Eddie Frierson

Eddie Frierson

Frierson as Horatio in Hamlet
opposite Deborah Gates
Born Edward Davies Frierson
(1959-11-22) November 22, 1959
Akron, Ohio
Other names Christy Mathewson, Eric Frierson
Occupation Actor, voice actor, writer
Years active 1981–present

Edward Davies "Eddie" Frierson (born November 22, 1959) is an American voice actor and stage actor[1] He has provided voices for such films as Wreck-It Ralph, Hotel Transylvania, The Princess and the Frog, ParaNorman, Curious George, Tangled, the video games Medal of Honor: Airborne and Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes and the animated television series MÄR: Märchen Awakens Romance but is perhaps best known for playing Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Christy Mathewson in the one-man show Matty: An Evening with Christy Mathewson.[2][3]

Life and career

Frierson was born in Akron, Ohio (lived for a time in Sherman Oaks, CA) and grew up in Nashville, Tennessee. Eddie Frierson began researching the life and career of baseball's greatest pitcher, Christy Mathewson in 1984. His in-depth study has involved thousands of travel miles, dozens of interviews and hundreds of uncounted hours in college, library and museum archives. For his painstaking dedication to minutiae, Eddie has been accepted not only by Organized Baseball (including the National Baseball Hall of Fame) but also by the Mathewson Family itself. And by paying special attention to every minute detail, Frierson makes his portrayal of the legendary "Big Six" the most true-to-life one-man performance of the genre.

A native of Nashville, Tennessee, Eddie pitched his Hillwood High School Baseball Team to a State Championship before graduating on to throw collegiately for the UCLA Bruins. While at UCLA, he obtained his degree in Theatre Arts and by-passed a professional baseball career in order to pursue his special talents in the entertainment industry. With MATTY: AN EVENING WITH CHRISTY MATHEWSON, Frierson has combines the best of both his worlds.

Eddie has performed on both coasts in dozens of theatrical productions including several of the classics (he is one of the co-founders of the Nevada Shakespeare Festival). He received a New England Drama Critic's Award for his portrayal of the dim-witted "Tank" in Steve Kluger's critically acclaimed Boston Red Sox comedy, Bullpen. He's appeared on numerous television series including episodes of Cheers, Doogie Howser, M.D., Jake and the Fat Man, Paradise, Grand Slam! and the motion picture Dive!. There's also little doubt you've heard one of Eddie's numerous voice-overs on the airwaves, where he has also been credited as Christy Mathewson and Eric Frierson (only when misspelled in the credits — this was an original mistake caused by language differences with the payroll company on a few anime projects in the 1980s — "Eddie" was "heard" as "Eric" in the Japanese translation and misspelled).

Yet, even with his vast talents in the acting field Eddie has remained close to his athletic roots. He "directed" things at Santa Monica High School as the Varsity Baseball Coach. He coached at "SAMOHI" for eight seasons and in his four terms as Head Varsity Coach he won two international tournaments, three consecutive League Championships and "Coach of the Year" honors.[4]

Frierson has been doing voicework for many anime series and movies since the 1980s, and has also been a voice actor for two of Saban Entertainment's most well-known shows - the Power Rangers franchise and VR Troopers. While during his tenure in the Saban shows, he only did voicework for one-shot characters in the earlier years, he was able to play a major role in 2001's Power Rangers Time Force when he did the voice of the mad robot scientist Frax. After the PR franchise moved to New Zealand in 2003 (which laid off much of the PR crew, Frierson included), Frierson has continued to do voicework for various anime series such as .hack and Robotech, as well as voicework in animated children's movies such as Curious George, Chicken Little, and The Wild. He has also done voicework for different video game franchises, such as the Ace Combat Zero and Medal of Honor series.

According to IMDB.com, Frierson was also once a contestant on the old TV game show, Tic-Tac-Dough, during the 1985-86 season. He has performed and his voice is heard in, literally, hundreds of television programs and feature films.

Frierson has also done significant theater work, including such classical roles as Horatio in Mark Ringer's staging of Hamlet,[5] and Flute in A Midsummer Night's Dream at Nevada Shakespeare in the Park. He twice won the prestigious Maurice Scott Award for Los Angeles theatre for his performances as Dapper in Ben Jonson's The Alchemist at the Globe Playhouse and as Count Vronsky in Anna Karenina at Theatre Rapport.[6] He also won a New England Drama Critic's award for his portrayal of the dim-witted Red Sox pitcher Tank in Steve Kluger's acclaimed nine-inning comedy, Bullpen,[7] and also portrayed Streaker in the debut Kluger's award winning Cafe 50'S. In 2006 he originated the role of Tommy in the new musical, Wartime Romance by Marilyn Hackett.

Matty

Eddie Frierson performs as Christy Mathewson in his one-man show "Matty" at Keystone College in Factoryville, Pennsylvania.

Frierson is probably most renowned for his award-winning one-man show Matty: An Evening With Christy Mathewson[8] (which was directed by fellow voice actor Kerrigan Mahan) about Hall of Fame baseball pitcher Christy Mathewson, which he performs across the country including Off-Broadway in New York for a long run for which National Public Radio named one of the 10 best shows of the New York theatre season[9] and for which he won Drama-Logue Awards as both an actor and writer during the show's Los Angeles engagement. Frierson has played Mathewson throughout the United States, including in Mathewson's hometown of Factoryville, Pennsylvania, at the pitcher's alma mater Bucknell University, and at the Baseball Hall of Fame.[10]

Frierson has formed The Mathewson Foundation,[8] dedicated to the preservation of American History through baseball. He plans to focus those efforts and locate the Foundation in Factoryville. Also in the works for Frierson are the first true biographies of Christy, both in book form and for the big screen.

Filmography

Anime

Non-anime

Live Action

Movies

Video games

Miscellaneous Crew

References

  1. ↑ Evans, Christopher Hodge; Herzog, William R. (2002-02-01). The faith of fifty million: baseball, religion, and American culture. Westminster John Knox Press. pp. 59–. ISBN 978-0-664-22305-2. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
  2. ↑ http://www.thediamondangle.com/archive/feb02/matty1.html
  3. ↑ "Putting the flesh on the Matty myth: actor Eddie Frierson's one-man play brings the career of Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson back to life. (baseball player)(TSN Profile) | HighBeam Business: Arrive Prepared". Business.highbeam.com. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  4. ↑ "STAGE BEAT : COMING UP A WINNER. - Free Online Library". Thefreelibrary.com. 1996-04-26. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  5. ↑ "The Jon Mullich Site". madbeast.com. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  6. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0295579/otherworks
  7. ↑ "Performance Schedule for Eddie Frierson's MATTY: AN EVENING WITH CHRISTY MATHEWSON". Matty.org. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  8. 1 2 "Matty Web Site!". Matty.org. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  9. ↑ "Richard Santillan « Dodger Blue World". Crzblue.mlblogs.com. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  10. ↑ "News: Baseball Hall of Fame anniversary celebration includes play and parade in Lewisburg || Bucknell University". Bucknell.edu. 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2013-11-04.

External links

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