Frank Graham

[TheMasterKey]

September 4, 1950

Hollywood

Radio Actor Frank Graham, 35, found dead in his expensive automobile with the picture of a beautiful woman near his outstretched hand, apparently committed suicide by breathing exhaust fumes, officials said today.

The woman whose picture was found in the car was identified as Mildred Rossi. Friends said she had been a close friend of Graham in recent months.

Graham, known as the man of 1,000 voices, was at the peak of his career, according to associates at the radio studio where he worked.

The actor's body was discovered by Jack Shallow, a friend. He said he went to the dead man's fashionable Hollywood Hills home when Graham phoned a request to "pick up something from the front seat of my car."

Two notes addressed to a radio announcer friend were found in Graham’s house.

[TheMasterKey]

Radio actor Frank Graham (35) - known as the man of 1000 voices, commits
suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. A vacuum cleaner hose had been
attached to his car’s exhaust and brought under the cloth top into the car. Star of
“Night Cap Yarns” over CBS from ‘38 through ‘42, and was the announcer of
dozens of programs including Rudy Vallee and Nelson Eddy. He also created
voices of a number of cartoon characters for the likes of Walt Disney, MGM and

Warner Brothers. He was said to be on top in his career.

[TheMasterKey]

Graham, known as radio's one-man theater, was the star of the Columbia Broadcasting System's (CBS) detective series "Jeff Regan" and recently produced the mystery air show "Satan's Waitin.”

[TheMasterKey]

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 19.

Missing gaps in the last few hours of radio producer Frank Lee Graham's life were filled in when his unusual will was filed for probate yesterday.

Graham's body was found in his convertible at his Hollywood Hills home about 10 p. m. Sept. 2 by two friends, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Shallow, whom he had telephoned an hour before asking hem to come over. The automobile engine was running. A hose led from the exhaust into the tonneau. Friends aid the 35-year-old radioman was at the peak of his career.

On the seat of the car was a picture of a brunette woman, identified by police as Miss Mildred Rossi. Radio associates said she and Graham had been close friends.

One paragraph of the will said:

To Mildred, I leave absolutely nothing except the pleasure she will have knowing that now she won’t have to decide whether I am good enough for her or not."

A postscript said: "Gee, I wish Mildred had called me back yesterday morning."

The document didn't further identify "Mildred."

It bequeathed to Graham's divorced wife, Mrs. Dorothy Jack Graham, insurance policies, an automobile, half interest in two radio shows, "Satan's Waitin',' and "Sing for Your Supper," and said of her:

"Believe me, she struggled and worked harder for them than I did."

Graham left the other half interest in the shows to Shallow.

He directed that the remainder of "all my earthly possessions (and they're certainly not much)" be divided among his father, Frank Graham, San Francisco; his sister, Mrs. Janet Downs, and his brother, Jack, both of Seattle.

The probate petition valued the estate simply as in excess of $10,000.

[Vlad]

Sounds like a love gone wrong.

Actor:


1950s
1940s
Punchy de Leon (1950) (voice) (uncredited) .... Fox

Each Dawn I Crow (1949) (voice) (uncredited) .... Narrator
The House of Tomorrow (1949) (voice) (uncredited) .... Narrator
The Magic Fluke (1949) (voice) (uncredited) .... Fox
Robin Hoodlum (1948) (voice) (uncredited) .... Fox
Tooth or Consequences (1947) (voice) .... Fox
Mysto-Fox (1946) (voice) .... Fox
The Eager Beaver (1946) (voice) (uncredited) .... Narrator
Unsure Runts (1946) (voice) .... Fox
Foxey Flatfoots (1946) (voice) .... Fox
Phoney Baloney (1945) (voice) .... Fox
Treasure Jest (1945) (voice) .... Fox
Fresh Airedale (1945) (voice) (uncredited) .... Narrator - Shep's Master
Ku-Ku Nuts (1945) (voice) .... Fox
The Egg-Yegg (1945) (voice) .... Fox
Tokyo Woes (1945) (voice) (uncredited) .... Narrator
The Three Caballeros (1944) .... Narrator
Be Patient, Patient (1944) (voice) .... Fox
Big Heel-Watha (1944) (voice) (uncredited) .... Narrator/Interpreter
... aka Buck of the Month
Mr. Moocher (1944) (voice) .... Fox
The Chow Hound (1944) (voice) (uncredited) .... Narrator
The Dream Kids (1944) (voice) .... Fox
The Lady and the Monster (1944) (uncredited) .... Narrator
... aka Monster & Tiger Man (USA: reissue title)
... aka The Lady and the Doctor (UK)
... aka Tiger Man (USA: reissue title)
Going Home (1944) (voice) (uncredited) .... Narrator
Rumors (1943) (voice) (uncredited) .... Narrator - Soldier
Chicken Little (1943) (voice) (uncredited) .... Narrator/Foxy Loxy/Chicken Little/Cocky Locky/Turkey Lurkey/Additional characters
Way Down in the Corn (1943) (voice) .... Fox
... aka Way Down Yonder in the Corn
Room and Bored (1943) (voice) .... Fox
Sleepy Lagoon (1943) (uncredited) .... Narrator
Reason and Emotion (1943) (voice) (uncredited) .... Narrator/Reason
A-Hunting We Won't Go (1943) (voice) .... Fox
Coming!! Snafu (1943) (voice) (uncredited) .... Narrator
Tree for Two (1943) (voice) .... Fox
Red Hot Riding Hood (1943) (voice) (uncredited) .... Wolf
Plenty Below Zero (1943) (voice) .... Fox
Dumb-Hounded (1943) (voice) (uncredited) .... Killer/Mayor
Cosmo Jones, Crime Smasher (1943) .... Professor Cosmo Jones
... aka Cosmo Jones in 'Crime Smasher' (USA: poster title)
Slay It with Flowers (1943) (voice) .... Fox
... aka Columbia Color Rhapsody No. 4505: Slay It with Flowers (USA: series title)
Toll Bridge Troubles (1942) (voice) .... Fox
... aka Columbia Color Rhapsody No. 4503: Toll Bridge Troubles (USA: series title)
... aka Toll Troubles
Blitz Wolf (1942) (voice) (uncredited) .... Narrator
Foney Fables (1942) (voice) (uncredited) .... Narrator/Wolf
Woodsman, Spare That Tree (1942) (voice) .... Fox
Horton Hatches the Egg (1942) (uncredited) .... Narrator