David Frye, mimic who used Nixon as object of satire, dies at 76
David Frye, who became one of the country's most popular comic satirists
with his realistic and caustic impressions of President Richard M. Nixon
and other political figures, died Jan. 24 in Las Vegas of
cardiopulmonary arrest. He was 76.
After doing impersonations of movie stars, Mr. Frye began to introduce
politics to his act in the mid-1960s and his career exploded. His
subjects included a drawling President Lyndon B. Johnson, a
gravel-voiced Nelson Rockefeller and an excitedly cheerful Hubert H.
Humphrey.
But his most memorable character by far was Nixon, whom Mr. Frye
portrayed as a tortured soul with darting eyes, flaring brows, scowling
lips and deep-seated insecurities. The longer the president stayed in
office, the deeper Mr. Frye's impressions drilled into Nixon's psyche.
"My administration has taken crime out of the streets," Mr. Frye's Nixon
said in one Watergate-era routine, "and put it in the White House where
I can keep an eye on it."
Mr. Frye perfected his impression by matching Nixon's vocal tones and
modulations, by adopting a few of the president's catch phrases, such as
"Let me make this perfectly clear," and by creating a few of his own,
including "I am the president, and make no mistake about that." He
practiced in front of a mirror every day.
Whether he intended it, Mr. Frye transformed nightclub mimicry into
sharp-edged political satire that drew a national following. The mere
title of his best-selling 1969 comedy album "I Am the President,"
managed to make Nixon sound both pompous and weak-kneed.
Reviewing the album, a Time magazine writer noted, "Nixon's singsong
baritone is so close to the mark, it makes one hope Frye never gets near
the hot line."
Mr. Frye did more than imitate the sound of Nixon's voice, commentators
often pointed out: He seemed to inhabit his very being.
"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. "He's trying to convince himself when he
says, 'I am the President!' And the moving eyes and tongue merely
symbolize the way his mind is working."
After the Watergate scandal began to engulf Nixon in 1972 and 1973, Mr.
Frye's satire became even more pointed.
"As the man in charge," his version of the president said in the 1973
album "Richard Nixon: A Fantasy," "I, of course, accept the 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."
Mr. Frye was born David Shapiro in Brooklyn, N.Y., in June 1934. While
attending the University of Miami, he began doing mime and vocal
impressions in campus shows and in Miami strip clubs.
After serving in the Army, he worked for his father's office-cleaning
business in New York while trying to gain a show-business foothold by
performing for free in nightclubs under his stage name, David Frye.
He did first-rate impressions of Kirk Douglas, Jimmy Stewart, Rodney
Dangerfield and other entertainers, but Mr. Frye's breakthrough came in
1966, when he began doing an impersonation of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.
A substitute performance at the Village Gate in New York became a
six-month stint, and a guest appearance on "The Merv Griffin Show"
brought him nationwide acclaim.
Although he was best known for his devastating Nixon impression, Mr.
Frye said he did not vote and professed little interest in politics
beyond using it as material for his act.
He was an equal-opportunity offender and often spoofed Nixon's 1968
presidential opponent, Humphrey.
"When I wake up in the morning, I say 'Whoopee!' " Mr. Frye said in
character as Johnson's former vice president. "When I go to bed at
night, I say 'Whoopee!' And I want to say I'm proud as punch to be
running for the presidency of the United States."
After Nixon resigned in 1974, Mr. Frye had a final flurry of popularity
before receding into show-business obscurity. He moved to Las Vegas,
where he lived alone. Survivors include a sister.
In later years, Mr. Frye attempted comebacks with new impressions of
Bill Clinton and both George Bushes, but he knew his heyday had come and
gone with Nixon.
"Frankly, I would prefer him to remain in office," Mr. Frye told
Newsweek in 1974. "There's no one as funny as he is. It's his gestures,
his movements, his neurosis. . . . Nixon is a neurotic. He's as neurotic
a president as we can imagine.
"I'm a neurotic man, and neurosis comes easy to me."
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/29/AR20110129048
48.html
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