YOU'D BE SO NICE TO COME HOME TO: THE LETTERS OF PAUL "BUDDY" FREES AND ANNELLE FREES (paperback)
Paul Frees was arguably the greatest voice actor who ever lived. You have heard his voice in your home more often than any other guest. He was the voice of Boris Badenov in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show and the voice of the Little Green Sprout on the Green Giant vegetable commercials. You heard him in movies, dubbing Humphrey Bogart’s failing voice in the dying actor’s final film, The Harder They Fall (1956), dubbing most of Tony Curtis’ falsetto voice as Josephine opposite Marilyn Monroe and Jack Lemmon in Some Like It Hot (1959), and many other major films. You’ve also heard Paul's voice on your vacations at Disneyland and Walt Disney World as the unseen Ghost Host in the Haunted Mansion attraction and many other voices you hear within Disney theme parks.
Paul’s vast skill of accents, four-octave voice, and sense of humor prevailed over many a cartoon, film, trailer, radio show, and TV program. He was known as “The Man of a Thousand Voices.”
In the 1930s, Paul appeared in Vaudeville as impressionist Buddy Green, and he appeared first on Old Time Radio in 1942, but his career was cut short when he was drafted into World War II. He fought at Normandy, France on D-Day and he was wounded in action. While gone, his lonely wife, Audrey “Annelle” Frees, stayed in contact with him through the only way possible—through letters that were precariously delivered between war-torn countries.
Two hearts separated by war poured out their innermost feelings on sometimes tear-stained pages that have somehow survived the ravages of time. Those heartrending communications live on as a testament to an endearing love that did not survive the ravages of time—one of them would not live through the war.
With the exclusive cooperation of Annelle's family, author Ben Ohmart has painstakingly edited this moving collection of Paul and Annelle’s personal letters into a volume that paints a remarkable picture of two wartime lovers just beginning their life together.
You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To, a companion book to Ohmart's popular biography Welcome, Foolish Mortals: The Life and Voices of Paul Frees, is also available from BearManor Media.
ISBN 9781593936464
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