R.I.P. David Frye

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David Frye, the most famous Nixon impressionist of the 1960s passed away on Monday of a heart attack at the age of 77. He belonged to an era of political satire that won't pass this way again.

R.I.P.

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I have his album from the early 70's 'Radio Free Nixon' .

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David Frye, Perfectly Clear Nixon Parodist, Dies at 77

By WILLIAM GRIMES

David Frye, whose wicked send-ups of political figures like Lyndon B. Johnson, Hubert H. Humphrey and, above all, Richard M. Nixon, made him one of the most popular comedians in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s, died on Monday in Las Vegas, where he lived. He was 77.

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David Frye in 1969, performing in character as President Richard M. Nixon on "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour."

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The cause was cardiopulmonary arrest, a spokeswoman for the Clark County coroner's office in Nevada said.

In the early 1960s Mr. Frye was a struggling impressionist working the clubs of Greenwich Village, relying on a fairly standard repertoire of Hollywood actors. Then he slipped Robert F. Kennedy into his act, basing his impression on a girlfriend's comment that Kennedy sounded like Bugs Bunny.

Audiences loved it, and Mr. Frye began adding other politicians, capturing not just their vocal peculiarities but also their body language and facial expressions. His L.B.J., with a lugubrious hound-dog face and a Texas twang rich in slushy "s" sounds, became a trademark, as did his bouncy Hubert Humphrey.

But

Shoulders hunched, his deep-set eyes glowering, Mr. Frye captured the insecure, neurotic Nixon to perfection. "I am the president" — his blustery tag line and the title of a 1969 comedy album he recorded for Elektra — seemed to get at the essence of a powerful politician in desperate need of validation.

"I do Nixon not by copying his real actions but by feeling his attitude, which is that he cannot believe that he really is president," Mr. Frye told Esquire magazine in 1971. Nixon also played the starring role in Mr. Frye's later albums "Radio Free Nixon" (1971), "Richard Nixon Superstar" (1971) and the Watergate satire "Richard Nixon: A Fantasy" (1973).

Mr. Frye added a panoply of political and cultural figures to his act. His William F. Buckley Jr., all darting tongue and wildly searching eyes, was stellar, but he also worked up dead-on impressions of George Wallace, Nelson Rockefeller, David Susskind, Billy Graham, Howard Cosell and a long list of film actors.

It was Nixon, however, who kept Mr. Frye a regular on the top television variety shows and at the big Las Vegas casinos, perhaps because he was one of the few politicians with a truly Shakespearean richness of character. In one skit Mr. Frye even had the president smoking marijuana and reporting, in hushed tones, "I see spacious skies and fruited plains and amber waves of grain."

David Shapiro was born in Brooklyn and attended James Madison High School there. His father, who owned a highly successful office-cleaning business, was dead set against his son's going into show business, but even at the University of Miami, David was already doing mime impressions in campus productions. Soon he discovered he had an ear for distinctive Hollywood voices like Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant and began doing vocal impressions as well.

After serving with an Army Special Services unit in France, he returned to New York and developed his act at small clubs while working as a salesman for his father's company. At the Village Gate, where he was filling in for a regular in early 1966, talent scouts saw his Bobby Kennedy imitation and booked him on "The Merv Griffin Show." Soon he was appearing on "The Leslie Uggams Show," "The

" and "The Tonight Show."

Nixon came as a gift, but mastering the impression was a struggle. "It took me a long time to get Nixon — but it took the country a long time to get Nixon," Mr. Frye told Esquire. "Nixon has these brooding eyes that look like my eyes. That helped a lot. But the voice is still the main thing. He has a radio announcer's evenness of speech, very well modulated, and you can't pick out any highs and lows. If I hadn't had to do him, I wouldn't have tried."

Nixon's departure from the scene took most of the air out of Mr. Frye's career. He capitalized on Watergate, although some radio stations refused to play material from"Richard Nixon: A Fantasy," which they thought cut a little too close to the bone for some listeners.

"Today I have regretfully been forced to accept the resignations of 1,541 of the finest public servants it has ever been my privilege to know," Mr. Frye's Nixon intones on the album. "As the man in charge, I must accept full responsibility, but not the blame. Let me explain the difference. People who are to blame lose their jobs; people who are responsible do not."

In another skit, Nixon goes to the Godfather for help. "You want justice?" the Godfather asks. "Not necessarily," Nixon replies.

With Nixon's resignation in August 1974, Mr. Frye lost the best friend an impressionist ever had. He continued to perform and to add new impressions to his act: Jimmy Carter, Anwar El Sadat and Menachim Begin, among others. He recorded the comedy albums "David Frye Presents the Great Debate" (1980) and "Clinton: An Oral History" (1998). But he never enjoyed anything approaching the fame that the Johnson and Nixon years had given him.

He could see the end quite clearly.

"It's a weird feeling, knowing that you can lose the guts of your act at any time," he told Time in 1974. Nixon's presidential successor, Gerald R. Ford, offered scant hope. "He looks like the guy in a science fiction movie who is the first one to see The Creature," Mr. Frye said.

He is survived by a sister, Ruth.