Mario Milita (June 26, 1923 – August 22, 2017) was an Italian actor and voice actor.
Biography
An actor with a career spanning over 65 years, he became well known to the audiences for his work in animation. Because of his coarse, raspy voice, he was typically known for voicing elderly characters in cartoons, movies and other entertainment. He is most known for being the official Italian voice of Grampa Simpson in The Simpsons from 1991 until his retirement in 2012 (except for the young Abraham, voiced by the official Italian Homer voice, Tonino Accolla) . He has also been the first voice of Herbert from Family Guy and gave his voice for many years to Fred Flintstone.
Since 2004, however, his voice had begun to weaken over time, causing it to become feeble and almost unrecognizable in his last years of activity.
In Italian dubs of live action films, Milita dubbed actors such as Desmond Llewelyn, Ed Williams and Brian Doyle-Murray. He provided the voice of Amos Tupper (portrayed by Tom Bosley) in a few episodes of Murder, She Wrote and Old Man Peabody (portrayed by Will Hare) in Back to the Future.
In 2011, a year before his retirement, he had released an interview.
Retirement and death
After Milita retired in 2012, he passed on the roles of Grampa Simpson and Herbert to Mino Caprio and Valerio Ruggeri respectively and he died on 22 August 2017 at the age of 94, of natural causes.
Filmography
Cinema
Montecassino (1946) Non ho paura di vivere (1952) Ultimatum alla vita (1962)
Dubbing roles
Animation
Grampa Simpson in The Simpsons (seasons 1-22) Grampa Simpson in The Simpsons Movie Herbert in Family Guy (seasons 1–9) Francis Griffin in Family Guy (episodes 2x02, 4x18) Fred Flintstone (3rd voice) in The Flintstones Fred Flintstone in The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones Fred Flintstone in The New Fred and Barney Show The Old Heretic in The Hunchback of Notre Dame Sparky in Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure Old Theban in Hercules Gennai in Digimon Adventure Laughing Bull in Cowboy Bebop Mumm-Ra in ThunderCats
Live action
George "Miles" Jergens in Rocky
Mickey Goldmill in Rocky V
Old Man Peabody in Back to the Future
Amos Tupper in Murder, She Wrote (episodes 1x01, 2x07, 2x14, 3x03, 3x06) Monsignor Fargo in True Confessions The Ancient One in Santa Claus: The Movie Ted Olsen in The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear Ted Olsen in Naked Gun : The Final Insult Q in Moonraker Q in A View to a Kill Orderly Turkle in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Doc Wallace in The Quick and the Dead Grandpa Sam in ...And Justice for All Rabbi Ben Lewis in Keeping the Faith Frank Slater in Last Action Hero Man in Airport in Home Alone Cliff in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York Ernie in Snow Dogs Bud Beckett in Philadelphia Rudolf Smuntz in Mouse Hunt Priest in Bedazzled Bradley Tozer in High Road to China Mr. Finkle in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective Acme Vice President in Looney Tunes: Back in Action Abdul Ben Hassan in Blade Runner