If there was a Mount Rushmore of classic voice actors, Paul Frees would inarguably have a spot on it.
Just like his contemporaries Mel Blanc and Daws Butler, if you've watched cartoons, you've heard Frees' voice. It's that simple. On Rocky and Bullwinkle, he was Boris Badenov. For Disney, he portrayed Ludwig Von Drake and several characters for their parks. He did a staggering amount of voices for Rankin Bass' Christmas specials, ranging from Burgermeister to Jack Frost. And in the Marvel Comics universe, he was the very first man to utter the phrase, "It's clobberin' time!"
The Thing, originally known as Ben Grimm, was not the first character Frees voiced for Hanna-Barbera. Beforehand, he was the title character on Squiddly Diddly, Fluid Man of The Impossibles, and Morocco Mole on Secret Squirrel. He also supplied the voice for many minor characters across several series. And just like Blanc and Butler, he did a superb job making each of those roles totally unlike the others. His take on Ben Grimm is my favorite to this day. It's impossible for me not to hear his voice when I read the character. He perfectly embodied the character's "tough guy" attitude, and even though he wasn't quite as sympathetic as his comic counterpart, he's still responsible for some of the best comedic moments in the show.
After Fantastic Four, Paul Frees began to appear in fewer Hanna-Barbera productions until disappearing from them completely in the seventies. He continued to appear in other projects (mostly from Rankin-Bass) until November 2nd, 1986 when he passed away at age 66. Though his life was tragically cut short, his exceptional body of work will continue to entertain and inspire viewers for years to come.
For those interested in learning more about Frees, BearManor Media has published several books on him. But today, I'll be sharing a piece the Kalamazoo Gazette ran about him on March 26th, 1980. It's a pretty good overview of his career and an intriguing look at how well it paid.
Paul Frees: When he talks they pay
By David Einstein
Answer: They all speak with the voice of Paul Frees, for a generation the most versatile and sought-after narrator in radio and television.
The scope of his talent is astonishing. He is the equal of Mel Blanc as a cartoon voice, is pursued for blue-chip commercials and does as much prestigious narrative work as Orson Welles.
Such is Frees' stature that he has been able to flee Hollywood for his personal paradise—the San Francisco Bay area—and producers still seek him out.
When people want his voice these days, they come to him, and he does all his recording either in San Francisco or in a studio in his lavish home in Marin County across the Golden Gate Bridge.
It doesn't bother this fiftyish man with silver hair and a British mustache that few people recognize him when he dines out - which happens to be one of his foremost passions.
"If I were interested in adulation of strangers I would have remained in Hollywood and gone on camera," he says. "I avoided that because I value my privacy above all else."
And Frees can afford the privacy he shares with his sixth wife, Beverly, because he is one of the highest-paid men in the country for the time he puts into his work.
Frees estimates he may work as little as 50 hours a year, since many of his jobs can be done in 10 minutes or less. But he is paid far above the union scale of $188 per day, and he gets residuals for each time a commercial airs, which could be up to 175 times a month.
"If you want to boil it down to how much I make an hour, it's ridiculous," he says.
It wasn't always so easy, however. Born in Chicago, Frees left home at 13 and got his start by winning an amateur radio contest.
In World War II, he suffered a leg injury after the invasion of Omaha Beach and was discharged in Southern California.
He was passing the CBS radio station in Los Angeles one day, limping along with a cane and wearing a purple heart, when one of the station's officials asked if he'd like to see a show.
"What I'd like is a job," Frees said.
The CBS man asked him if he could talk like an Australian, and Frees said sure. Thus was born the character of Digger Slade, Australian adventurer on "A Man Named Jordan." Frees' career was under way.
Among Frees' most famous voices is that of John Beresford Tipton on the old "Millionaire" television series. He was also the voice that opened the "Suspense" radio series.
Frees' characters have included Disney's wacky Von Drake, Boris Badenov and Inspector Fenwick on "The Bullwinkle Show," Pittsburgh Paint's peacock, Kellogg's Toucan Sam and all the villagers in the Jolly Green Giant commercials. He is also the voice of the Pillsbury Doughboy, a symbol valued by the company at $25 million.
Of all the characters he has done, Frees' favorite remains the evil but bumbling spy Boris Badenov.
"The funny thing is that 'Bullwinkle' has gone beyond being a show to become a tremendous cult experience," says Frees. "The people who watched it are people I work with now. They have a whole cult group that gets together and watches 'Bullwinkle.'"
Frees does not regret for a minute his decision to leave Hollywood seven years ago.
