Fred Willard, Who Played Characters ‘Gloriously Out of Their Depth,’ Dies at 86 (original) (raw)

Television|Fred Willard, Who Played Characters ‘Gloriously Out of Their Depth,’ Dies at 86

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/16/arts/television/fred-willard-dead.html

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He was nominated for Emmys for his roles on “Modern Family” and “Everybody Loves Raymond,” and was a frequent collaborator with the director Christopher Guest.

Fred Willard in Los Angeles in 2011. In his long career, he appeared in hundreds of films and television movies and episodes.Credit...Matt Sayles/Associated Press

Published May 16, 2020Updated May 18, 2020

Fred Willard, the Emmy Award-nominated comic actor best known for his scene-stealing roles in Christopher Guest’s improvised ensemble film comedies like “Best in Show” and “Waiting for Guffman” and on sitcoms like “Modern Family” and “Everybody Loves Raymond,” died on Friday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 86.

His death was confirmed by his agent, Mike Eisenstadt. No specific cause was given.

Mr. Willard made an art of playing characters who, as The New Yorker once noted, are “gloriously out of their depth.”

There was Buck Laughlin, the dog-show announcer in Mr. Guest’s “Best in Show” (2000), who wondered why breeders didn’t want miniature schnauzers to be larger, believed that Christopher Columbus had captained the Mayflower and thought the perfect lighthearted comment to make as the terriers made their entrance was, “To think that in some countries these dogs are eaten.”

Mr. Willard received best supporting actor nominations for the role from the National Society of Film Critics and the New York Film Critics Circle.

There was Ron Albertson, a travel agent trying his hand at community theater, in “Waiting for Guffman” (1996). When Ron wants a doctor acquaintance’s medical opinion, he begins to unzip his pants in the middle of dinner at a Chinese restaurant. And there was Mike LaFontaine, a laughably crude show business manager, in “A Mighty Wind” “ (2003).

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