This person died in 2020 at age 86. Over the years he was a favorite among talk-show hosts, making at least 50 guest appearances on “The Tonight Show”. He made an art of playing characters who are “gloriously out of their depth” and gleefully self-unaware. He appeared in more than 700 films and television episodes over a half-century. He was nominated for Emmy Awards for his roles on “Modern Family” and “Everybody Loves Raymond”. He was a frequent collaborator with the director Christopher Guest with iconic performances in “Waiting for Guffman”, “Best in Show”, and “A Mighty Wind”. Today’s dead celebrity is Fred Willard.

Famous & Gravy is created and co-hosted by Amit Kapoor and Michael Osborne. This episode was produced by Jacob Weiss and features a guest appearance from Saul Austerlitz. Visit our website at famousandgravy.com and also enjoy our free mobile quiz game at deadoraliveapp.com

If you enjoyed this episode, you may also like Episode 39 “Super Funkhouser” (Bob Einstein) and Episode 46 “Love and OJ Jokes” (Norm Macdonald)

LINKS:

Transcript of this episode

New York Times Obituary for Fred Willard

12 Unforgettable Fred Willard Film and TV Appearances

Fred Willard scene from ‘Best in Show’

“Wha’ Happened?” clip from ‘A Mighty Wind’

Fred Willard ‘Bold and the Beautiful’ appearance

Dead or Alive quiz game

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Best in Show (Fred Willard)

Famous and Gravy