
. Roubicek's scene was filmed over a three-day sequence in July 1976, near the final days of principal photography. Roubicek did not anticipate at the time that Star Wars
would become such a cultural phenomenon, and his first impression of the franchise was "What is this all about"? During a 2007 interview, Roubicek said, "I don't think anyone knew [what Star Wars was], except maybe George Lucas, and I'm not sure he knew all the time! We certainly didn't know. I wouldn't say this was just another job - there's no such thing as just another job - but I didn't realize how special it was going to be at the time."
Roubicek appeared in two separate episodes of the spy-fi
television series, The Avengers
, playing different characters both times. In "The White Dwarf", an episode that aired February 9, 1963, he played Luke Richter, the son of a prominent astronomer who was murdered shortly after discovering a star was going to collide with and destroy the Earth
. Roubicek also appeared in "Invasion of the Earthmen", which was first broadcast on January 15, 1969. In that episode he played Bernard Grant, a secret agent who is killed by a giant Boa constrictor
while investigating a mysterious school called the Alpha Academy. In the late 1970s, Roubicek did some work on the English language dubbing of Monkey
, a cult Japanese action/fantasy television series that ran from 1978 to 1980. He performed a few of the voice acting parts for the series and had a minor role in the technical dubbing aspects.
, a 1995 film about a Jewish freelance journalist who travels to Germany
for a story about Neo-Nazism
. However, most of his later career focused on the script adaptation and dubbing of foreign films into English language versions. In 1996, Roubicek handled the English script adaptation of the 1991 comedy science-fiction film Roujin Z
. The Japanese
anime
film by Katsuhiro Otomo
focuses on an elderly invalid man and a futuristic computerized hospital bed which takes on a life of its own.
In 2004, Roubicek was asked work again on Monkey, where he did some peripheral dubbing work in the late 1970s. He was hired as the director of the English language dubbing for 13 previously televised episodes of Monkey, which were released on DVD that year. The episodes had been included as a bonus feature on past DVD releases, but were only subtitled and had never before been dubbed into English. Roubicek was tasked with adapting the original Japanese scripts into English and directing the original cast in the dialogue for the dubbing. Roubicek said both he and the cast enjoyed being brought back together for the project. However, he said it was also particularly challenging. The recording sessions require what he calls a "horrendous" amount of concentration, but the script adaptation process proved even more difficult. Roubicek has to ensure the translation was not only accurate, but preserved the humour of the original Japanese scripts. Fabulous Films Ltd., the company handling the DVD releases, originally provided Roubicek only with transcripts of the English subtitles for the 13 episodes, but Roubicek disregarded them and had to start writing from scratch because, he claimed, subtitle transcripts "never, ever bear any relation to a dubbing script".
In 2008, Roubicek worked with filmmaker Michel Ocelot
to adapt an English language version of Ocelot's 2006 animated fantasy film, Azur & Asmar: The Princes' Quest. which boasts what The New York Times
described as a "flat, storybook style worlds away from the sculpture digital aesthetic pioneered by Pixar
", tells a fable-like tale of two young boys in a mythic Middle Eastern setting. The original film's dialogue was in French with small portions in Arabic. During the adaptation, Roubicek and Ocelot chose to translate the French dialogue into English, but preserve the Arabic without dubbing or subtitles. Michael Phillips, film critic with the Chicago Tribune
, said this was the correct decision because it allows the viewers to share the same "momentary confusion" as characters who do not understand Arabic and are suddenly thrown into "disorienting surroundings".
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
in 1935, Roubicek appeared in a number of small roles throughout the 1950s, 60s and 70s, including the films The Bedford Incident
The Bedford Incident
The Bedford Incident is a 1965 British-American Cold War film starring Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier, and co-produced by Richard Widmark. The cast also features James MacArthur, Martin Balsam, Wally Cox and Eric Portman, as well as early appearances by Donald Sutherland and Ed Bishop...
, Billion Dollar Brain
Billion Dollar Brain
Billion Dollar Brain is a 1967 British espionage film directed by Ken Russell and based on the novel Billion-Dollar Brain by Len Deighton. The film features Michael Caine as secret agent Harry Palmer, the anti-hero protagonist of the film versions of The IPCRESS File and Funeral in Berlin...
and The Dirty Dozen
The Dirty Dozen
The Dirty Dozen is a 1967 film directed by Robert Aldrich and released by MGM. It was filmed in England and features an ensemble cast, including Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Telly Savalas, and Robert Webber. The film is based on E. M...
. In 1967, he appeared in The Tomb of the Cybermen
The Tomb of the Cybermen
The Tomb of the Cybermen is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who that originally aired in four weekly parts from September 2 to September 23, 1967 and is the earliest serial starring Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor to exist in its entirety...
, a four-part Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
serial. Roubicek had a small role in A New Hope
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the...
, the first Star Wars movie, as the Imperial
Galactic Empire (Star Wars)
The Galactic Empire is one of the main factions in the fictional universe of Star Wars. It is a galaxy-spanning regime established by the series' lead villain, Palpatine, to replace the Galactic Republic in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The Galactic Empire is introduced in Star Wars...
Commander Praji. He also appeared in two James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
movies, You Only Live Twice
You Only Live Twice (film)
You Only Live Twice is the fifth spy film in the James Bond series, and the fifth to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film's screenplay was written by Roald Dahl, and loosely based on Ian Fleming's 1964 novel of the same name...
and The Spy Who Loved Me
The Spy Who Loved Me (film)
The Spy Who Loved Me is a spy film, the tenth film in the James Bond series, and the third to star Roger Moore as the fictional secret agent James Bond. It was directed by Lewis Gilbert and the screenplay was written by Christopher Wood and Richard Maibaum...
.
Although he continued acting in small roles during his later years, his later career was more focused on dubbing foreign films and television shows into English-language versions. He directed the dubbing of 13 previously unaired episodes of the cult Japanese series Monkey
Monkey (TV series)
Monkey is the dubbed English language version of the Japanese television series , based on the classic sixteenth century Chinese novel Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en. It was originally produced by Nippon Television and International Television Films in association with NHK.The series ran for...
, a show he previously performed voice acting for in the late 1970s. In 2008, he adapted the French animated film Azur & Asmar: The Princes' Quest to an English language version.
Early career
In 1958, George Roubicek appeared in the original cast of the Agatha ChristieAgatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
play Verdict
Verdict (play)
Verdict is a 1958 play by British mystery writer Agatha Christie. It is unusual for Agatha Christie plays in more than one way: for example, it is an original play, not based on a story or novel; and though there is a murder in the story, it is a melodrama more than a typical 'whodunnit' mystery as...
, where he played the role of Lester Cole, the student of a professor who has fled from prosecution in his home country. The play was first staged at the Strand Theatre
Novello Theatre
The Novello Theatre is a West End theatre on Aldwych, in the City of Westminster.-History:The theatre was built as one of a pair with the Aldwych Theatre on either side of the Waldorf Hotel, both being designed by W. G. R. Sprague. The theatre opened as the Waldorf Theatre on 22 May 1905, and was...
in London on May 22, 1958. Roubicek's first film roles were bit parts in the late 1950s, including as a German prisoner in the 1957 British World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
film The One That Got Away, and a police constable in the 1963 murder mystery Blind Date
Blind Date (1959 film)
Blind Date is a 1959 murder mystery film. A police inspector investigates a woman's death, with her lover being the prime suspect...
. Roubicek continued performing in small roles in a number of films in the early 1960s. Among them were a cleaning service man in the 1962 British horror film Burn, Witch, Burn!, a Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n sentry in the 1963 British war film The Victors
The Victors (film)
-Overview:The film follows a group of U.S. soldiers through Europe during World War II, from Britain in 1942, through the fierce fighting in Italy and France, to the uneasy peace of Berlin. It is adapted from a collection of short stories called The Human Kind by British author Alexander Baron,...
, and the character Lieutenant Berger in the 1965 American Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
film The Bedford Incident
The Bedford Incident
The Bedford Incident is a 1965 British-American Cold War film starring Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier, and co-produced by Richard Widmark. The cast also features James MacArthur, Martin Balsam, Wally Cox and Eric Portman, as well as early appearances by Donald Sutherland and Ed Bishop...
. In 1967, he played Private Arthur James Gardner in The Dirty Dozen
The Dirty Dozen
The Dirty Dozen is a 1967 film directed by Robert Aldrich and released by MGM. It was filmed in England and features an ensemble cast, including Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Telly Savalas, and Robert Webber. The film is based on E. M...
, an American war film and, to that point, by far his most impressive film credit. That year, he also appeared in the British espionage film Billion Dollar Brain
Billion Dollar Brain
Billion Dollar Brain is a 1967 British espionage film directed by Ken Russell and based on the novel Billion-Dollar Brain by Len Deighton. The film features Michael Caine as secret agent Harry Palmer, the anti-hero protagonist of the film versions of The IPCRESS File and Funeral in Berlin...
, where he played the small part of Edgar.
Roubicek also appeared in The Tomb of the Cybermen
The Tomb of the Cybermen
The Tomb of the Cybermen is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who that originally aired in four weekly parts from September 2 to September 23, 1967 and is the earliest serial starring Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor to exist in its entirety...
, a four-part Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
serial that aired in September 1967. He portrayed Captain Hopper, the commander of a rocket that brought an archaeological expedition to the planet Telos
Telos (Doctor Who)
Telos is a fictional planet from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is an arid and mountainous planet, with little sign of vegetation...
to study the Cybermen, a race of cyborgs. Andrew Cartmel
Andrew Cartmel
Andrew Cartmel is a British science fiction writer and journalist, and former script editor of Doctor Who. He has also worked as a script editor on other television series, as a magazine editor, a film studies lecturer and as a novelist.-Biography:...
, a science-fiction writer who served as a Doctor Who script editor in later episodes after The Tomb of the Cybermen, strongly criticized Hopper's dialogue in his book, Through Time: An Unauthorised and Unofficial History of Doctor Who. Hopper, who is supposed to be an American, frequently uses the word "guy" and what Cartmel called "odd fake American idioms" like, "It's not exactly peaches." Although Cartmel did not address Roubicek's performance, he said the dialogue was written "in a way that suggests the English writers have never travelled across the Atlantic and have paid precious little attention to the films or books that have flowed the other way".
In 1976, Roubicek was cast in Star Wars
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the...
, where he played the small role of Praji, a commander with the Galactic Empire
Galactic Empire (Star Wars)
The Galactic Empire is one of the main factions in the fictional universe of Star Wars. It is a galaxy-spanning regime established by the series' lead villain, Palpatine, to replace the Galactic Republic in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The Galactic Empire is introduced in Star Wars...
. He appeared early in the film, speaking with Darth Vader
Darth Vader
Darth Vader is a central character in the Star Wars saga, appearing as one of the main antagonists in the original trilogy and as the main protagonist in the prequel trilogy....
after the Imperial forces have seized the Rebel Alliance
Rebel Alliance
The Alliance to Restore the Republic is an interstellar faction of the fictional universe of Star Wars....
starship Tantive IV
Tantive IV
The Tantive IV is a fictional spaceship in the Star Wars film series. It was used by Bail Organa in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and by Leia Organa in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, and was the first vessel audiences saw when Star Wars premiered in 1977...
and captured Princess Leia Organa
Princess Leia Organa
Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe...
. Roubicek's scene was filmed over a three-day sequence in July 1976, near the final days of principal photography. Roubicek did not anticipate at the time that Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
would become such a cultural phenomenon, and his first impression of the franchise was "What is this all about"? During a 2007 interview, Roubicek said, "I don't think anyone knew [what Star Wars was], except maybe George Lucas, and I'm not sure he knew all the time! We certainly didn't know. I wouldn't say this was just another job - there's no such thing as just another job - but I didn't realize how special it was going to be at the time."
Roubicek appeared in two separate episodes of the spy-fi
Spy-fi
-Definition and characteristics:It often uses a secret agent or superspy whose mission is a showcase of science fiction elements such as technology and ideas used for extortion, plots for world domination or world destruction, futuristic weapons, gadgets and fast vehicles that can travel on land,...
television series, The Avengers
The Avengers (TV series)
The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...
, playing different characters both times. In "The White Dwarf", an episode that aired February 9, 1963, he played Luke Richter, the son of a prominent astronomer who was murdered shortly after discovering a star was going to collide with and destroy the Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
. Roubicek also appeared in "Invasion of the Earthmen", which was first broadcast on January 15, 1969. In that episode he played Bernard Grant, a secret agent who is killed by a giant Boa constrictor
Boa constrictor
The Boa constrictor is a large, heavy-bodied species of snake. It is a member of the family Boidae found in North, Central, and South America, as well as some islands in the Caribbean. A staple of private collections and public displays, its color pattern is highly variable yet distinctive...
while investigating a mysterious school called the Alpha Academy. In the late 1970s, Roubicek did some work on the English language dubbing of Monkey
Monkey (TV series)
Monkey is the dubbed English language version of the Japanese television series , based on the classic sixteenth century Chinese novel Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en. It was originally produced by Nippon Television and International Television Films in association with NHK.The series ran for...
, a cult Japanese action/fantasy television series that ran from 1978 to 1980. He performed a few of the voice acting parts for the series and had a minor role in the technical dubbing aspects.
Later career
Roubicek continued some acting in his later years, including a small role in The InfiltratorThe Infiltrator
The Infiltrator is a film about a Jewish freelance journalist who travels to Germany to write an article about Neo-Nazism, which originally aired on CNN. Among its cast include: Oliver Platt, Arliss Howard, and Tony Haygarth. It is based on the book In Hitler’s Shadow by Yaron Svoray....
, a 1995 film about a Jewish freelance journalist who travels to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
for a story about Neo-Nazism
Neo-Nazism
Neo-Nazism consists of post-World War II social or political movements seeking to revive Nazism or some variant thereof.The term neo-Nazism can also refer to the ideology of these movements....
. However, most of his later career focused on the script adaptation and dubbing of foreign films into English language versions. In 1996, Roubicek handled the English script adaptation of the 1991 comedy science-fiction film Roujin Z
Roujin Z
is a 1991 Japanese anime film directed by Hiroyuki Kitakubo and written by Katsuhiro Otomo.-Plot:Roujin Z is set in Japan during the early 21st century. A group of scientists and hospital administrators, under the direction of the Ministry of Public Welfare, have developed the Z-001, a...
. The Japanese
Cinema of Japan
The has a history that spans more than 100 years. Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world – as of 2009 the fourth largest by number of feature films produced. Movies have been produced in Japan since 1897, when the first foreign cameramen arrived...
anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
film by Katsuhiro Otomo
Katsuhiro Otomo
is a Japanese comic book creator, screenwriter and film director. He is best known as the creator of the manga Akira and its animated film adaptation. Otomo has also directed several live-action films, such as the 2006 feature film adaptation of the manga Mushishi.-Biography:Katsuhiro Otomo was...
focuses on an elderly invalid man and a futuristic computerized hospital bed which takes on a life of its own.
In 2004, Roubicek was asked work again on Monkey, where he did some peripheral dubbing work in the late 1970s. He was hired as the director of the English language dubbing for 13 previously televised episodes of Monkey, which were released on DVD that year. The episodes had been included as a bonus feature on past DVD releases, but were only subtitled and had never before been dubbed into English. Roubicek was tasked with adapting the original Japanese scripts into English and directing the original cast in the dialogue for the dubbing. Roubicek said both he and the cast enjoyed being brought back together for the project. However, he said it was also particularly challenging. The recording sessions require what he calls a "horrendous" amount of concentration, but the script adaptation process proved even more difficult. Roubicek has to ensure the translation was not only accurate, but preserved the humour of the original Japanese scripts. Fabulous Films Ltd., the company handling the DVD releases, originally provided Roubicek only with transcripts of the English subtitles for the 13 episodes, but Roubicek disregarded them and had to start writing from scratch because, he claimed, subtitle transcripts "never, ever bear any relation to a dubbing script".
In 2008, Roubicek worked with filmmaker Michel Ocelot
Michel Ocelot
Michel Ocelot is a French writer, character designer, storyboard artist and director of animated films and television programs and a former president of the International Animated Film Association...
to adapt an English language version of Ocelot's 2006 animated fantasy film, Azur & Asmar: The Princes' Quest. which boasts what The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
described as a "flat, storybook style worlds away from the sculpture digital aesthetic pioneered by Pixar
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios, pronounced , is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio has earned 26 Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and three Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgments. Its films have made over $6.3 billion worldwide...
", tells a fable-like tale of two young boys in a mythic Middle Eastern setting. The original film's dialogue was in French with small portions in Arabic. During the adaptation, Roubicek and Ocelot chose to translate the French dialogue into English, but preserve the Arabic without dubbing or subtitles. Michael Phillips, film critic with the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
, said this was the correct decision because it allows the viewers to share the same "momentary confusion" as characters who do not understand Arabic and are suddenly thrown into "disorienting surroundings".