Paul Frees
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Paul Frees (June 22, 1920 - November 2, 1986) was a voice actor born in Chicago.
During his forty-year career beginning in 1942, he was involved in more than 250 films, cartoons, and TV appearances; like many voice actors, many of his appearances were uncredited.
Some of his most memorable voices were those of Disney's Professor Ludwig Von Drake, the narrator in The Haunted Mansion and several pirates in Pirates of the Caribbean (both rides at Disney parks), and many characters in Rankin-Bass stop-motion animated TV specials such as the Burgermeister Meisterburger in Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (1970).
He was a regular presence in Jay Ward cartoons, providing the voices of Boris Badenov, Inspector Fenwick (from Dudley Do-Right), and the Hoppity Hooper narrator, among numerous others. In fact, while Frees' voice gave life to several memorable characters, he is probably best remembered due to the fact that, while most voice actors settled down with one major studio for their career, he spent major parts of his career working with at least 9 of the major animation production companies of the 20th century: Walt Disney Studios, Walter Lantz Studios, UPA, Hanna-Barbera, Filmation, MGM Studios, Depatie-Freleng, and the aforementioned Jay Ward Productions and Rankin-Bass Company.
He provided the voices of both John Lennon and George Harrison in the 1964 cartoon series based on The Beatles, and of The Thing in the 1967 series based on the Fantastic Four.
In TV commercials, he was the voice of the Pillsbury Doughboy, the 7-Up "Undeer," and the elf who called out to the Jolly Green Giant, "Hey, Green Giant, what's new besides ho-ho-ho?" 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 (Marvin Miller), on the live-action dramatic series The Millionaire.
Although Frees is primarily known for his voice work, he was also a songwriter and screenwriter, his major work being the little-seen 1960 film The Beatniks, a Reefer Madness-esque screed against the then-rising Beatnik counterculture.
A few other odds and ends of Frees' voice work:
- The Peter Lorre voice in the Spike Jones version of the song "My Old Flame".
- The Orson Welles soundalike narrator in Stan Freberg's History of America Part 1.
- The shrouded figure of "Death" in the Woody Allen movie Love and Death.
- In his natural voice, as the narrator in the Disney educational short film Donald Duck in Math Magic Land.
- The voice-over in the original advance teaser trailer for Star Wars (1977), and the narration for the spoof short film Hardware Wars (1977), which was itself styled as a mock movie trailer.