System Mechanic - Clean, repair, protect, and speed up your PC!Alan Reed, Actor-voice of Fred Flintstone
August 20, 1907 - June 14, 1977
Born in New York, New York, August 20, 1907, Alan Reed was an actor but he also was much more than a pretty face, he had a very famous voice also.
After majoring in journalism at Columbia University, beefy, gravel-voiced Alan Reed turned to acting at the Provincetown Playhouse. He went on to become one of the infant radio industry's busiest announcers, which led to his first movie gig as the narrator of the 1932 silent-film compilation Chase Me Charlie. A master of some 22 foreign dialects, Reed worked steadily on Broadway with the Theatre Guild. He appeared on shows such as The Fred Allen Show, Pasquale on Life with Luigi, Mr. Clyde, My Friend Irma among many others.
By the late '30s, he was billing himself under his real name of Teddy Bergman for comedy roles on radio programs like "The Eddie Cantor Show," and under his stage name, Alan Reed, for dramatic series like "The Shadow."
Becoming "Alan Reed" on a full-time basis in the early '40s, the actor gained famed for recurring radio roles like Falstaff Openshaw on the "Fred Allen Show," Pasquale on "Life With Luigi," and Mr. Clyde on "My Friend Irma." Reed was featured in both the radio and TV versions of Duffy's Tavern, playing Clancy the Cop on radio and the dim-witted Finnegan on TV. An occasional film actor, Reed was usually cast in extroverted comic roles; one of his few dramatic movie assignments was as Pancho Villa in Viva Zapata (1952). TV fans of the past 35 years will most closely associate Alan Reed with his work as the voice of Fred Flinstone on the popular prime time animated series The Flintstones. He also was credited with the creation of the phrase- Yabba Dabba Do for the show.
His health began to fail in the early 70's and he passed away June 14 1977 in Los Angeles, California, at age 69.
