In the 1930s, Frees first appeared in vaudeville as an impressionist, under the name Buddy Green. He began his career on radio in 1942 and remained active for more than 40 years.[5] During that time, he was involved in more than 250 films, cartoons, and TV appearances; as was the case for many voice actors of the time, his appearances were often uncredited.[5]
Frees's early radio career was cut short when he was drafted into the United States Army during World War II, where he fought at Normandy, France, on D-Day.[6] He was wounded in action and was returned to the United States for a year of recuperation. He attended the Chouinard Art Institute under the G.I. Bill. When his first wife's health failed, he decided to drop out and return to radio work.[7]
He appeared frequently on Hollywood radio series, including Escape, playing lead roles and alternating with William Conrad as the opening announcer of Suspense in the late 1940s, and parts on Gunsmoke (doing an impersonation of Howard McNear as Doc Adams for at least one episode, "The Cast"), and Crime Classics. One of his few starring roles in this medium was as Jethro Dumont/Green Lama in the 1949 series The Green Lama, as well as a syndicated anthology series The Player, in which Frees narrated and played all the parts.
Frees was often called upon in the 1950s and 1960s to "reloop" the dialogue of other actors, often to correct for foreign accents, lack of English proficiency, or poor line readings by nonprofessionals. These dubs extended from a few lines to entire roles. This can be noticed rather clearly in the films Grand Prix (as Izo Yamura)[citation needed] and Midway, wherein Frees reads for Toshiro Mifune's performances as Admiral Yamamoto;[8][self-published source?] or in the film Some Like It Hot, in which Frees provides the voice of funeral director Mozzarella as well as much of the falsetto voice for Tony Curtis' female character Josephine.[citation needed] Frees also dubbed the entire role of Eddie in the Disney film The Ugly Dachshund, replacing actor Dick Wessel, who had died of a sudden heart attack after completion of principal photography.[citation needed] Frees also dubbed Humphrey Bogart in his final film The Harder They Fall.[citation needed] Bogart was suffering at the time from what was later diagnosed as esophageal cancer, thus could barely be heard in some takes, hence the need for Frees to dub in his voice.[citation needed] He also voiced the cars in the comedy The Great Race.
Some of Frees' most memorable voices were for various Disney projects. Frees voiced Disney's Professor Ludwig Von Drake in 18 episodes of the Disney anthology television series,[9] beginning with the first episode of the newly renamed Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color on September 24, 1961. The character also appeared on many Disneyland Records. Von Drake's introductory cartoon, An Adventure in Color, featured "The Spectrum Song", sung by Frees as Von Drake. A different Frees recording of this song appeared on a children's record, and was later reissued on CD.[10]
In addition to voicing characters, Frees narrated a number of Disney cartoons, including the Disney educational short film Donald Duck in Mathmagic Land. This short originally aired in the same television episode as Von Drake's first appearance.
Frees also provided voices for numerous characters at Disney parks. He voiced the unseen "Ghost Host", or narrator, at both the Haunted Mansion Attraction and Adventure Thru Innerspace (now Star Tours) at Disneyland and Walt Disney World. For the Pirates of the Caribbean, Frees recorded the ghost voice saying the iconic "Dead Men Tell No Tales" used in the ride, as well as lending his voice to several audio-animatronic pirates, including the Auctioneer, Magistrate Carlos, and the "Pooped Pirate" in the ride.[11] Disney eventually issued limited edition compact discs commemorating the two rides, featuring some outtakes and unused audio tracks by Frees and others. Frees also provided narration for the Tomorrowland attraction Adventure Thru Inner Space (1967–1985) and the original Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. Audio clips from the attractions in Frees's distinctive voice have even appeared in fireworks shows at Disneyland.
A computer-animated singing bust in Frees's likeness appeared in the 2003 film The Haunted Mansion as a tribute. Similarly, audio recordings of Frees from the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction can be heard in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End in an homage to the ride.
Frees also had a small live-action role for Disney in the 1959 film The Shaggy Dog, playing Dr. Galvin, a military psychiatrist who attempts to understand why Mr. Daniels believes a shaggy dog can uncover a spy ring and also spoke the film's opening narration.
Frees is well-remembered for providing the voices for many characters in Rankin/Bass cartoons and stop-motion animated TV specials, most notably for a number of holiday-themed specials. In 1968, he appeared as Captain Jones in the Thanksgiving special The Mouse on the Mayflower, and that Christmas he appeared as the father of the Drummer Boy, Ali, and as the three Wise Men in The Little Drummer Boy. He was also Hocus Pocus, the traffic cop, the ticket-taker, and Santa Claus in Frosty the Snowman in 1969 and played the central villain, Burgermeister Meisterburger, and his assistant Grimsley in Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town in 1970. He provided several voices, including Aeon the Terrible, for Rudolph's Shiny New Year in 1976.
Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (1970) Voices of Burgermeister Meisterburger, Grimsley, Topper, Kringle brothers, Sombertown Civilian, Burgermeister's soldiers, Physician
Here Comes Peter Cottontail (1971) Voices of Colonel Bunny's assistant, Fireman, Man at Thanksgiving Table, Santa Claus
Frees portrayed the Orson Welles sound-alike radio reporter in George Pal's film The War of the Worlds (1953), where he is seen dictating into a tape recorder as the military prepares the atomic bomb for use against the invading Martians. Memorably, his character says the recording is being made "for future history... if any". Frees also provided the film's dramatic opening narration, prior to Sir Cedric Hardwicke's voice-over tour of the solar system.
Frees subsequently provided the apocalyptic voice for the "talking rings" in Pal's later film The Time Machine (1960), in which he explains the ultimate fate of humanity from which the time traveler realizes the origin of the Morlocks and Eloi.
Producer Pal later put Frees to work again in his fantasy film Atlantis, the Lost Continent (also 1960) and doing the opening voice-over narration for Pal's Doc Savage (1975) film.
The talented actor voiced several characters, including three of the main characters in the US versions of Belvision's Hergé's Adventures of Tintin cartoons, based on the books by Hergé.
He had also done work for Hanna-Barbera in their Tom and Jerry shorts at MGM. In the 1956 Cinemascope Tom and Jerry cartoon, Blue Cat Blues, he was Jerry's voice who narrated the short; he had also voiced Jerry's cousin Muscles in Jerry's Cousin five years earlier and the cannibals in the Tom and Jerry episode His Mouse Friday where he said the lines "Mmmmm, barbecued cat!" and "Mmmmm, barbecued mouse!"
At the MGM Animation studio, he also did multiple voice roles for the legendary Tex Avery's films, notably playing every role in Cellbound in 1955.
Frees worked with Spike Jones on his 1960 album "Omnibust", appearing as announcer "Billy Playtex" and several other characters on "The Late Late Late Late Movies, Part I and II".
From October 1961 through September 1962, Paul Frees provided the voice for the shady lawyer named Judge Oliver Wendell Clutch, a weasel on the animated program Calvin and the Colonel starring the voices of Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, the series was an animated television remake of their radio series Amos 'n Andy.
Frees narrated many live action films and television series, including Naked City (1958–1963). Frees also provided the voice of the eccentric billionaire John Beresford Tipton, always seated in his chair with his back to the viewer while talking to his employee Michael Anthony (fellow voice-artist Marvin Miller), on the dramatic series The Millionaire.
Frees had a wide range of other roles, usually heard but not seen, and frequently without screen credit. The resonance of his natural voice was similar to that of Orson Welles, and he performed a Welles impression several times. Some highlights of his voice work:
The Orson Welles sound-alike narrator in Stan Freberg Presents The United States of America Vol. 1: The Early Years. When Vol. 2 came out after his death, he was replaced by Corey Burton.
Shrouded figure of "Death" (another near-Welles characterization) in the Woody Allen film Love and Death
Narration for the spoof short film Hardware Wars (1977), which was styled as a mock film trailer specifically parodying Malachi Throne's narration of the original Star Wars trailer
Second Voice of KARR in "K.I.T.T. vs. K.A.R.R."–a 3rd-season episode of Knight Rider
Intro voice for Bradbury 13, a series of thirteen radio dramas featuring Ray Bradbury short stories, originally produced for National Public Radio by Michael McDonough at Brigham Young University, 1984
Voice of the title character in the 1957 film The Cyclops
Narrator of extended "recap" title sequence in early first-season episodes of I Dream of Jeannie in 1965 (and the show's "sponsor I.D." announcer during season one)
Featured on the 1959 Spike Jones album Spike Jones in Hi-Fi, A Spooktacular in Screaming Sound in recordings "Poisen to Poisen", "My Old Flame", "Everything Happens to Me" and "This is your Death", doing the vocal and voices. "Tammy": vocal by Paul Frees, "Two Heads are Better than One": vocal by George Rock and Paul Frees.
The uncredited voice of the radio news announcer in the 1964 musical film Robin and the 7 Hoods
The uncredited English voice of Japanese Admiral Yamamoto in the 1976 film Midway
Narrator and Voice of Satan (visualized in the film as a snake) in the 1962 film The World's Greatest Sinner
Other credits
Although Frees was primarily known for his voice work (like Mel Blanc, he was known in the industry as "The Man of a Thousand Voices"), he was also a songwriter and screenwriter. His most notable screenwriting work was the little-seen 1960 film The Beatniks, a screed against the then-rising Beatcounterculture in the vein of Reefer Madness. In 1992, the film was mocked on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
In Jet Pilot, Frees plays a menacing Soviet officer whose job is to watchdog pilot Janet Leigh, but instead manages to eject himself from a parked jet, enabling Leigh to rescue John Wayne and fly back to the West. In the 1970 film Patton, Frees provided the voices of a war correspondent interviewing Patton while Patton rides his horse, and of a member of Patton's staff, as well as voice-overs for several other actors, including the Moroccan official hosting a troop review for Patton. Frees is also heard in Tora! Tora! Tora! as the English-language voice of the Japanese ambassador to the United States. He also does the final narration in Beneath the Planet of the Apes, the first sequel to Planet of the Apes.
Legacy
Since Frees's death, voice actor Corey Burton has provided voices for some of Frees's characters.[citation needed] Burton, who met Frees in the late 1970s, has often re-recorded dialogue for some Disneyland attractions originally recorded by Frees.[18] In some cases, Frees's original, pre-digital recordings had simply deteriorated over time,[citation needed] and in others the dialogue had been rewritten to reflect plot changes or introduce new characters, such as the "Stuffed Pirate" replacing Frees's "Pooped Pirate" in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride in 1997.[19] Dialogue that was slightly rewritten to reflect newer safety standards is performed by actors Joe Leahy (English)[20][21] and Fabio Rodriguez (Spanish).[22] In 2001, Burton provided a Paul Frees impression for the new "Ghost Host" of Haunted Mansion Holiday, a seasonal, holiday-themed overlay for the Haunted Mansion attraction.[23] Burton also recorded Frees's Ghost Host lines for Walt Disney Pictures' 2003 film adaptation of the ride.
Personal life
Frees was married five times. His first marriage was to Anelle McCloud, from 1943 until her death in 1945. He then married Kleda June Hansen in 1947, but they divorced three years later in 1950. His third wife was Joyce Schultz. They married in 1951 and had two children–a son, Fred; and a daughter, Sabrina–before eventually divorcing.[5] His fourth marriage was to Jeri J. Cole in 1967, but they divorced after just two years, in 1969. Beverly T. Marlow was Frees's fifth wife. They married in 1971 but were estranged at the time of his death fifteen years later.[24]
Death
For the last two years of his life, Frees suffered from multiple ailments, including arthritis, diabetes, and loss of vision, and had mentioned to friends that he was in near constant pain. Frees died at his home in Tiburon, California on November 2, 1986, at the age of 66, from a self-administered overdose of pain medication. Though the official cause of death is listed as suicide, his agent issued a press release stating that he died from heart failure.[25][5]
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