Travalena, who began being treated for an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin's lymphomain 2002 and saw the disease return last July after going into remission in 2003, died Sunday at hishome in Los Angeles, according to his publicist, Roger Neal. Travalena also was diagnosed withprostate cancer in 2003 but had been in complete remission since then.
Dubbed "The Man of a Thousand Faces" and "Mr. Everybody," Travalena emerged on thenational stage as an impressionist in the early 1970s.
SLIDESHOW: InMemoriam: 2009 Celebrity Deaths
Over the next three decades, he was a headliner in Las Vegas, Reno and AtlanticCity, performed in concerts around the country, appeared on The Tonight Show and other talk shows and starred in his own specials, such as The Many Faces of Fred Travalena and Comedy in the Oval Office.
The boyish-faced entertainer is said to have had a repertoire of more than 360celebrity, political and cartoon-character voices, including Clint Eastwood, Dr. Ruth Westheimer,Joe Pesci, Robert De Niro, Henry Kissinger, Donald Rumsfeld, Johnny Mathis, Bruce Springsteen andLuciano Pavarotti.
In one part of his act, Travalena physically and vocally "morphed" into U.S.presidents, from John F. Kennedy up to George W. Bush.
He also was known to sing Have I Told You Lately in various voices, including Kermit the Frog, Katharine Hepburn andFrank Sinatra.
The imaginative entertainer even did Sinatra imitating Boy George.
Of Italian and Irish heritage, Travalena was born Oct. 6, 1942, in the Bronx, N.Y.,and grew up on Long Island.
During a stint in the Army's Special Services, Travalena won the All-ArmyEntertainment Award for best singer and once impersonated President Lyndon Johnson's voice on thebase theater's answering machine to announce the movies and show times.
At one point after launching his career as a singer, he and his singer wife, Lois,were performing together at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, D.C.
As recounted in a 1989 New York Times story, Lois surprised her husband by spontaneously asking the audience,"How'd you like to hear Fred do impressions?"
He went on to impersonate Dean Martin, Paul Lynde, Jim Nabors and PresidentsKennedy and Johnson.
"People liked it," he later said.
Travalena reportedly was performing at a resort hotel in the Catskills whenimpressionist Rich Little was in the audience. After the show, Little congratulated Travalena andlater recommended him for a spot in British celebrity journalist David Frost's show at the Rivierain Las Vegas.
Travalena joined Little, Frank Gorshin and other impressionists as a regular on theABC Comedy Hour, the 1972 comedy-variety show which was known in reruns as The Kopycats.
In 1974, he opened for Shirley MacLaine at the old MGM Grand and later opened forother Vegas performers such as Mathis, Davis, Wayne Newton and Andy Williams.
Travalena made occasional guest appearances on TV series such as The Love Boat and Murphy Brown, as well as on Hollywood Squares and other game shows. He also did voices on a number of TV cartoonseries and appeared in the 1978 movie The Buddy Holly Story.
Travalena received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2005.
He is survived by his wife of 39 years, Lois; sons Fred IV and Corey; and agranddaughter, Sophia.
Funeral services will be private. A public memorial service is being planned.
