1. Fred Willard is best known for his work with Christopher Guest in his mockumentary films This Is Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, For Your Consideration, and Mascots.
34 Facts About Fred Willard
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Fred Willard appeared in supporting roles in the comedy films Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, American Wedding, and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.
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On television, Willard received several Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his work on the sitcoms Everybody Loves Raymond and Modern Family.
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Frederick Charles Willard was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on September 18,1933.
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In 1945, when Fred was 12 years old, his father, Frederick Charles Willard, died.
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Fred Willard graduated from the Kentucky Military Institute in 1951 and the Virginia Military Institute in 1955.
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Fred Willard was stationed in Germany while serving in the United States Army.
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One of Fred Willard's earliest performing jobs was at The Second City, Chicago, where he shared the stage with Robert Klein and David Steinberg.
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Fred Willard was a founding member of the improvisational comedy group Ace Trucking Company, whose other members included Michael Mislove and Bill Saluga.
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Fred Willard was an original cast member of the popular NBC series Real People in 1979, then again from 1981 to 1983.
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Fred 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.
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In 1995, Fred Willard reunited with his Fernwood co-star, Martin Mull, playing Scott, the romantic partner of Mull's character Leon Carp, on Roseanne.
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That same year, Fred Willard guest-starred in three episodes of Sister, Sister, starring Tia and Tamera Mowry; Fred Willard played Carl Mitushka, a teacher at Roosevelt High who often spoke popular teenage slang terms in order to sound cool to his students.
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Fred Willard voiced travel agent Wally Kogen in the 1999 episode "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday" for The Simpsons.
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From 2001 to 2002, Fred Willard played the father of five children on Maybe It's Me, and guest-starred in an episode of The Weird Al Show.
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Fred Willard 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.
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Fred Willard appeared in American Wedding, and as KVWN news director Ed Harken in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.
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Fred 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.
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Fred Willard hosted a VH1 documentary series, Totally Obsessed, about people obsessed with their hobbies.
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Fred Willard appeared as Captain Ribmanman in Episode 21 of Channel Frederator, a podcast from Kansas.
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Fred Willard provided the voices of nudist family dad Dave Campbell in Family Guy, and of Officer Brown in King of the Hill, and appeared on That '70s Show.
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Fred Willard hosted Saturday Night Live in 1978, and appeared twice on MADtv.
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Fred Willard acted in the Cartoon Network movie Re-Animated and played Vala Mal Doran's "father" in an episode of Stargate SG-1 in 2007.
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Fred Willard was cast as a sportscaster in the television series Back to You, which premiered on the Fox Network on September 19,2007.
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Fred Willard played Shelby Forthright, the CEO of the Buy 'n' Large Corporation, in the first ever live-action speaking segments by Pixar in the animated film WALL-E.
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Fred Willard had several stage roles to his credit, including Off-Broadway performances in Little Murders, directed by Alan Arkin, and Arf, directed by Richard Benjamin.
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Fred Willard starred in Wendy Wasserstein's Isn't It Romantic and off Broadway in Elvis and Juliet.
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Fred Willard played Frank Dunphy, father of Phil, in several episodes of the ABC sitcom Modern Family.
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On September 16,2011, Fred Willard was honored as a Pioneer in Comedy at Burbank International Film Festival.
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Fred Willard's final voice-acting performance was in the 2017 Disney animated cartoon Mickey and the Roadster Racers as the character Mr Doozy.
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On July 18,2012, Fred Willard was arrested on suspicion of engaging in masturbation at an adult theater on Santa Monica Boulevard and was brought to the Los Angeles Police Department's Hollywood Station.
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Fred Willard died at his home in Los Angeles on May 15,2020, at age 86, according to his daughter and his representative.
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Jamie Lee Curtis and her husband Christopher Guest, who frequently worked with Fred Willard, were the first to reveal the news of his death.
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Fred Willard is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.