Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#7562
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Paul Frees represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 35 years in, and Paul is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Paul Frees appears in 29 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Paul. Some Like It Hot is the clearest case: a film rated 8.0 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, quiet performance. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same instrument, tuned differently for fantasy, adventure, family. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Arthur Rankin, Jr., Tom Gries, Richard Fleischer and others, Paul Frees helped set a standard other performers now audition against. Awards bodies have been slower than the work, which is usually the sign of a career built on choices rather than campaigns.
Some Like It Hot (1959) as Funeral Director / Waiter / Josephine (voice) (uncredited) · One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) as Dirty Dawson (voice) · Patton (1970) as Voice (uncredited)
Career snapshot
Ranked #7562 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
29
1947–1982
Career length
35 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.0
Some Like It Hot
Average Nutevio score
6.7
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.1
Some Like It Hot
Most frequent director
Arthur Rankin, Jr.
5 films together
Longest collaboration
5×
With Arthur Rankin, Jr.
Most common genre
Family
14 titles
Average runtime
1h 32m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
7.1
out of 10
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio metric
Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.
Nutevio Influence Score
6.8
out of 10
A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.
How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.
What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.
Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.
Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.
Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.
Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.
Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.
The reading other performers now have to answer.
Actor DNA
A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.
The shape of a career
Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.
Peak years
Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.
Best decade
1980s
7.0 average MV
The 1980s are where the work and the material meet. The Last Unicorn — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1980s
7.0
Across 1 catalogue film in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1980s
7.3
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1940s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Mickey and the Beanstalk.
Most productive era
1960s
12 films
The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.
Range, mapped
Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.
| Genre | 1940s | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | — | 6.73 films | 6.84 films | 7.12 films | — |
| Action | — | 6.52 films | 6.91 film | — | — |
| Thriller | — | — | 7.22 films | 6.51 film | — |
| Comedy | — | 7.23 films | 6.66 films | — | — |
| Crime | — | 7.52 films | — | — | — |
| Romance | — | 7.33 films | 6.82 films | — | — |
| Horror | — | 6.52 films | — | — | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Ludwig Von Drake (voice) (uncredited).
Highest rated performance · Career peak
1959Some Like It Hot
8.0 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer. Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
1982The Last Unicorn
The current state of the argument, as Mabruk (voice).
Our order
Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.
Every title
Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.
29 of 29 films
as Funeral Director / Waiter / Josephine (voice) (uncredited)
Directed by Billy Wilder
as Dirty Dawson (voice)
Directed by Clyde Geronimi
as The True Spirit of Adventure / Narrator (voice)
Directed by Joshua Meador
as Voice (uncredited)
Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner
as Narrator (voice)
Directed by John Frankenheimer
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
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The defining work
#1
Funeral Director / Waiter / Josephine (voice) (uncredited)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Performance score7.8
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Funeral Director / Waiter / Josephine (voice) (uncredited) gives Paul Frees a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Dirty Dawson (voice)
One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)
Performance score7.2
One Hundred and One Dalmatians asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Dirty Dawson (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
The True Spirit of Adventure / Narrator (voice)
Donald in Mathmagic Land (1959)
Performance score7.2
Donald in Mathmagic Land asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. The True Spirit of Adventure / Narrator (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Voice (uncredited)
Patton (1970)
Performance score7.1
Patton asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Voice (uncredited) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movieStart here
A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.
Best entry point
as Funeral Director / Waiter / Josephine (voice) (uncredited)
Start here. Some Like It Hot is the clearest statement of what Paul Frees does — accessible, 123 minutes, and rated 8.0 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Paul at the most legible performance, then move forward in time so each film reads as a response to the one before it rather than a repetition of it.
Donald in Mathmagic Land (1959)
Keeps the comedy register of Some Like It Hot but asks for a colder reading of it.
One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)
Keeps the comedy register of Donald in Mathmagic Land but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
A deliberate change of key after One Hundred and One Dalmatians — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Patton (1970)
Keeps the drama register of The Manchurian Candidate but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Arthur Rankin, Jr.
Director
5 films together
Notably The Last Unicorn
Abe Levitow
Director
2 films together
Notably Gay Purr-ee
John Frankenheimer
Director
2 films together
Notably The Manchurian Candidate
Bill Roberts
Director
1 film together
Notably Mickey and the Beanstalk
Rudolph Maté
Director
1 film together
Notably When Worlds Collide
George Stevens
Director
1 film together
Notably A Place in the Sun
Christian Nyby
Director
1 film together
Notably The Thing from Another World
Byron Haskin
Director
1 film together
Notably The War of the Worlds
Ishirō Honda
Director
1 film together
Notably Godzilla, King of the Monsters!
Fred F. Sears
Director
1 film together
Notably Earth vs. the Flying Saucers
Billy Wilder
Director
1 film together
Notably Some Like It Hot
Blake Edwards
Director
1 film together
Notably Operation Petticoat
Joshua Meador
Director
1 film together
Notably Donald in Mathmagic Land
George Pal
Director
1 film together
Notably The Time Machine
David Swift
Director
1 film together
Notably Pollyanna
Clyde Geronimi
Director
1 film together
Notably One Hundred and One Dalmatians
Robert Stevenson
Director
1 film together
Notably The Absent-Minded Professor
Arthur Lubin
Director
1 film together
Notably The Incredible Mr. Limpet
William Hanna
Director
1 film together
Notably The Man Called Flintstone
Ted Post
Director
1 film together
Notably Beneath the Planet of the Apes
Franklin J. Schaffner
Director
1 film together
Notably Patton
Richard Fleischer
Director
1 film together
Notably Tora! Tora! Tora!
Tom Gries
Director
1 film together
Notably Breakheart Pass
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Arthur Rankin, Jr.
Director
5 films together · 6.7 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 5 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The Last UnicornJohn Frankenheimer
Director
2 films together · 7.1 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The Manchurian CandidateAbe Levitow
Director
2 films together · 6.4 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Gay Purr-eeBilly Wilder
Director
1 film together · 8.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Some Like It HotClyde Geronimi
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
One Hundred and One DalmatiansFranklin J. Schaffner
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
PattonGeorge Pal
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Time MachineRichard Fleischer
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Tora! Tora! Tora!George Stevens
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A Place in the SunBlake Edwards
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Operation PetticoatJoshua Meador
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Donald in Mathmagic LandDavid Swift
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
PollyannaByron Haskin
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The War of the WorldsChristian Nyby
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Thing from Another WorldBill Roberts
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mickey and the BeanstalkTom Gries
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Breakheart PassRobert Stevenson
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Absent-Minded ProfessorIshirō Honda
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Godzilla, King of the Monsters!William Hanna
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Man Called FlintstoneRudolph Maté
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
When Worlds CollideTed Post
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Beneath the Planet of the ApesArthur Lubin
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Incredible Mr. LimpetFred F. Sears
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Earth vs. the Flying SaucersSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
Some Like It Hot
as Funeral Director / Waiter / Josephine (voice) (uncredited)
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
The Time Machine
as Talking Rings (voice) (uncredited)
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Some Like It Hot
as Funeral Director / Waiter / Josephine (voice) (uncredited)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Tora! Tora! Tora!
as Japanese Ambassador Kichisaburo Nomura (voice) (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Some Like It Hot
as Funeral Director / Waiter / Josephine (voice) (uncredited)
If the career had to be argued in a single scene, our editors would pick one from this film and rest the case.
In their films' words
“You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. Paul Frees has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
35 years of relevant work — not merely a long career, but a long career of choices.
Family Legend
Awarded
14 catalogue titles in family, each one a reference point for the films that followed.
Our desk
Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.
Best ending
Some Like It Hot
as Funeral Director / Waiter / Josephine (voice) (uncredited)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Some Like It Hot
as Funeral Director / Waiter / Josephine (voice) (uncredited)
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
The Last Unicorn
as Mabruk (voice)
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Breakheart Pass
as Levi Calhoun (voice) (uncredited)
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Some Like It Hot
as Funeral Director / Waiter / Josephine (voice) (uncredited)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers
as Alien (voice)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
The Incredible Mr. Limpet
as Crusty (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Beneath the Planet of the Apes
as Ending Voiceover (uncredited) (voice)
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Tom Hanks
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
David Krumholtz
Built a career in the same territory: action and adventure
Cillian Murphy
Built a career in the same territory: drama and history
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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