November 2 - Paul Frees

On this day, in 1986, actor Paul Frees passed away in Tiburon, California. Born in Chicago, Illinois on June 22, 1920 with the name Solomon Hersh Frees, Paul was gifted with a four octave voice range. He would use that voice to forge an incredible career in Hollywood although he was almost never seen on any screen, big or small.

Paul started out in vaudeville during the 1930s as an impressionist using the stage name Buddy Green. By 1942 his voice had naturally led him into radio. His career would, like so many careers at the time, take a hiatus for World War II. Paul fought on the beaches of Normandy, was wounded and returned to the States to recover. He enrolled in the Chouinard Art Institute thanks to the GI Bill, but was forced to drop out when his first wife's health began to deteriorate and return to radio.

Paul was all over the radio dial during the late Forties and early Fifties. You might hear him as the announcer of Suspense one week and then as a player on Gunsmoke or Crime Classics the next. He even had a syndicated show, The Player, in which he played all the parts.

Starting in the 1950s, Paul began doing extensive "re-loop" work. Basically this meant that Paul would redub the voice of another actor for a movie. Sometimes it was because the original actor was considered to have to thick of an accent, so Paul might redo the entire movie, like in Midway when he did all of Tashiro Mifune's lines. Other times the studio might just need a few lines cleaned up and the original actor wasn't available, so Paul would mimic them for whatever was needed. One of the most famous voices Paul re-looped was most of the falsetto lines that Tony Curtis did as Josephine in Some Like It Hot. Apparently the studio didn't think Tony was melodious enough. While many voice actors worked pretty exclusively with one studio, Paul wasn't picky who signed his paychecks and worked with nine different companies.

Paul has all kinds of classic Disney roles to his credit. One of his first roles was re-looping the role of Eddie the Garbageman in 1966's The Ugly Dachsund. Dick Wessel filmed the role but died before post production was complete so Paul had to rerecord all of Eddie's dialogue. When Disney's anthology television show changed to the Wonderful World of Color, Paul became the voice of Professor Ludwig Von Drake and helped to sell thousands of color sets with The Spectrum Song. Ludwig would become a regular gig, appearing on Color many times and even getting several children's records. Paul would narrate a whole slew of Disney shorts as well, including the classic Donald Duck in Mathmagicland. He narrated a large number of segments for Color and even had a rare live action appearance in The Shaggy Dog as military psychiatrist Dr. Galvin.

Paul's most lasting Disney legacy however, is apparent every time guests enjoy some of the rides in New Orleans Square at Disneyland. He can still be heard as the Ghost Host in the Haunted Mansion and if you hike across the square, you can hear him as several of the pirates in Pirates of the Caribbean. His most famous line from the latter attraction is the haunting "Dead men tell no tales." Paul was also used as the original narrator for the pre-show of Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln at the 1964 World's Fair and was the narrator for the now defunct ride Adventure Thru Inner Space.

Outside of Disney, Paul is best known for roles like Boris Badenov in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show for Jay Ward Productions. He did a number of roles in the classic Rankin/Bass specials including the Burgermeister in Santa Claus is Coming to Town and Santa Claus in Frosty the Snowman. Paul worked on the Tom and Jerry cartoons, Mr. Magoo and was the voice of two of the Fab Four for a cartoon series called The Beatles. He also was the voice of several well known characters in television commercials: The Pillsbury Dough Boy, Toucan Sam and the Farmer for the Jolly Green Giant.

After logging hundreds of film and television credits and entertaining millions of people for decades, Paul's run ended tragically. He took his own life with an overdose of pain medication. In 2003, he was paid tribute with a singing bust bearing his likeness as part of The Haunted Mansion film. A more fitting (and less painful to watch) tribute was made in 2006 when he was posthumously made an official Disney Legend for his dozens of contributions to the Disney legacy.