Stan Freberg's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) The Wuzzles Narrator The Weird Al Show Papa Boolie J.B. Topper… The Andy Williams Show (1958) Stan Freberg Mel-O-Toons Narrator (4)

Main Movie Roles 2003 - Looney Tunes: Back in Action 1999 - Stuart Little 1963 - It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World 1958 - tom thumb 1955 - Lady and the Tramp 1955 - Speedy Gonzales 1951 - A Bear for Punishment 1947 - One Meat Brawl

BIOGRAPHY:

Stan Freberg grew up in Los Angeles, California. From an early age he was a big fan of radio and sound. He was blessed with the double abilities of being an amazing mimic and possessing a razor-sharp satirical mind. In the early 1940s he began to do voice work for both the Warner Brothers' cartoons (some of his characters included Junyer Bear and one half of the Goofy Gophers) and radio (he worked on both "The Jack Benny Show" and "Suspense"). When Robert Clampett left Warners, he worked with Freberg to co-create the puppet show "Time for Beany" (1949). In the early 1950s Freberg began making a series of satirical records, mostly aimed at the still-new genre of rock and roll. He became one of the first comedians to produce an album.

As non-music radio began dying off in popularity at the end of the 1950s, Freberg found a new niche in the world of advertising. He wrote, performed and produced a series of radio spots that are still talked about today; several of his commercials have been enshrined in both the Museum of Radio & Television and the Smithsonian.

Freberg still remains an active force in radio and satire, and as a living inspiration to many modern comics (''Weird Al Yankovic credits Freberg as the main reason he got into comedy). Currently (2002), Freberg is the host of the syndicated radio program "When Radio Was".


TRIVIA:

• Father of 'Donavan Freberg' (qv) and 'Donna Jean Freberg' (qv)
• Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith, pg. 169-170. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387
• He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1995.
• He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6145 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
• Star of CBS Radio's "The Stan Freberg Show" (1957).
• Founded advertising agency "Freberg, Ltd. (but not very)" in 1957. The company motto is "Ars gratia pecuniae" (Latin for "art for money's sake"). The seal for the company was designed by 'Saul Bass' (qv) and pictures a real seal, wearing sunglasses.
• Got the idea for his classic, controversial satire on holiday commercialism, "Green Chri$tma$" (Capitol: 1959), from seeing an advertisement around Christmastime, 1958, of a family gathered around the tree, ecstatic at the sight of...four brand new snow tires. For Freberg, a Baptist minister's son, it was all too much, and he wrote the outline for the sketch that very afternoon.