RIP Michel Barbey

 

Actor Michel Barbey, who lent his voice to Bud Spencer and the Grand Pope, has died.

The actor passed away at the age of 98. He had notably provided the voice for the Grand Pope in Saint Seiya (Knights of the Zodiac) and for Bud Spencer in They Call Me Trinity.

L’Alsace

1/25/2026

 

The actor Michel Barbey, who was one of the voices of Bud Spencer and many other characters in films and cartoons, died Saturday at the age of 98, his wife announced. He was the French voice of the Italian actor Bud Spencer in the first dubbing of the spaghetti western They Call Me Trinity (1970), and that of Wez, the psychopathic and almost mute punk biker from Mad Max 2 (1981).

Michel Barbey also dubbed characters in popular Japanese cartoons in the 1980s/90s: he was one of the voices of the Grand Pope, the villain in Saint Seiya (Knights of the Zodiac), and that of the hero in Muscleman. This cartoon caused controversy when it aired on the children's program Club Dorothée because one of the characters displayed a swastika.

A long career in film

In addition to the dozens of voice-over roles he performed, Michel Barbey played numerous supporting roles in films, alongside actors like Jean Gabin and Michel Simon, and had a career as a stage actor. On television, he notably played a judge in the series Cas de divorce (Divorce Cases) in the early 1990s. In the theater, he performed for a long time at the Comédie-Française.

"He was quite a character! He was going to celebrate his 99th birthday in April. He had been ill for some time, and his end was difficult," his wife, Natacha Guiboud-Barbey, told AFP.

BARBEY, Michel

Born: 4/23/1927, Drucourt, Eure, France

Died: 1/24/2026, France

 

Michel Barbey’s westerns – voice dubber:

The Brute and the Beast – 1966 [French voice of Franco Nero]

Johnny Yuma – 1966 [French voice of Luigi Vannucchi]

Three Graves for a Winchester – 1966 [French voice of Mickey Hargitay]

$10,000 for a Massacre – 1967 [French voice of Gianni Garko]

Viva Django! – 1968 [French voice of Terence Hill]

Cemetery Without Crosses – 1969 [French voice of Benito Stefanelli]

They Call Me Trinity – 1970 [French voice of Bud Spencer]

The Price of Death – 1971 [French voice of Gianni Garko]

The Outlaw Josey Wales – 1976 [French voice of Will Sampson]

The Frisco Kid – 1979 [French voice of George Di Cenzo]

Django Unchained – 2012 [French voice of Don Stroud]