Fred Willard's stage career began when he moved to New York in the late 1950s. His initial work included a production of Desperate Hours at a local YMCA where he worked with future comedy partner Vic Grecco. They later performed as Willard & Grecco in the Greenwich Village area, found some success touring, and appeared on The Dean Martin Show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and The Tonight Show. They were offered roles in the television series Get Smart and The Carol Burnett Show, but the offers fell through due to poor management. The two parted ways in 1968.
Willard's film debut was in the 1967 exploitation film Teenage Mother. He later reported that the audience at one screening booed when his character interrupted an attempted sexual assault of the female lead.
One of his earliest performing jobs was at The Second City, Chicago, where he shared the stage with Robert Klein and David Steinberg. He was a founding member of the improvisational comedy group Ace Trucking Company, whose other members included Michael Mislove and Bill Saluga. They performed sketches on The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson over 50 times, and appeared regularly on This is Tom Jones.
He achieved wider fame in 1977 and '78 as Martin Mull's sidekick and announcer Jerry Hubbard on the Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman spinoffs Fernwood 2 Night, Forever Fernwood and America 2-Night, which parodied current nighttime talk shows.He was an original cast member of the NBC series Real People in 1979, then again from 1981 to 1983. He played Tom Osbourne in the 1987 Academy Award–winning short film Ray's Male Heterosexual Dance Hall. From 1987 to 1989 he starred as a bartender/straightman in Sid and Marty Krofft's D.C. Follies, and was host to the Krofft puppets portraying political figures of the time.
Willard hosted the talk show What's Hot, What's Not, which aired from 1985 to 1986 and earned him a daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Talk Show Host.
In 1990, he hosted the cable TV show Access America on the Ha! Comedy Network. As part of that show, on September 21, 1990 he appeared in episode 7 of the cult public-access television show Decoupage with Summer Caprice. In 1995, Willard reunited with his Fernwood co-star playing Scott, the romantic partner of Mull's character Leon Carp, on Roseanne. The couple married in the episode "December Bride," and Scott became a recurring character during the series' final two seasons. That same year, Willard guest-starred in three episodes of Sister, Sister, starring Tia and Tamera Mowry; Willard played Carl Mitushka, a teacher at Roosevelt High who often spoke popular teenage slang terms in order to sound cool to his students. Willard voiced travel agent Wally Kogen in the 1999 episode "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday" for The Simpsons.
From 2001 to 2002, he played the father of five children on Maybe It's Me, and also guest-starred in an episode of The Weird Al Show. He and Mull joined up again for the mockumentary The History of White People in America. He also played Mayor Deebs in Roxanne, starring Steve Martin.
Frederick Charles Willard was an American actor, comedian, and writer. He was best known for his roles in the Rob Reiner mockumentary film This Is Spinal Tap; the Christopher Guest mockumentary films Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, For Your Consideration, Mascots; and the Anchorman films. Wikipedia
Born: September 18, 1939, Shaker Heights, OH Died: May 15, 2020
Height: 6′ 2″
Spouse: Mary Willard (m. 1968–2018)
Education: Virginia Military Institute, Kentucky Country Day School, The Second City, Kentucky Military Institute
Comic Actor Fred Willard Dead at 86: ‘We Loved Him So Very Much,’ Says Daughter
Fred Willard died of natural causes, a rep for the actor confirms to PEOPLE
Fred Willard
Beloved film star Fred Willard has died. He was 86.
The comedic star, whose numerous credits include Best in Show, This Is Spinal Tap, Everybody Loves Raymond and Modern Family, died of natural causes, a rep for the actor confirms to PEOPLE.
"My father passed away very peacefully last night at the fantastic age of 86 years old. He kept moving, working and making us happy until the very end," his daughter Hope Mulbarger tells PEOPLE in a statement. "We loved him so very much!"
"A fond farewell to Mr. Fred Willard," actress Jamie Lee Curtis, whose husband, Christopher Guest, has worked with Willard extensively over the years, wrote in an Instagram tribute."How lucky we all are that we got to witness his great gifts. Thanks for the deep belly laughs. You are now with Mary. Home safe."
His death comes less than two years after his wife Mary died at 71. The pair had been married since 1968 and had one daughter.
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