Fred Willard Dies at 86; Actor Perfected the Clueless Man

(Bloomberg) -- Fred Willard, the comedian known for movies and television programs including “Best in Show,” “This is Spinal Tap” and “Everybody Loves Raymond,” died of natural causes on Friday in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing his agent Mike Eisenstadt. He was 86.

“My father passed away very peacefully last night at the fantastic age of 86-years-old,” Willard’s daughter, Hope Mulbarger, said in a statement, according to Rolling Stone. “He kept moving, working and making us happy until the very end. We loved him so very much! We will miss him forever.”

Willard also appeared in the 1996 film “Waiting for Guffman,” the 2004 Will Ferrell comedy “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” and in the 2008 Oscar-winning animated film “WALL-E.”

The four-time Emmy nominee recently played a recurring role on “Modern Family” and is set to appear posthumously later this month as Steve Carell’s dad in the Netflix series “Space Force.”

“I like to play the guy that has no self-awareness, kind of the likable buffoon who will stick his foot in his mouth and say the wrong thing,” Willard told the New York Times in 2008.

Willard was born in Shaker Heights, Ohio. He earned a graduate degree in English from the Virginia Military Institute and had a stint in the U.S. Army stationed in Germany. He moved to New York in the early 1960s to train as an actor, the Los Angeles Times said.

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