

My mom would read to me, my teachers read to us. As a dyslexic - of course that word wasn’t used when I was young - having stories told to you was ideal. So that was where I would spend a lot of time. “There was a store on the corner, and anybody who came in to have a Coca-Cola or a Big Orange would be sitting there eating their MoonPies and peanuts, and they’d just be telling stories. His father initiated the storytelling bug by encouraging his children to recreate the day’s events, sort of a dramatic-version answer to the question, “How was your day today?” Newman also sought out storytellers.


None of that was diagnosed at all,” he says. I’m sure there would be a lot of labels placed on me now. “I had a really loving family who as weird as I got - I was a very strange child - accepted and loved me. Newman has been creating sounds and telling stories since he was a child growing up in Georgia. They are the people who show us the light.” You’ve gotta have those people who think differently. You think and do things that no one else can do. “There is no negative connotation to dyslexia. In some way or another Fred Newman’s dyslexia paved the way for a checkerboard career that has entertained and educated a diverse population - from young to old, from NPR listeners to Nickelodeon watchers. And what exactly helps make Fred Newman great? His dyslexia. From Newman’s vantage, what makes a person weird is what makes a person great. He also created a sound piece for the National Park Service, depicting what Old Faithful would sound like from five miles below the surface to the top. Newman has also hosted or contributed to a variety of shows for children and teens, including the All-New Mickey Mouse Club and PBS’s Between the Lions, and provided sound, music and voices for the beloved cartoon Doug, about a somewhat awkward, but lovable pre-teen and his friends. If you’ve ever heard the sounds of squawking seagulls or the voices of those fast-talking salesmen pedaling their goods to Guy Noir on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion, there’s a good chance that Fred Newman was the voice behind those sounds. Newman also revealed some of his secrets for creating sounds in his book MouthSounds.įred Newman makes a living out of being weird. Younger audiences may know him from his word segments on PBS’s Between the Lions, for which he won three Emmys.
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He hosted the All-New Mickey Mouse Club and Nickelodeon’s Livewire, and created music and sounds for the animated series Doug.
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He’s been the voice of Harry in the movie Harry and the Hendersons, and also created sounds for other movies, including Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Practical Magic, and Gremlins, among others. Newman is one of the two people behind the soundĮffects that bring Garrison Keillor’s radio program A Prairie Home Companion to life. Advocacy Back Toolkit for Parents, Educators and Studentsįred Newman is an award-winning sound artist, actor, producer, comedian, and author.Toolkit for Parents, Educators and Students.
