Wolfgang Spier

Wolfgang Spier (1920-2011) was a German voice actor who dubbed Sir Didymus in Die Reise ins Labyrinth (Labyrinth). He also dubbed Zabar on Die Dinos (Dinosaurs).

Possessing a high-pitched voice, Spier was active in German radio and entered dubbing in the 1950s, heard in the Disney dubs of Alice in Wonderland (Bill the lizard) and the featurette Ben and Me (Amos Mouse). During the same period, he acted in theater and in German film and television, including a 1954 TV version of Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap as Mr. Paravicini and parts in the 1967 Jerry Cotton outing Der Mörderclub von Brooklyn and the 1968 Edgar Wallace adaptation Im Banne des Unheimlichen (with Wolfgang Kieling). Later TV credits included Der Kommissar and Derrick and he played Al Lewis in a 1995 version of The Sunshine Boys. He was also a busy TV director, usually adaptations of stage plays such as Harvey.

Spiers was the most frequent German voice of Donald Pleasence, including Fantastic Voyage, THX 1138, Dracula, and Columbo. He dubbed John Fiedler in The Odd Couple, John Nettleton on Yes Minister, Roger Moore in Last Time I Saw Paris, Dudley Moore as Mr. Spigott in The Hound of the Baskervilles, Paul Benedict in The Front Page, Arte Johnson in Love at First Bite, Tony Randall in The Man in the Brown Suit, Howard Morris in Life Stinks!, Chris Haywood in Quigley Down Under, and Linda Hunt in The Year of Living Dangerously.

In cartoons, Spier dubbed Porky Pig in the 1980s, including in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, as well as Merlin in Shrek the Third and Crazy Joe in Shark Tale. On radio, he was the Artful Dodger in a 1957 Oliver Twist, the master tailor in Molière's The Bourgeois Gentleman, and Balin in a serial adaptation of The Hobbit.

Spier's daughter, Nana Spier, also entered dubbing and was the German voice of Kristen Schaal in several projects, including Die Muppets (2011's The Muppets).