Fred Willard
Gender:	Male
Born:	September 18, 1939
Character:	Frank Dunphy
Occupation:	Actor
Years Active:	1963 - present

Fred Willard (born September 18, 1939) is an American actor who plays Frank Dunphy on Modern Family.

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. He is an alumnus of The Second City. He received three Emmy nominations for his recurring role on the TV series Everybody Loves Raymond as Robert Barone's father-in-law, Hank MacDougall. In 2010, he received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his role on the ABC TV series Modern Family as Phil Dunphy's father, Frank Dunphy.

He also received a Daytime Emmy Nomination for Outstanding Talk Show Host for What’s Hot, What’s Not. One of his earliest jobs was at The Second City, Chicago, where he shared the stage with Robert Klein, and David Steinberg. He was a founding member of the improvisational comedy group Ace Trucking Company. Fellow members of Ace included Michael Mislove and Bill Saluga. They performed sketches on The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson over fifty times and appeared regularly on This is Tom Jones.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Charity Work 4 Filmography 4.1 Television 5 Comments

Early lifeEdit

Willard's birth year has been erroneously reported as 1933. He grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio. His father, also named Fred Willard,^[1] worked at the financial department of a bank.^[2] His father died in 1951.^[1] Willard is a former U.S. soldier, having graduated from the Kentucky Military Institute. He also graduated college from the Virginia Military Institute. After his tour in the Army, Willard auditioned alongside Robert Klein for The Second City, which consisted of a nightclub manager and his employee. The audition helped the two secure the job. He is an alumnus of The Second City. He starred off Broadway Jules Pfeiffer's "Little Murders", directed by Alan Arkin. He was a founding member of the improvisational comedy group Ace Trucking Company. Fellow members of Ace included Bill Saluga and Patti Deutsch, among others. They appeared regularly on This is Tom Jones.

CareerEdit

Willard achieved wider fame as Martin Mull's sidekick, "Jerry Hubbard," on the television shows Fernwood 2 Night, Forever Fernwood, and America 2-Night, which parodied the nighttime talk shows of the day. He was an original cast member of the NBC comedy series Real People in 1979 and again from 1981-1983. He plays Tom Osbourne in the 1987 Academy Award winning short film, Ray’s Male Heterosexual Dance Hall. From 1987 to 1989, he starred as a bartender/straightman in Sid and Marty Krofft's D.C. Follies, and was host to the Krofft puppets portraying political figures of the time. In 1990, Willard hosted the cable TV show "Access America" on the Ha! Comedy Network. As part of that show, he appeared September 21, 1990 on Episode #7 of the cult Public-access television show Decoupage with Summer Caprice.^[3] In 1995, Willard reunited with his Fernwood co-star playing Scott, the romantic partner of Mull's character Leon Carp, on Roseanne. The couple married in the episode "December Bride," and Scott became a recurring character during the series' final two seasons. That same year, Willard had guest-starred in three episodes of Sister, Sister, starring Tia and Tamera Mowry; Willard played Carl Mitushka, a teacher at Roosevelt High who often spoke popular teenage slang terms in order to sound cool to his students. Willard guest-voiced a 1999 episode of The Simpsons titled Sunday, Cruddy Sunday as Wally Kogen, a travel agent. From 2001 to 2002, he played the father of five children on Maybe It's Me. He has also guest-starred in an episode of The Weird Al Show. He and Mull joined up again for The History of White People in America. He played Mayor Deebs in Roxanne starring Steve Martin. His “I would rather be with the people of this town than with the finest people in the world.” has been widely quoted. His most recent notable work has been in Christopher Guest films, such as A Mighty Wind, in which he played "Mike LaFontaine," a character known for his catchphrase, "Eh? Wha' happened?"; Best in Show, in which he portrayed "Buck Laughlin," a dog show announcer who offered up an unending stream of bad jokes and off-color comments; Waiting for Guffman, in which he played "Ron Albertson," a travel agent who performs in amateur stage productions with his wife; This Is Spinal Tap, in which he played a lieutenant on the military base where Spinal Tap play; and For Your Consideration as an obnoxious entertainment television show anchor.^[4] For his performance in Waiting for Guffman he received an American Comedy Award nomination and a Screen Actors Guild nomination for Funniest Supporting Actor. He received the Boston Film Critics Award, an American Comedy Award, a Sierra Award and a tribute from AFI for his portrayal as Buck Laughlin in Best in Show. He also appeared as KVWN news director "Ed Harken" in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and in American Wedding.

Willard had a recurring role as "Hank MacDougall" on the later seasons of CBS' Everybody Loves Raymond. He was nominated for an Emmy Award for this role in 2003, 2004, and 2005. Willard was also the host of a VH1 documentary series called Totally Obsessed about people obsessed with their hobbies. He appears as "Captain Ribmanman" in Episode 21 of Channel Frederator, a podcast from Kansas. Willard also landed a role on Family Guy as Dave Campbell, the father of a nudist family (first appearing in "From Method to Madness"). It is unclear whether or not he will reprise his role. Willard also voices "Officer Brown" in King of the Hill and has made an appearance on That '70s Show. Willard has appeared in one hundred sketches on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, as a government official, businessman, or other authority figure named Willard J. Fredericks, who is always drinking. In 2007 he played Dad in the Academy Award nominated, animated film, Monster House. He also hosted Saturday Night Live in 1978 (musical guest: Devo) and appeared twice on SNL's rival show, MADtv. Two years before this, he made a minor appearance in the movie Silver Streak as a bemused railroad train master.

He was the voice of a clueless companion to a lazy robot (Martin Mull) in one episode of the series Dexter's Laboratory and guest-starred on the Adult Swim cartoon Tom Goes to the Mayor. He acted in the Cartoon Network movie Re-Animated and played Vala Mal Doran's "father" in an episode of Stargate SG-1 in 2007. He appeared in an episode of the Adult Swim program Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!. He has also starred as the "Boogie Man" in an episode of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy and reprised his role in the movie Billy & Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure. His final appearance as "Boogey" occurred in Billy & Mandy: Wrath of the Spider Queen. In 2007, he made a guest appearance on the children's TV series Come on Over. He has also guest-starred on an episode of The Boondocks, providing the voice of "Joe Petto." In 2008, he guest starred on Transformers Animated as the Decepticon arms dealer Swindle. [1][2]Willard in April 2008Willard was cast as a sportscaster in the television series Back to You, which premiered on the Fox Network on September 19, 2007. He also made an appearance in the 2007 sci-fi comedy I'll Believe You, and he plays Shelby Forthright, the CEO of the Buy 'n Large Corporation, in live-action segments in the Pixar animated film WALL-E.

Willard completed a sold-out run of his "one-man show" Fred Willard: Alone At Last!, advertised as a one-man show but actually featuring a cast of 10, and received Los Angeles Artistic Director Awards for Best Comedy and Best Production. Willard has several stage roles to his credit, including Off-Broadway performances in “Little Murders,” directed by Alan Arkin, and “Arf,” directed by Richard Benjamin. His regional roles include “Call Me Madam” in Chicago and the musicals “Promises, Promises,” with Jason Alexander, and “Anything Goes” with Rachel York, both in Los Angeles. He starred in Wendy Wasserstein's “Isn't It Romantic” and off Broadway in “Elvis and Juliet”. He has completed a RiffTrax with Michael J. Nelson for the movie Missile to the Moon.^[5]

He was seen roasting William Shatner in the Comedy Central special The Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner on August 12, 2006. Also at the roast was George Takei, with whom Willard performed in the improv show Thank God You're Here.

Willard is the voice of the character "Ed Warmer" in the PlayStation Portable game Hot Brain.

In 2007, Willard took the role of "Aslo" in Epic Movie.

Willard was part of the one-night celebrity-performed staging of Howard Ashman's unproduced musical Dreamstuff. The musical was reimagined by Howard's partners Marsha Malamet and Dennis Green and performed one night only at Los Angeles's Hayworth Theatre as part of the Bruno Kirby celebrity reading series, directed by Ugly Betty's Michael Urie. Willard starred in the show alongside Eden Espinosa, Vicki Lewis, David Blue (actor), and Luke Macfarlane.

On October 5, 2008, he hosted the Nickelodeon Fido Awards.^[6]

In 2009 he played Mr Ferguson in Youth In Revolt starring Michael Cera.

Willard played Frank Dunphy, father of Phil (Ty Burrell), in several episodes of the show Modern Family.^[7] For his performance, he was nominated at the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.^[8]

On September 16, 2011, Willard was honored as Pioneer in Comedy at Burbank International Film Festival.^[9] Willard was also hired as the LaQuinta spokesperson for a series of commercials airing in 2012.

In 2012 he played Al Kaiser in the Rob Reiner film, The Magic of Belle Isle starring Morgan Freeman and Virginia Madsen.

In July 2012, Willard served as host for the PBS series Market Warriors. The show is described as a nationwide treasure hunt along the lines of American Pickers. After PBS suddenly dropped Willard immediately following his arrest, from which he has been exonerated, with the charge being dropped, it was also reported that Antiques Roadshow host Mark L. Walberg would take over the role of Willard on the show.

Recently he has completed The Birder starring Tom Cavanagh opening in 2013. A mild mannered birder seeks revenge on a younger rival, after losing the highly coveted Head of Ornithology position at the National Park. ^[10]

Willard will join Ed Begley,Jr and Michael McKean for the upcoming HBO documentary style comedy, Family Tree from Christopher Guest.^[11]

Charity WorkEdit

For his considerable, ongoing dedication to charity works with various non-profits Big Brothers / Big Sisters, Fred and his wife Mary were honored in 2010 with the Golden Star Award. Fred was also honored by Actors and Others for Animals with the Man of The Year Award in 2008, and the couple also works with City of Hope, John Wayne Cancer Society, PETA and dozens more, Fred received a commendation from the City of Los Angeles and Mayor Antonio Villaraigarosa for “outstanding humanitarian and philanthropic work helps to further the goal of making the City of Los Angeles a better place.”

FilmographyEdit

[3][4]Willard with Jack Betts in November 2010[5][6]Willard in April 2011[7][8]Willard at "Cats for Cats", August 2011File:Fred Willard at Farm Sanctuary Gala.jpgFred Willard at Farm Sanctuary Gala, NY===Film===

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1967	Teenage Mother	Coach
1975	Hustle	Interrogator
1976	Chesty Anderson, USN	Peter Linden
1976	Silver Streak	Jerry Jarvis
1977	Fun With Dick and Jane	Bob
1979	Americathon	Vincent Vanderhoff
1980	How to Beat the High Co$t of Living	Robert
1980	First Family	Presidential Assistant Feebleman
1982	National Lampoon's Movie Madness	President Robert Fogerty
1984	This Is Spinal Tap	Colonel on Military Base
1985	Moving Violations	Terrence 'Doc' Williams
1987	Roxanne	Mayor Deebs
1987	Ray's Male Heterosexual Dance Hall	Tom Osborne	Short film
1988	Portrait of a White Marriage	Hal Harrison
1991	High Strung	Insurance Salesman
1992	Married... with Children	Condo salesman, Stan Mendelson
1995	Prehysteria! 3	Thomas MacGregor
1996	Waiting for Guffman	Ron Albertson
1997	Breast Men	Talk Show Host	Uncredited
1998	Permanent Midnight	Craig Ziffer
1999	Can't Stop Dancing	Chester
1999	Idle Hands	Dad Tobias
1999	Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me	Mission Commander
2000	Chump Change	Steve's Manager
2000	Best in Show	Buck Laughlin
2001	The Wedding Planner	Basil St. Mosely
2001	How High	Philip Huntley
2002	Teddy Bears' Picnic	Senator Roger Dickey
2003	A Mighty Wind	Mike LaFontaine
2003	American Wedding	Harold Flaherty
2003	Nobody Knows Anything!	Mr. McClintock
2004	Killer Diller	Ned
2004	50 Ways to Leave Your Lover	Bucky Brandt
2004	Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle	Dr. Willoughby
2004	Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy	Ed Harken
2004	Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie	Ed Harken
2005	Chicken Little	Melvin - Alien Dad	Voice only
2006	Date Movie	Bernie Funkyerdoder
2006	Church Ball	Bishop Linderman
2006	Monster House	Dad	Voice only
2006	Ira & Abby	Michael Willoughby
2006	For Your Consideration	Chuck
2007	I'll Believe You	Mr. Fratus
2007	Epic Movie	Aslo
2007	Fighting Words	Longfellow
2007	I Could Never Be Your Woman	Marty
2008	Harold	Dr. Pratt
2008	WALL-E	Shelby Forthright, BnL CEO
2010	Holyman Undercover	Richard
2010	Youth in Revolt	Mr. Ferguson
2010	Expecting Mary	Jerry Zee
2013	Anchorman: The Legend Continues	Ed Harken

TelevisionEdit

Year	Television show	Role	Notes
1966	Pistols 'n' Petticoats	Ben	Episode "Quit Shootin' Folks"
1968	Get Smart	Lundy, Agent 198	Episode "A Tale of Two Tails"
1975	The Bob Newhart Show	John Emil Tobin	Episode "Tobin's Back in Town"
1976	How to Break Up a Happy Divorce	Lance Colson	Television film
1977	Fernwood 2 Night	Jerry Hubbard	Series, 65 Episodes - starring role
1977	Escape from Bogen County	Pearson	Television film
1978	America 2-Night	Jerry Hubbard	Series, 65 Episodes - starring role
1979	Flatbed Annie and Sweetiepie: Lady Truckers	Jack LaRosa	Television film
1979	Salem's Lot	Larry Crockett	Mini-series
1981	Pen 'n' Inc.	Ralph	Television film
1981–86	The Love Boat	Various roles	Three episodes
1984	Mama's Family	Willie Potts (a.k.a. "Willie the Weasel")	Episode "Mama Buys a Car"
1985	The History of White People in America	Hal Harrison	Television film
1985	Lots of Luck	A.J. Foley	Television film
1985	Faerie Tale Theatre	Paul Link (second little pig)	Episode "The Three Little Pigs"
1986	The History of White People in America: Volume II	Hal Harrison	Television film
1988–89	D.C. Follies	The Bartender	19 episodes
1989	My Secret Identity	Jay Bennett	Episode "For Old Time's Sake"
1991	The Golden Girls	Bob	Episode "Dateline:Miami"
1994–96	Family Matters	Vice Principal Mallet	Three episodes
1995–97	Roseanne	Scott	8 episodes
1996	Back to Back	Loan Officer	Television film
1996	Friends	Mr. Lipson	Episode "The One After the Super Bowl: Part 1"
1996	Sister, Sister	Mr. Mitushka	3 episodes
1996–97	Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman	President Garner	3 episodes
1997	Space Ghost Coast to Coast	Himself	Guest
1998–99	Mad About You	Henry Vincent	5 episodes
1999	The Pooch and the Pauper	President	Television film
1999	The Simpsons	Wally Kogan	Episode "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday"
2001–02	Maybe It's Me	Jerry Stage	22 episodes
2001–08	King of the Hill	Various roles	Seven episodes; voice only
2001	When Billie Beat Bobby	Howard Cosell	Television film
2002	Family Guy	Dave Campbell	Two episodes; voice only
2003	National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure	Professor Doornitz	Television film
2003	That '70s Show	Charlie Miller	1 episode
2003–04	A Minute with Stan Hooper	Fred Hawkins	13 episodes
2003–05	Everybody Loves Raymond	Hank MacDougall	13 episodes
2003–07	Kim Possible	Jack Hench	Three episodes; voice only
2004–05	Saturday Night Live	'Bear City' Narrator	Voice only; uncredited
2006	Re-Animated	Milt Appleday	Television film
2007	Billy & Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure	The Boogey Man	Television film
2007	Stargate SG-1	Jacek	Episode "Family Ties"
2007–08	Back to You	Marsh McGinley	17 episodes
2008	Pushing Daisies	The Great Hermann	Episode "Oh Oh Oh It's Magic"
2008	Larry the Cable Guy's Star-Studded Christmas Extravaganza	Various roles	Television film
2008	Transformers Animated	Swindle	Two episodes
2008	The Boondocks (TV series)	Mr G. Petto	S02.E11 The S word
2009	Everybody Hates Chris	Cop	Episode "Everybody Hates the Car"
2009	Wizards of Waverly Place	Mr. Stuffleby	Two episodes
2009	Modern Family	Frank Dunphy	Two episodes
2010	Castle	Hank McPhee	Episode: "The Late Shaft"
2010	Chuck	Craig Turner	Episode "Chuck Versus the Role Models"
2011	G.I. Joe: Renegades	Mayor	Episode: "Fire Fight"
2011	The Closer	Santa Jack	Episode: "You Have The Right To Remain Jolly"
2012	Raising Hope	Mr. Swift	Season 2, Episode: "Mrs. Smartypants"
2012	Trust Us With Your Life	Host	Season 1, 8 Episodes
2012	Market Warriors	Host	Season 1