Comedy Legend Stan Freberg Dies at 88

Stan Freberg, the American comedy genius known for his satirical recordings and extensive credits in radio, TV and film, died Tuesday. He was 88.

Freberg died of natural causes at the UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica, Calif., his son, Donavan Freberg, told the Los Angeles Times.

The California native began a career spanning more than six decades by doing voice impersonations for Cliffie Stone’s radio show and Warner Bros. cartoons in the 1940s. In 1949, he entered the television business by co-writing and providing voices for characters on the puppet show Time for Beany, which aired in Los Angeles in 1949.

MORE: Read TIME’s 1999 story on Stan Freberg, ‘Maestro of the Mike’

Freberg rose to fame in the ’50s through his comic records and syndicated radio shows lampooning American popular culture. His album “Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America,” in which he provides a satirical retelling of American history, is one of his most acclaimed works.

In the decades that followed, Freberg continued voice work in several TV shows and films, including the animated Walt Disney classic Lady And the Tramp (1955) and the comedy It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963).

Freberg also launched a career in advertising, creating hundreds of commercials and receiving more than 20 Clio Awards for his TV and radio spots.

[Los Angeles Times]