Next Monday in the United Kingdom, some TV channel (I don't know which one) is airing a special four-part episode of The Garfield Show called "Rodent Rebellion." This was a special we did after the completion of our fourth season. Stan Freberg had a couple of small roles in it and I believe it represents his final performance as a cartoon voice actor. I'm told it will run in the U.S. later this year.
Stan's extraordinary career began doing voice tracks for Warner Brothers cartoons which were recorded in 1945 and released in 1946. We recorded "Rodent Rebellion" on June 24, 2014 and I think this will be its first telecast in English. So I figure the math as 69 years, though I suppose someone could argue for 70. Either way, it's a career track record that I do not think will ever be beaten. And it's just a small accomplishment among the many in the life and times of that amazing, talented man.
By the way: After we recorded that episode, the entire cast and as much of the crew as was present adjourned to a restaurant to celebrate…most appropriately, an Italian restaurant where many ordered lasagna. Stan and his wonderful wife Hunter joined us and at one point, one of the actors came up to me and said, "I've done quite a few of these when you've had him in the session and I still have trouble wrapping my brain around the fact that I'm working with the guy who created all those wonderful records and commercials." I feel the same way.
I sometimes let aspiring voice actors sit in on our recording sessions. Back in 2010, a talented lady named Cia Court, who is now working a lot I hear, visited a session when Stan was present. This is what she blogged at the time.