Enn Reitel (born 21 June 1950) is a Scottish actor who specialises in voice work in films, television series and video games.

Enn Reitel
Reitel in The Optimist in 1983
Born (1950-06-21) 21 June 1950 (age 74)
Forfar, Angus, Scotland
Alma materRoyal Central School of Speech and Drama
OccupationActor
Years active1977–present

Early life

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Reitel's family arrived in Scotland as refugees from Estonia. He trained as an actor at the Central School of Speech and Drama.

Career

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Acting

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In 1982, Reitel starred in The Further Adventures of Lucky Jim, a sitcom on BBC Two written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. Reitel played Jim Dixon, based on the character created by Kingsley Amis.

He appeared on stage in Me and My Girl at the Adelphi Theatre in 1986. On television he worked as an impressionist on the satirical puppet show Spitting Image and starred in the ITV sitcom Mog as a burglar who spent his days in a psychiatric hospital, pretending to be insane.

 
Reitel in The Optimist

He played the lead role in the UK television comedy series The Optimist which ran from 1983 for two series. The programme was almost entirely silent. In each episode 'The Optimist' wandered through life doing his best to look on the bright side. He was usually thwarted in his endeavours by the people he encountered. He also appeared in the first series of the UK comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway?.

Reitel also appeared in a number of BBC radio comedy programmes in the 1980s, including Dial M For Pizza and the radio adaptation of the cartoon strip The Fosdyke Saga.

In 2001, he appeared in a short film called Coconuts with Michael Palin, in which they did a demonstration on how coconuts can be used in place of horses.[1] This film can be seen on the second disk of the collector's edition of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

He played the lead role in the 2007 film Trust Me, a comedy about a pair of con men.

Reitel was the second choice to play Del Boy Trotter in Only Fools and Horses (behind Jim Broadbent aka Roy Slater in the series), but was busy with other projects (the role ultimately went to David Jason).[2][3]

He also played two roles in different episodes of long-running sitcom One Foot in the Grave. In the first Christmas special, he played "Mr. Starkey", a down and out who holds Victor Meldrew (Richard Wilson) and his neighbour Pippa's father, Reverend Croker (Geoffrey Chater) at gunpoint to wait for Armageddon on Christmas Day. In the second episode of series 3, "Dreamland", he played a tramp who took a fancy to Victor's shoes, but drew the line at his Noel Edmonds-esque sweater.

Voiceovers

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Reitel does voiceovers for The X Factor. He played the Town Crier and The Maggot in Tim Burton's Corpse Bride and played Auric Goldfinger in the 2004 video game GoldenEye: Rogue Agent. It is his voice that provides the vocals on Lemon Jelly's "Nice Weather For Ducks" in 2002. He narrated the in-game promo spot for the Praying Mantis PMC in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. He also does Lorenzo Belli's voice from Capcom's survival horror game Haunting Ground. He was also the voice of Billy the ventriloquist dummy in James Wan's movie Dead Silence. He also provided voice performance for the audiobook of the sixth book in Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl series, The Time Paradox. Reitel also provided the voice for Delvin Mallory in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and the Wizard Zabodon in The Big Knights. He also provided the voice of Ost Ordura in Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning and Alfred Pennyworth in Batman: The Telltale Series. He also played Male Altmer and Dunmer in The Elder Scrolls Online. He also provided voices of The Time Keeper in Skylanders: Swap Force, Laufey in Hulk and the Agents of SMASH, Master Ding in Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, Sebastian Oliver in Adr1ft, Olgan in Baten Kaitos Origins, Bootstrap Bill Turner in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, A Male Pedestrian in Infamous, Deraegis in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Five Leaf Clover Guy, Japanese Deputy, Robertson, Boss Guraji and Fox in TripTank, Edwin Jarvis in Marvel Heroes, An English Spy in American Dad!, Billy in Dead Silence and The Dreamer in The Secret World. In May 2014, Reitel replaced Ade Edmondson as the voice of the Animal in the Peperami adverts.

Filmography

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Film

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  • Animal Madness – Various
  • Bedrooms – Walter
  • Bob's Weekend – Voice of Man on Television
  • Carrott U Like – Additional voices
  • Chicanery – Windsor Silcox
  • Corpse Bride – Maggot, Town Crier
  • Dead Silence – Billy
  • Foodfight! – Kung Tofu, Fracois Fromage
  • Forgotten Daughters – Liam
  • Gobble – Voice over artist
  • Just Another Secret (1989) – Dietrich
  • Labyrinth – Goblin (uncredited)
  • Made in Estonia – NATO general
  • Original Gangster – Cleaner
  • Postman Pat: The Movie – PC Arthur Selby, Reverend Timms, Pat Wannabe 2, Raed
  • Quackerz – Emperor Peng Lee
  • Secret History of Religion: Doomsday - Book of Revelation – Narrator
  • Secret History of Religion: Knights Templar – Narrator
  • Splitting Image: Down and Out in the White House – Additional voices
  • The Adventures of Tintin – Nestor, Mr. Crabtree
  • The Best Years – Father Jude Best
  • The Cannibal in the Jungle – Jan Voorhees
  • The Full Monty – Narrator (uncredited)
  • The Judge – Mourner
  • The Lime Grove Story
  • The Merchant of Venice – Launcelot Gobbo
  • The Prestige – Workman 1
  • The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause – (uncredited)
  • The Willows in Winter – Otter
  • The Wind in the Willows – Otter, Rabbit, Policeman, Gaoler
  • Throne of Elves – Blacksmith
  • Tiny Revolutions – Secret policeman
  • Trust Me – Joe

Shorts

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  • Couples and Robbers – Keith
  • Day After Yesterday – The Dad
  • Doppelganger – Dowdsley
  • Ogri – Sweeney
  • Splitting Image: The Ronnie and Nancy Show – Additional voices
  • The Band Parts – Harry

Documentaries

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  • Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey – Albert Einstein, hyde Park Gent
  • Heroes of Comedy
  • How to Use Your Coconuts – Assistant
  • Inside the Two Worlds of 'The Corpse Bride' – Maggot (uncredited)
  • I Love 1980's – Himself
  • Monkey Business – PG Tips Chimp
  • Science of the Bible – Narrator

Television specials

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Television series

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Television mini-series

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Videos

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  • The Beano Video – Singer on Record, Pa Bear, Ma Bear (burping in Scorcher), Ted Bear, Hank, Horse, Dog, Scorcher, Hare, Narrator #2
  • The Beano Videostars – Walter the Softy (Flutterby and Dennis Meets His Match), Aliens, Female Alien, Police Officer #1, Winston, Doctor, Hairdresser, Robot, Pa Bear, Ted Bear, Hank, Chicken, Chick, Ma's Porridge Narrator, Pedestrian #2, Poolgoer #3, Child

Video games

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Year Title Role Notes
1995 Flight of the Amazon Queen Anderson, Klunk, Rico, Henry, Charon, Crystal Robot [4]
1998 Heart of Darkness Servant [5]
2004 The Bard's Tale Additional voices [6]
2004 GoldenEye: Rogue Agent Auric Goldfinger [4]
2005 Haunting Ground Old Lorenzo [4]
2005 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Mr. Beaver
2006 The Da Vinci Code Bezu Fache, Police Officer 2
2007 The Golden Compass Machine Gun Tartar, Master's Companion, Prisoner
2007 TimeShift Dr. Aiden Krone
2008 Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots Praying Mantis, Narrator
2010 Clash of the Titans Spyros, Solon, Soldier, Fisherman [4]
2011 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Delvin Mallory [4]
2012 Men in Black: Alien Crisis Professor Thurgood, C-YA Programmer Weissman, MIB Agent [4]
2013 Marvel Heroes Edwin Jarvis [4]
2015 Leo's Fortune Leo [4]
2016 Batman: The Telltale Series Alfred Pennyworth [4]
2017 Prey Dr. Lorenzo Calvino [4]
2017 Batman: The Enemy Within Alfred Pennyworth [4]
2019 Kingdom Hearts III Scrooge McDuck
2020 Final Fantasy VII Remake Deputy Mayor Hart [4]
2023 Disney Dreamlight Valley Scrooge McDuck
Hogwarts Legacy Professor Abraham Ronen, Gerbold Ollivander, Deek, Percival Rackham, Solomon Sallow, Eddie Thistlewood, Goblin Banker, Alfred Lawley, Ackley Barnes, Sir Gareth Seaford, Pádraic Haggarty, George Osric, Otto Dibble, Sir Cadogan, Rooky, Nonsuch, Townsperson, Hubert Gray, Ghost, Dark Wizard, Goblin Loyalist, Prisoner, Carriage Driver, Centaur

References

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  1. ^ Monty Python- How to Use your Coconuts on YouTube
  2. ^ "Behind the scenes of Only Fools and Horses". 6 July 2023.
  3. ^ Chilton, Martin (9 November 2011). "Only Fools and Horses by Graham McCann: review". The Daily Telegraph.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Enn Reitel – 62 Character Images | Behind The Voice Actors". behindthevoiceactors.com. Retrieved 3 February 2020. Check mark indicates role has been confirmed using screenshots of closing credits and other reliable sources.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  5. ^ Amazing Studio. Heart of Darkness. Infogrames Multimedia; Ocean Software; Interplay Productions. Scene: Ending credits, 30:32 in, english voiceover, cast.
  6. ^ InXile Entertainment. The Bard's Tale. InXile Entertainment. Scene: Ending credits, 2:10:21 in, More Great Talent.
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