Who is the greatest voice actor of all time? Most who have an opinion would probably choose the amazing Mel Blanc, who performed so many classic Warner Brothers Cartoons almost single-handed as the voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety Bird, Sylvester the Cat, and dozens of others.
But consider the lesser known Paul Frees. As I young nerd I knew Frees's sharp-edged tones (if not his name) as the dramatic, scary voice from dozens of science fiction movies, most memorably the talking rings of the Eloi in The Time Machine. And I recognized that same voice as the narrator of my favorite ride at Disneyland, Adventure through Inner Space (better known as Monsanto's Mighty Microscope), and I was pretty sure I heard the voice pop up in various parts of The Bullwinkle Show.
Frees was everywhere: Raid commercials. Super Chicken cartoons. Dubbing dialog for Toshiro Mifune in English-speaking movie roles. The original animated Return of the King. Narrating the original Manchurian Candidate. The Thing in the Fantastic Four cartoon. George and John in The Beatles cartoon. Various guys saying "I'm Spartacus" in that movie.
And would you believe: the Pillsbury Doughboy! Little Sprout in the Jolly Green Giant commercials! Boris Badenov! Toucan Sam! And all the other work listed here.
To get an idea of Frees's incredible range and output, check out this amazing demo tape. Be sure to listen all the way through.
You think you heard him on Bullwinkle? He was Boris Badenov, for pete's sake!
He was also the narrator on Stan Freberg Presents The United States Of America: Volume 1, The Early Years. Fun stuff.
Posted by: Matt | Tuesday, September 20, 2005 at 11:58 AM
Frank Welker:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0919798/
The voice of Fred from Scooby Doo and a ton of others.
Posted by: Jeff Houser | Saturday, October 08, 2005 at 07:19 AM