Fred Willard

American actor and comedian (1933-2020)

OverviewAI-generated

Fred Willard (1933–2020) was an American comedian, film actor, television actor, and voice actor. Born Frederic Charles Willard in Cleveland, he was educated at the Virginia Military Institute and served in the United States Army. A member of the Democratic Party, he began his professional work period in 1959 and continued until his death.

Willard’s recorded works include *The Twilight Zone Radio Dramas* volumes 12, 14, and 19, as well as *Princess Naughty and the Voodoo Cadillac*. He died of natural causes in Los Angeles on May 15, 2020, and was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.

Synthesized by Vinony from 40 facts across 8 sources: Wikidata, Crossref, Open Library, MusicBrainz, Last.fm, TMDb, Wikiquote, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Film & TV

Shaker Heights, Ohio, USA

Frederick Charles Willard (born September 18, 1933 - May 15, 2020) was an American actor, comedian and voice over actor known for his improvisational comedy skills. He is known for his roles in the Christopher Guest mockumentary films This is Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration as well as television series D.C. Follies. He is an alumnus of The…

Known for

Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music — Self (archive footage)2025
Live at Mister Kelly's — Self2021
Captain Daddy — Daddy (voice)2021
Time Warp Vol. 1: Midnight Madness — Self2020
Have a Good Trip: Adventures in Psychedelics — The 'Just Hang On!' Man2020
Kaufmania! — Self2020
Time Warp Vol. 3: Comedy and Camp — Self2020
Lilly's Light: The Movie — Moylin2020
The Second City Presents: The Last Show Left on Earth2020
Space Force — Fred Naird2020

via TMDB

Key facts

Born: Frederic Charles Willard , ( 1933-09-18 ) September 18, 1933, Cleveland , Ohio, U.S.
Died: May 15, 2020 (2020-05-15) (aged 86), Los Angeles , California, U.S.
Resting place: Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles
Alma mater: Virginia Military Institute
Occupations: Actor comedian writer
Years active: 1957–2020
Spouse: Mary Lovell ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1968 ; died 2018 )

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of: human
Given name: Fred
Gender: male
Citizenship: United States
Place of birth: Cleveland
Place of death: Los Angeles
Occupation: television presenter
Political party: Democratic Party (United States)
Languages spoken: English language
Native language: English language
Military branch: United States Army
Official website: fredwillard.com
Image: FredWillard021109-R46 (50094589077).jpg
Number of children: 1

Show 12 more facts

Commons category: Fred Willard
date of birth: 1933-09-18
name in native language: Fred Willard
start of work period: 1959-00-00
birth name: Frederic Charles Willard
date of death: 2020-05-15
manner of death: natural causes
end of work period: 2020-00-00
place of burial: Forest Lawn Memorial Park
cause of death: coronary artery disease
social media followers: 107170
writing language: English language

Sources (13)

via Wikidata · CC0

~13 min read

Encyclopedic overview

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

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Fred Willard” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.