When we say Paul Frees worked for just about everybody in Hollywood, we're not kidding.
Paul makes a rare appearance in a supporting role on The Bob Cummings Show, aka Love That Bob, during its first season in the winter of 1955. In "Bob Becomes a Genius", Bob Collins (Cummings) is reluctant to do a photo shoot with a tempermental actress, and Frees plays a fellow actor hired by said diva to put the heat on Collins.
Paul appears around the 13 minute mark. Many thanks to Hal Horn at The Horn Section for the tip.
Hal talks about the episode in detail over at his blog.
4 comments:
Thanks for the shoutout! It is always great to see Frees in addition to hearing him. I hope to track down the other episode that he had an on-camera role in as well. Great post, and hopefully some other colorization is forthcoming on YouTube.
He was heard, but not seen, on The Millionaire, and in a sort-of-famous Nestle Quik ad w/Adam West. I think IMDB might have a catalogue on his face acting work in general.
I can't find confirmation, but I swear it's true:
Sometime in the late '70s/early '80s, Paul Frees appeared on-camera in a spot for Taster's Choice coffee.
It was a takeoff on old English mystery movies.
Frees was cast as the Scotland Yard inspector who rounds up the suspects and names the culprit, using Taster's Choice to prove his case; at that point in his life, Frees sported a luxuriant handlebar mustache, which he twirled throughout.
At the close, Frees approached the camera and said, in response to an off-camera question:
"Taster's Choice - that's Whodunit!":
If home video tech had existed at that time, I would certainly have made a copy of this spot; alas, no go …
As it stands, trying to get a list of Paul Frees's credits - forget IMDb; even Frees's authorized biography doesn't have one (Welcome, Foolish Mortals, from BearManor Media, now in its second revised edition).
Well, let's see. He did the Reader's Digest TV show, which is already up, and the gig with Bob Cummings. I'll see if I can find that Taster's Choice ad.
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