Fred WillardBirth Place: Shaker Heights, Ohio, USA Date of Birth: September 18, 1939 Heritage: American Contact Fred Willard | 
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Background: One of the most talented comic actors in the business, Fred Willard first came to fame as driven but dimwitted sidekick Jerry Hubbard to Martin Mull's smarmy talk show host Barth Gimble in the syndicated series “Fernwood Tonight” (1977), a role he reprised in the 1978 installment show “America 2-Night.” Most acclaimed for his quick wit and improvisational expertise, Willard continued to gain recognition for his work with Christopher Guest in mockumentary films “This is Spinal Tap” (1984), “Waiting for Guffman” (1996), “Best in Show” (2000, won an American Comedy Award and a Boston Society of Film Critics Award), “A Mighty Wind” (2003, won a Florida Film Critics Circle Award) and “For Your Consideration” (2006) as well as for his roles in television series “D.C. Follies” (1987-1989), “Roseanne” (1995-1997) and “Everybody Loves Raymond” (2003, received three Emmy nominations). In 2010, the master of sketch comedy picked up a fourth Emmy nomination for his guest stint in the ABC TV series “Modern Family.” The alumnus of The Second City has also contributed his voices to various animated projects, including “King of the Hill,” “Kim Possible” and “Betsy's Kindergarten Adventures” as well as “Chicken Little” (2005) and “WALL·E” (2008). Shaker Heights' Son Childhood and Family:
In Shaker Heights, Ohio, Fred Willard was born on September 18, 1939. An Only child, his father died unexpectedly when Fred was 11 years old, and his mother later remarried. As a teenager, Fred became interested in athletic and prepared himself for a career in the military. He graduated from the Kentucky Military Institute in Lyndon, Kentucky and the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia, from which he received a bachelor's degree in English. After spending two years at the U.S. Army, Fred decided to renew his goal and move to New York City to take acting classes. Fred married Mary Lovell in 1972. They welcomed a daughter, Hope Willard, in 1974. Fred has one grandson. Everybody Loves Raymond Career: An alumnus of military school, Fred Willard entered comedy club circuits after two years of service in the US Army. In 1962, he formed a comedy team with comic classmate Vic Grillo in New York City, and they made their first television appearance two years later in CBS's “The Ed Sullivan Show.” They went on to become regular performers on Steve Allen’s syndicated talk show, but in 1965, Willard left his colleague to join the fledgling Second City theater in Chicago. There he learned the fundamentals of improvised comedy while also appearing in regional comedy and musical productions. In 1966, he revisited NYC to perform with the Second City troupe in an off-Broadway production of “The Return of Second City in 20,000 Frozen Grenadiers,” and by the late 1960s, he had returned back to NYC, where he continued to perform in comedic plays by the impressive Wendy Wasserstein, then playwright and his future wife Mary, and Jules Feiffer. It was while performing in the off-Broadway production “Little Murders” (1969) that he met future collaborator Christopher Guest. In 1969, Willard headed to Los Angeles and joined the improv group The Committee. He also co-founded the group Ace Trucking Company, which made appearances on NBC's “The Tonight Show” and the ABC variety show “This is Tom Jones.” Willard made his first film appearance in the Jacques Demy directed drama “The Model Shop” (1969), as a gas station attendant. Willard became a regular on the ABC short lived variety series “The Burns and Schreiber Comedy Hour” (1973) and landed guest spots in “The Bob Newhart Show” and “Karen” (both 1975) and “Good Heavens” (1976) before making his television movie debut in NBC's “How to Break Up a Happy Divorce” (1976), starring Barbara Eden, Hal Linden and Peter Bonerz. The same year, he also had a notable supporting role of Jerry Jarvis in the Oscar nominated action/comedy film “Silver Streak,” directed by Arthur Hiller. Willard was cast in the regular role of a ruthless and futile district attorney named H.R. 'Bud' Nugent in the NBC sitcom “Sirota's Court” (1976-1977), opposite Owen Bush, Michael Constantine and Cynthia Harris. Willard gained wider popularity when he landed the role of Jerry Hubbard, the impossibly dense sidekick of Martin Mull on the Norman Lear created comedy/talk show series “Fernwood Tonight” (aka.”Fernwood 2 Night”) (syndicated, 1977). He reprised the role for the follow up show “America 2-Night” (1978). He received additional fame on the small screen thanks to his amusing stint as one of the hosts of the NBC series “Real People” (1979, 1981-1983) as well as for being sidekick to Alan Thicke on “Thicke of the Night” (1983). Meanwhile, Willard appeared in such films as “Fun with Dick and Jane” (1977), “Cracking Up” (1977), “Escape from Bogen County” (1977, TV), “Space Force” (1978, TV), “Flatbed Annie & Sweetiepie: Lady Truckers” (1979, TV), “Americathon” (1979), “How to Beat the High Co$t of Living” (1980), “First Family” (1980), “The Perfect Woman” (1981, TV), and “National Lampoon's Movie Madness” (1982). In 1984, he reunited with Christopher Guest for the Rob Reiner rock musical mockumentary “This Is Spinal Tap,” where Willard had an unforgettable role as Air Force Lt Bob Hoekstratton. The film has received general acclaim from critics though it was only a modest success upon its initial release. Willard starred as Hal Harrison, an American everyman, in the made for television mockumentary movie “The History of White People in America” (HBO, 1985), opposite Martin Mull, Mary Kay Place, and Edie McClurg. He also played the role in the two sequels: “The History of White People in America: Volume II” (1986) and “Portrait of a White Marriage” (1988). Willard co-hosted the syndicated series “What's Hot, What's Not” (1985), for which he was nominated for a 1986 Daytime Emmy in the category of Outstanding Talk or Service Show Host. He was a regular on the syndicated comedy series “D.C. Follies” (1987-1989) and appeared on the HBO special “Martin Mull Live! From North Ridgeville, Ohio” (1988). Additionally, the Ohio native performer played the supporting role of the town mayor in “Roxanne” (1987), a comedy film directed by Fred Schepisi and starring Steve Martin, who also wrote the screenplay, and Daryl Hannah, appeared in the Academy Award winning short “Ray's Male Heterosexual Dance Hall” (1987) and co-starred with Martin Mull and Mary Kay Place in the comedy film “Portrait of a White Marriage” (1988), directed by Harry Shearer. 1990 saw Willard host “Access America” and co-host revised “Candid Camera” (CBS). He appeared in the comedy film “High Strung” (1991, as a dodgy insurance agent), co-starred with Mull in the Comedy Central special “Subaru Presents Fair Enough: Martin Mull at the Iowa State Fair” (1994), and had recurring roles in such shows as the ABC sitcom “Family Matters” (1994-1996, as Iowa State) “Sister, Sister” (1996, as Mr. Mitushka), ABC's “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman” (1996-1997, as President Garner) and NBC's “Mad About You” (1998-1999, as Henry Vincent). However, it was his portrayal of Martin Mull's gay mate in several episode of ABC's “Roseanne” that put back the actor on the limelight. Willard returned to features with a notable supporting turn as Ron Albertson in “Waiting for Guffman” (1996), a mockumentary starring, co-written and directed by Christopher Guest. The film received acclaim from critics, but was not a success at the box office. In the following years, he had an uncredited part as a talk show host in the David Schwimmer comedy vehicle “Breast Men” (1997), was featured in the mockumentary “Elvis is Alive, I Swear, I Just Saw Him Eating a Ding-Dong Outside the Piggly Wiggly” (1998), played the supporting role of Craig Ziffer in the biopic “Permanent Midnight” (1998, starred Ben Stiller), appeared in the quirky independent comedy “Can't Stop Dancing” (1999, starred Ben Zook), was cast as the father of Devon Sawa in the horror/comedy “Idle Hands” (1999) and appeared as Mission Commander in Mike Myers' “Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me” (1999). 1999 also found Willard began his two episodic turn as Larry Little on the CBS sitcom “Ladies Man.” Entering the new millennium, Willard reunited with Guest for the improvisational comedy film “Best in Show” (2000), which Guest directed, co-wrote with Eugene Levy and also starred in. The film earned high critical kudos, and grossed over $20 million at the box office against a budget of $10 million. For his portrayal of Buck Laughlin, a babbling announcer at a celebrated dog show event, Willard picked up an American Comedy for Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture and a Boston Society of Film Critics for Best Supporting Actor as well as a Las Vegas Film Critics Society Sierra Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, a National Society of Film Critics nomination for Best Supporting Actor and a New York Film Critics Circle nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Willard next made a memorable cameo appearance as a flamboyant dance teacher in Adam Shankman's box office hit “The Wedding Planner” (2001, starred Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey), portrayed Alyson Hannigan’s uptight dad in “American Wedding” (2003), re-teamed with Guest for the mockumentary “A Mighty Wind” (2003), where he jointly nabbed a Florida Film Critics Circle for Best Ensemble Cast and a Phoenix Film Critics Society nomination for Best Ensemble Acting, and had a major role in “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy” (2004), opposite Will Ferrell and Christina Applegate. In between films, Willard kept on busy on the small screen. He portrayed real-life legendary sportscaster Howard Cosell in the TV movie “When Billie Beat Bobby” (2001), co-starred in the WB short-lived family sitcom “Maybe It’s Me” (2001-2002) and had recurring roles in “Ally McBeal” (2001, as Dr. Harold Madison), “Family Guy” (2002, as the voice of Dave Campbell) and NBC’s “Watching Ellie” (2003, as Fred). He played the regular role of Fred Hawkins on the short lived sitcom “A Minute with Stan Hooper” (Fox, 2003), starring and co-created by Norm Macdonald. 2003 found Willard starting a memorable recurring role as the well-mannered, spiritual, socially conservative Hank McDougal on the CBS popular comedy “Everybody Loves Raymond” (CBS, 1996-2006). The role brought him three consecutive Emmy nominations in the category of Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series from 2003 to 2005. In 2005, Willard provided the voice of Melvin - Alien dad in the Disney computer animated science fiction family comedy film “Chicken Little,” which was a box office success despite receiving a poor reception from critics, and appeared with Amanda Bynes, Chris Carmack and Jonathan Bennett in the romantic comedy film “Love Wrecked,” directed by Randal Kleiser. He went on to appear in the Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer comedy spoof “Date Movie” (2006, with Alyson Hannigan, Adam Campbell and Sophie Monk), Kurt Hale's “Church Ball” (2006, played a bishop), Gil Kenan's animated film “Monster House” (2006, voiced dad), Robert Cary's “Ira & Abby” (2006, with Jennifer Westfeldt, Chris Messina and Jason Alexander), “For Your Consideration” (2006, reunited with Christopher Guest), where he jointly nabbed a Gotham nomination for Best Ensemble Cast for his role as Chuck, “I'll Believe You” (2007, with David Alan Basche, Patrick Warburton and Siobhan Fallon.), “Epic Movie” (2007, reunited with Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer), Amy Heckerling's “I Could Never Be Your Woman” (2007, starred Michelle Pfeiffer and Paul Rudd) and “Fighting Words” (2007). From 2007 to 2008, Willard played the regular role of Marsh McGinley, WURG's fairly dim-witted sports anchor, on the Fox sitcom “Back to You,” opposite Kelsey Grammer, Patricia Heaton, Ayda Field, Laura Marano, Lily Jackson, Josh Gad and Ty Burrell. He provided the voice of bus driver Bob in PBS' children's series “Betsy's Kindergarten Adventures” (2008-2011). Willard's voice could also be heard in the Pixar animated film “WALL-E” (2008, as the president of the Buynlarge Corporation) as well as episodes of “King of the Hill” (2001-2008). In 2010, Willard received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his performance as Frank Dunphy in an episode of ABC's “Modern Family” called “Travels With Scout.” He could also be seen in such films as “Youth in Revolt” (2009, as Mr. Ferguson), “Expecting Mary” (2010), “Street Poet” (2010), “Holyman Undercover” (2010) and “Lilly's Light” (2010, TV). 2011 saw roles in “Fred & Vinnie,” “Wish Wizard” (short), “Your Love Never Fails” (video), “Accidentally in Love” (TV movie), “My Future Boyfriend” (TV movie), “12 Wishes of Christmas” (TV movie) and “Scooby-Doo! Legend of the Phantosaur” (video) (as the voice of Mr. Hubley). Additionally, he made guest appearances in television series “In Gayle We Trust” (as Pete), “Glory Daze,” “G.I. Joe: Renegades” (voice of Mayor Lockridge), “Retired at 35” (as Peter Dixon), “Funny or Die Presents...” (as Jeff Baker), “Franklin & Bash” (as Wallace Clayton), “Easy to Assemble” and “The Closer” (as Santa Jack). Recently, Willard appeared as Mr. Swift in an episode of Raising Hope” called “Mrs. Smartypants” (2012) and as George in an episode of “Rob” called “Dad Comes to Visit” (2012). His voice could be heard as Judd in an episode of “The Life & Times of Tim” called “Action Packed Heist/Fall Foliage” (2012). In addition, he played Mason Macgillivray in the made for television movie “I, Martin Short, Goes Home” (2012), opposite Martin Short and Robin Duke. Willard has completed filming the supporting role of Al Kaisar in the upcoming comedy/draam film “The Magic of Belle Isle,” starring Morgan Freeman, Virginia Madsen and Madeline Carroll. The Rob Reiner helmed is set to be released in the United States on July 6, 2012. Awards: Florida Film Critics Circle: Best Ensemble Cast, “A Mighty Wind,” 2004 American Comedy: Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture, “Best in Show,” 2001 Boston Society of Film Critics: Best Supporting Actor, “Best in Show,” 2000 |
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Fred Willard
Fred Willard
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