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Actor

1933-09-18 · Shaker Heights, Ohio, USA · Male

109 series in the catalog

Frederic Charles Willard (September 18, 1933 – May 15, 2020) was an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his work with Christopher Guest in his mockumentary films This Is Spinal Tap (1984), Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), For Your Consideration (2006), and Mascots (2016). He also appeared in supporting roles in the comedy films Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999), American Wedding (2003), and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004). On television, Willard received several Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his work on the sitcoms Everybody Loves Raymond and Modern Family.

Early life

Frederic Charles Willard was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on September 18, 1933. Willard's mother, Ruth (née Weinman), was a housewife. Willard was raised in Shaker Heights, Ohio. In 1945, when Fred was 12 years old, his father, Frederick Charles Willard, died.

Willard graduated from the Kentucky Military Institute, a prep school, in 1951 and the Virginia Military Institute in 1955. He was stationed in West Germany while serving in the United States Army.

Early career

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 Willard's 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 Starring Johnny Carson over 50 times, and appeared regularly on This is Tom Jones.

Rise to prominence

In 1977–78, Willard achieved wider fame as Barth Gimble's (Martin Mull) obtuse sidekick and announcer Jerry Hubbard on the Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman spinoffs, Fernwood 2 Night and America 2-Night, which parodied television talk shows of the day. He hosted Saturday Night Live in 1978 (with musical guests Devo). He was an original cast member of the popular NBC series Real People in 1979, then again from 1981 to 1983. His early guest-starring roles included The Bob Newhart Show, Laverne & Shirley, Mama's Family, Trapper John, M.D., and Fame.

Willard appeared in several Christopher Guest films, such as This Is Spinal Tap (1984), where he played a lieutenant on the military base where Spinal Tap perform; Waiting for Guffman (1996), playing Ron Albertson, a travel agent who performs in amateur stage productions with his wife; Best in Show (2000), where he played Buck Laughlin, a dog show commentator with an unending stream of bad jokes and off-color comments; A Mighty Wind (2003), in which he played Mike LaFontaine (known for his catchphrase "Eh—whahappen'?"); For Your Consideration (2006) as an obnoxious entertainment television show anchor; and Mascots (2016) as Greg Gammons, Jr. For his performance in Waiting for Guffman, Willard received an American Comedy Award nomination and a Screen Actors Guild nomination for Funniest Supporting Actor. He received the Boston Film Critics Award, an American Comedy Award, a Sierra Award and a tribute from AFI for his portrayal of Buck Laughlin in Best in Show.

Willard hosted the talk show What's Hot, What's Not, which aired from 1985 to 1986 and earned him a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Talk Show Host. In 1985, he and Mull joined up again for the mockumentary The History of White People in America. In 1987, he played Mayor Deebs in the film Roxanne, starring Steve Martin, and Tom Osbourne in the Academy Award–winning short film Ray's Male Heterosexual Dance Hall. From 1987 to 1989 he starred as a bartender/straight-man in Sid and Marty Krofft's D.C. Follies, and was host to the Krofft puppets portraying political figures of the time.

In 1990, Willard 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, Martin Mull, 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. The following 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. He had a recurring role as Jamie's boss on Mad About You. He also guest-starred in episodes of The Golden Girls, Married... with Children, Dave's World, Family Matters, Murphy Brown, Friends, Step by Step, The Weird Al Show, Just Shoot Me!, and The Hughleys, among others. Willard voiced travel agent Wally Kogen in the 1999 episode "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday" for The Simpsons.

Sustained success

Willard continued to appear in films including the mission commander in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999), Basil St. Mosely in The Wedding Planner (2001), Harold Flaherty, Michelle Flaherty's dad in American Wedding (2003), and as KVWN news director Ed Harken in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004), and its sequel Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013). From 2001 to 2002, he played the father of five children on the TV series Maybe It's Me.

Willard had a recurring role as Hank MacDougall on the later seasons of CBS's Everybody Loves Raymond, which brought him Emmy Award nominations in 2003, 2004, and 2005. He also hosted a VH1 documentary series, Totally Obsessed, about people obsessed with their hobbies. He appeared as Captain Ribmanman in Episode 21 of Channel Frederator, a podcast from Kansas. He provided the voices of nudist family dad Dave Campbell in Family Guy (first in the episode "From Method to Madness"), and of Officer Brown in King of the Hill, and appeared on That '70s Show. On The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Willard appeared in 100 sketches as a government official, businessman, or other authority figure who was always drinking.

In 2005, Willard voiced Melvin in the animated film Chicken Little, and in 2006, he voiced Dad in the Academy Award nominated animated film Monster House. He appeared as a guest star on MADtv on at least three occasions between 2003 and 2007.

He was the voice of a clueless companion to a lazy robot (played by Martin Mull) in the 2001 Dexter's Laboratory episode "Lab on the Run", and guest-starred on the Adult Swim cartoon Tom Goes to the Mayor. He acted in the Cartoon Network movie Re-Animated and played Vala Mal Doran's "father" in an episode of Stargate SG-1 in 2007. He appeared in two episodes of the Adult Swim program Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!. He also starred as the "Boogey Man" in an episode of The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy and reprised his role in a 2006 video game and the movie Billy & Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure. His final appearance as "Boogey" occurred in Billy & Mandy: Wrath of the Spider Queen. In 2007, he made a guest appearance on the children's TV series Come on Over. He also guest-starred on an episode of The Boondocks, providing the voice of "Joe Petto."

Willard was cast as a sportscaster in the television series Back to You, which…