He is known for his work on Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Walter Lantz, Rankin/Bass and Walt Disney theatrical cartoons during the Golden Age of Animation, and for providing the voice of Boris Badenov in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.

[5] Frees's early radio career was cut short when he was drafted into the United States Army during World War II, where he fought at Normandy, France, on D-Day.

[7] He appeared frequently on Hollywood radio series, including Escape, playing lead roles and alternating with William Conrad as the opening announcer.

He announced the dramatic signature on Suspense in the late 1940s, and parts on Gunsmoke (filling in for Howard McNear as Doc Adams in the episode "The Cast"), and Crime Classics.

[citation needed] Frees dubbed the entire role of Eddie in the Disney film The Ugly Dachshund, replacing actor Dick Wessel, who had died of a sudden heart attack after completion of principal photography.

[11] Disney eventually issued limited edition compact discs commemorating The Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean, featuring some outtakes and unused audio tracks by Frees and others.

Frees also provided narration for the Tomorrowland attraction Adventure Thru Inner Space (1967–1985, later replaced by Star Tours) and the original Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.

[12] Frees was a regular presence in Jay Ward cartoons, providing the voices of Boris Badenov (from The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show), Inspector Fenwick (from Dudley Do-Right, impersonating Eric Blore), Ape (impersonating Ronald Colman), District Commissioner Alistair and Weevil Plumtree in George of the Jungle, Baron Otto Matic in Tom Slick, Fred in Super Chicken, and the Hoppity Hooper narrator, among numerous others.

He provided the voices for several J. R. R. Tolkien characters (most notably the dwarf Bombur) in Rankin/Bass animated versions of The Hobbit and The Return of the King.

Rankin/Bass TV specials or films featuring Paul Frees: Frees portrayed the Orson Welles sound-alike radio reporter in George Pal's film The War of the Worlds (1953), where he is seen dictating into a tape recorder as the military prepares the atomic bomb for use against the invading Martians.

Frees also provided the film's dramatic opening narration, prior to Sir Cedric Hardwicke's voice-over tour of the solar system.

Two years later, Frees provided the voice for Arnie the Dinosaur and the Pillsbury Doughboy in The Puppetoon Movie (1987), also produced and directed by Leibovit.

He played several roles – narrator, Chef of State, the judges and the bailiff – in the George Lucas / John Korty animated film, Twice Upon a Time.

Frees also provided the voice of the eccentric billionaire John Beresford Tipton, always seated in his chair with his back to the viewer while talking to his employee Michael Anthony (fellow voice-artist Marvin Miller), on the dramatic series The Millionaire.

His most notable screenwriting work was the little-seen 1960 film The Beatniks, a screed against the then-rising Beat counterculture in the vein of Reefer Madness.

He played a scientist in The Thing from Another World, a death-row priest in A Place in the Sun, and French fur trader McMasters in The Big Sky.

In 1955, he appeared as an irate husband suing his wife (played by Ann Doran) for alimony in an episode of CBS's sitcom The Ray Milland Show; and, in 1957, in an uncredited role as a helicopter pilot in the 1957 science-fiction movie, Beginning of the End.

[22] Dialogue that was slightly rewritten to reflect newer safety standards is performed by actors Joe Leahy (English)[23][24] and Fabio Rodriguez (Spanish).

[26] Burton also recorded Frees's Ghost Host lines for Walt Disney Pictures' 2003 film adaptation of the ride.

Voice actor Jim Kirk has also done several impressions of the "Ghost Host" at Disney's Haunted Mansion on Instagram and TikTok.

[28] For the last two years of his life, Frees suffered from multiple ailments, including arthritis, diabetes, and loss of vision, and had mentioned to friends that he was in near constant pain.

Despite his death being considered a suicide, his agent issued a press release stating that he died from heart failure.