Biography for
Stan Freberg More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

7 August 1926, Los Angeles, California, USA

Birth Name

Stanley Victor Freberg

Mini 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".

IMDb Mini Biography By: Mike Konczewski

Mini Biography

Composer, singer, actor, author, comedian and advertising executive. He joined the Special Services during World War II, and was attached to the Medical Corps. In 1949 he developed the "Time for Beany" puppet series for KTLA in Los Angeles, California, and did voices for UPA cartoon characters and Walt Disney films. In the waning days of network radio, he produced "The Stan Freberg Show", and also wrote radio and television commercials, including one for Butternut Coffee (in 1959) that was performed by the Omaha Symphony Orchestra. His memberships include ASCAP (1959) and the National Society of Art Directors, where he won the Gold Medal. Also, he has won the Grand Prize at the Venice Film Festival. His advertising firm is Freberg, Ltd. in Hollywood. His popular-song compositions include "John and Marsha" (he did both voices), "St. George and the Dragonet", "Little Blue Riding Hood", "Omaha", "Incident at Los Voraces" (Writer's Guild of America award, Comedy Radio Script, 1957-1958), "Green Christmas" and "The United States of America" (Volumes One and Two)".

IMDb Mini Biography By: Hup234!

Spouse

Betty Hunter	(2002 - present)
Donna Freberg	(24 January 1959 - 12 May 2000) (her death) 2 children

Trivia

Father of Donavan Freberg and Donna Jean Freberg

He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1995.

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 and pictures a real seal, wearing sunglasses.

Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith, pg. 169-170. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387

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.

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6145 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

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