David Frye, a comedian who achieved fame in the 1960s and ’70s thanks to a vast arsenal of impressions of actors like Kirk Douglas and Humphrey Bogart, and political figures like Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, died January 24, 2011, in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was 77. According to news reports, the cause was cardiopulmonary arrest. Born David Shapiro on November 21, 1933, in Brooklyn, New York, Frye attended the University of Miami, where he began doing impressions in campus productions. This led to vocal impressions of actors like James Stewart and Cary Grant. After Army service he returned to New York, where he performed in nightclubs while working for his father’s office-cleaning business. His impression of Robert F. Kennedy during a performance at the Village Gate, in Greenwich Village, caught the attention of talent scouts, which led to a television booking on The Merv Griffin Show. Other TV appearances included The Ed Sullivan Show, The David Frost Show, The Leslie Uggams Show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Other political figures in his act included Hubert Humphrey, George Wallace and Nelson Rockefeller, as well as public figures such as David Susskind, Billy Graham, Howard Cosell, William F. Buckley, Jimmy Carter, Anwar El-Sadat and Menachem Begin. But his signature impression was Richard Nixon, a performance he spotlighted in comedy albums such as I Am the President, Radio Free Nixon, Richard Nixon Superstar and Richard Nixon: A Fantasy. He is survived by a sister.