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Four-time Emmy award-winning comedian Fred Willard, who appeared in films including âAnchormanâ and âThis is Spinal Tapâ and television shows such as âModern Family,â has died aged 86, his agent announced Saturday, according to AFP.
The international media organisation reports that tributes poured in for the actor, with long-time friend and fellow showbiz veteran Jamie Lee Curtis tweeting âThanks for the deep belly laughs Mr. Willard.â
âFred Willard was the funniest person that Iâve ever worked with. He was a sweet, wonderful man,â tweeted actor Steve Carrell.
Willard himself had just paid homage to two other showbiz legends, singer Little Richard and fellow comedian Jerry Stiller, who also passed away this month.
âA bad time! Just getting over the loss of Little Richard, and now I learn my old friend Jerry Stiller has passed away. He was a good friend and a very funny man,â he wrote on May 11, in the last thread on his Twitter account.
âI met him in the 60s when we played in the same clubs in The Village as he and Anne Meara. Unfortunately for us, they were much funnier! We couldnât be jealous, so we became good friends instead.â
Modern audiences knew Willard as the TV father of actor Ty Burrellâs character Phil Dunphy on ABCâs hit sitcom âModern Family.â
But his decades-long career saw him make audiences laugh in ensemble films such as âWaiting for Guffman,â âA Mighty Windâ and âBest in Show.â
Earlier audiences encountered him as Jerry Hubbard, sidekick to actor Martin Mull in the 70âs talk show spoof âFernwood Tonight.â
Willardâs stage career began when he moved to New York in the late 1950s.
His initial work included a production of âDesperate Hoursâ at a local YMCA, where he worked with future comedy partner Vic Grecco.
They later performed under the moniker Willard & Grecco in the Greenwich Village area.
The comedy duo found some success touring and made appearances on âThe Dean Martin Show,â âThe Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,â and âThe Tonight Show.â
Willard also had a recurring role as Hank MacDougall on the later seasons of CBSâs âEverybody Loves Raymond.â
He was cast as a sportscaster in the television series âBack to You,â which premiered on the Fox Network in 2007.
The Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters presented Willard with the Art Gilmore Career Achievement Award at their celebrity luncheon in 2015.
His agent, Mike Eisenstadt, did not specify the cause of Willardâs death, nor his whereabouts at the time.
(AFP)
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