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November 21, 2009

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Impressionist, Vegas headliner Fred Travalena dies

Staff and wire reports

Published Monday, June 29, 2009 | 2:51 a.m.

Updated Monday, June 29, 2009 | 11 a.m.

Impressionist Fred Travalena, a headliner in Vegas showrooms and a regular on late-night talk shows with his takes on presidents, crooners and screen stars, has died in Los Angeles. He was 66.

Publicist Roger Neal says Travalena died Sunday at his home in the Encino area after a recurrence of the non-Hodgkin's lymphoma that first surfaced in 2002.

Travalena was known as much for the sheer volume of his celebrity impressions as their hilarity, leading to the nicknames "The Man of a Thousand Voices" and "Mr. Everybody."

His act included presidents from Kennedy to Obama, musicians from Frank Sinatra to Bruce Springsteen and actors from Marlon Brando to Tom Cruise.

The Bronx native Travalena started his career in Las Vegas in 1971.

Travalena was a fixture in the Las Vegas entertainment scene in the ‘70s and ‘80s. The impersonator first made his Las Vegas debut in 1971 when he was given five minutes in the David Frost Revue at the Riviera. He later became the opening act for several female comedians on the Strip, including Shirley MacLaine, Ann-Margret, Helen Reddy and Bobbie Gentry. Travalena later worked with Julie Andrews at Caesars Palace.

In 2001, after some time away from Vegas, Travalena called in a favor to an old friend to bring him back to the city.

"I asked my friend Wayne Newton, 'Can you do me a favor and bring me in? I can't seem to get a floor in town.' He brought me into the Stardust, let me replace him for a weekend. They promoted the heck out of it and I did very well,” Travalena told the Sun in 2007.

Travalena made his last Vegas appearance in 2007 when he performed at the Suncoast.

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