Talk:Fred Willard

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Untitled[edit]

this is kind of just a fan page - i don't have the energy to fix it - anyone else feel like it?

It’s very disorganized, and doesn’t seem to follow a logical progression; for example, it states that he is notable for being in Everybody Loves Raymond, and then gives This is Spinal Tap as recent notable work… If someone had the knowledge and time, it might be worth breaking out the Chris Guset movies as a notable subsection, rather than a list of titles and character descriptions. Jock123 (talk) 09:04, 23 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]


- "Fred was a graduate in the Class of 1951 at Kentucky Military Institute, Lyndon, Kentucky. The yearbook also contains class prophesy, authored and signed by Fred. He certainly was not 12 years old when graduating, and was a member of the varsity baseball team. So there is an error in his birth year listing of 1939 ( at least 6 years)."

- IMDB confirms the 1939 birthdate. Seeing as there is no substantial "proof" verifying the 1951 graduation, I suggest this point be removed from the article.

- The KMI alumni page says he graduated in 1951. http://www.kmialumni.org/Fred_Willard.html This page includes a story from a fellow KMI graduate who spoke with Fred Willard and gives the 1951 date. The Virginia Military Institute says he graduated from there in 1955. (VMI is equivalent to a standard college program so presumably the vast majority of it's students start at approximately 18 and graduate at approximately 22, like any college.) This VMI publication says that Fred Willard is a member of the Class of '55. http://www.vmikeydets.com/articles/artfiles/71240_VMI_&_Facilities_History.pdf It hardly seems credible that he graduated from VMI at the age of 16. HIs academic arc totally supports a birthdate much earlier than 1939.Kentucho 15:10, 17 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

- I was a classmate of Fred at Shaker Heights Junior High School but he left to go to high school in Kentucky. i graduated from Shaker Heights High in 1951. I remember seeing him in a New York production of Little Murders sometime in the late 1960's or early 70's. I didn't recognize that he was in the play until i read the program because he had a wonderful pompadour hair style in junior high but in the play he had a buzz cut. I've always enjoyed his work and find him a real talent.


Parts of this article have been plagerized verbatum from the IMDB website.

What is this? Doesn't seem very wiki to me.

I finally remember who the actor in the stage coach AD for a storage company was. I am certain it is Fred Willard, unless there is an old Western movie and an actor who highly resembles him in it and the words of the actor are changed to cite the value of using a storage building instead of lugging unnecessary baggage across the frontier. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Skeeter451 (talk • contribs) 17:00, 30 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Not a single mention of the reality TV show "Real People", where he was the host alongside DSarah Purcell? That is where he got his big break and became a known face to America. It was 79-83. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pete71 (talk • contribs) 20:24, 10 June 2008 (UTC) Fred was arrested once. It was in the news.[reply]

Transformers[edit]

According to info from BotCon 2008, Willard is set to voice the Decepticon Swindle in Transformers Animated. --75.181.69.137 (talk) 18:52, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Fred Willard was bartender in syndicated TV show D.C. Follies[edit]

Fred appeared with the Sid and Marty Krofft puppets in syndicated series "D.C. Follies" from 1987-89. He was the only live regular on the show. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.217.44.78 (talk) 22:37, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Date of birth/age[edit]

IMDb is not a reliable source. What it says on the matter is meaningless for our purposes. This is also the case for NNDB.

When he graduated from whatever school tells us one thing and one thing only about his date of birth, it was before the graduation date. Making assumptions about how old he may have been when he graduated and doing some math to arrive at a purported birth date is original research.

Long story short, until we have a reliable source that gives his birth date, we have nothing to discuss on the topic. - SummerPhD (talk) 18:54, 10 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, we do have sources normally considered "reliable" in other entertainment-related articles, eg [1]. There is no apparent dispute over the date of birth, only the year. Gimmetrow 19:19, 10 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The reference used for his date of birth is no longer available. There is currently a news story about this man, and several sources are using 1933 as his year of birth. According to TMZ, not a reliable source here, they state that "official records show that he was born on September 18, 1933 ... NOT 1939". Are these "official records" available publicly for use in this article? ElvisFan1981 (talk) 16:00, 19 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The Los Angeles Times, a reliable source, on July 6 gave his age as 72: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-fred-willard-20120707,0,5324527.story .--Tenebrae (talk) 20:50, 19 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]
HOWEVER, Susan King, the article's writer, e-mailed me back (as a professional courtesy to a fellow journalist) to say that she relied on IMDb, so scratch that. Perhaps TheSmokingGun.com will post the arrest report, which theoretically would have his age? --Tenebrae (talk) 21:36, 19 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

According to TMZ they claim they have official records that he was born in 1933. Now while TMZ would not meet wikipedia's reliability standards I assume they are referring to Wilards arrest report which would be official. Either way I have left both dates in the article.Duhon (talk) 00:47, 20 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

1966 minus 1939 is 27, not 17. Likewise, 1968 minus 1939 is 29. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.189.186.124 (talk) 03:17, 1 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Keep in mind that with age math, you may or may not have already had your birthday in a given year. So if you were born June 30, 1940, then for half of 1960 you would be 19 and the other half you'd be 20. Likewise using the census data to count backwards only works for some degree of error, especially if you don't know the date of the census interview. Paulc206 (talk) 17:22, 13 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think we should be guessing or trying to figure it out at all. It seems to me that doing so would fall into the category of original research which we aren't supposed to be adding into articles. Unless we can find a reliable source (imdb and TMZ aren't reliable sources, I see they were mentioned above), his birth date shouldn't be guessed or figured out, in my opinion. -- WV ● ✉ ✓ 17:27, 13 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Willard gives his birth year as 1939 in both his Archive of American Television interview (http://www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/fred-willard) and in the New Yorker piece by Tad Friend, where he says of his dad "I was twelve when he died, in 1951." (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/07/03/fred-willard-tourist). In addition, multiple professionally edited books list 1939 as his birth year. The 1940 census data (below) is interesting, but it is a transcription of the data, not the actual document, so without a second source, it is unreliable. 184.153.102.212 (talk) 15:04, 18 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

please clarify the sentence...[edit]

"He auditioned alongside Robert Klein for The Second City, which consisted of a nightclub manager and his employee." What consisted of a nightclub manager and his employee? The # of employees at Second City at the time? The roles they were given for their audition? Kingturtle (talk) 15:41, 11 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Get Smart (1969?)[edit]

I see a Fred Willard playing a rookie agent in Get Samrt's fourth season. Is this him? 84.229.109.116 (talk) 18:32, 25 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Yes. -- megA (talk) 15:29, 16 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Comedy duo with Vic Grec(c)o (1963-1968??)[edit]

From 1963 to 1968, according to imdb, he appeared together with Vic Greco as comedy duo "Vic Grecco and Fred Willard", for example on Ed Sullivan's "Toast of the Town" and other shows, until a final joint appearance in "Get Smart" as two rookie agents. (Vic Greco seems to have disappeared from showbiz shortly afterwards.) This seems to have been his TV or even his showbiz debut before Second City, so I think it should be mentioned. I can't find any stage appearances. Anyone know more? -- megA (talk) 15:35, 16 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Pictures[edit]

Do we really need to see four pictures of him from the last three years? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.198.211.245 (talk) 03:52, 12 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Ace Trucking Company[edit]

Willard was in the Ace Trucking Company improv comedy group, but the link in the article is not to that group, although they are mentioned in that article. Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 17:08, 11 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You're correct, I removed the link, and also added the other members. Now if only there was an actual Wiki page for the legendary comedy troupe itself. I recall seeing them frequently on many comedy and variety TV shows in the late 60's and early 70's. With the amount of exposure and popularity they enjoyed for that brief time (not to mention that they were absolutely hilarious), I'm surprised nobody created a site yet for them. I tried creating a site for something else one time on Wikipedia, but somehow screwed it up. Maybe I'll try again for these guys.

Fgoron2000 (talk) 22:18, 9 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

1938 Year of birth?[edit]

The article claims "He graduated college from the Virginia Military Institute in 1955". I'm not sure how reliable this source is, but it supports this claim, saying that this degree was a "bachelor's degree in English" and that he was born in 1938. This implies that he earned a bachelor's degree before 18 years of age? This seems unlikely. Justin W Smith (talk) 03:51, 20 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

1940 Census Data[edit]

There is information in the (recently released) 1940 census data showing the family of a "Fred Willard" with a 6 year old child named "Frederick". This may be consistent with a 1933 birth year. This data can be seen through ancestry.com. 

Name:	Fred C Willard
Age:	38
Estimated Birth Year:	abt 1902
Gender:	Male
Race:	White
Birthplace:	Ohio
Marital Status:	Married
Relation to Head of House:	Head
Home in 1940:	Shaker Heights, Cuyahoga, Ohio
View Map
Street:	Riedham Road
House Number:	Down 3571
Farm:	No
Inferred Residence in 1935:	Shaker Heights, Cuyahoga, Ohio
Residence in 1935:	Same Place
Resident on farm in 1935:	No
Sheet Number:	8B
Number of Household in Order of Visitation:	196

Household Members:	
Name	Age
Fred C Willard	38
Ruth Willard	38
Frederick Willard	6

I should also include the "source" information provided by ancestry.com: 

Source Citation: Year: 1940; Census Place: Shaker Heights, Cuyahoga, Ohio; Roll: T627_3058; Page: 8B; Enumeration District: 18-287.

(Thanks to User:Boppy1942 for the pointer.) Justin W Smith (talk) 17:17, 25 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Census data is indisputably a reliable source, meaning that the article should not list his birth as in 1939.174.73.5.74 (talk) 07:26, 1 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Birthdate inconsistency between mobile and desktop Wikipedia page[edit]

The mobile version of this page (en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Willard) shows a different birth year (1938 rather than 1933). I understand there's some disagreement regarding his birth year, but really the reason I'm pointing this out is because it's strange that there's a difference between the two versions at all. If this is a commonality between mobile and desktop pages, I apologize for my amateurishness. I've just never come across this before now, haha. ⚓ nbmatt 06:45, 7 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Television Credit Error[edit]

One minor error. He is credited as playing Pierce Hawthorne in his guest appearance of Community. Im pretty sure that was Chevy's part wasnt it? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.31.242.174 (talk) 15:41, 23 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified[edit]

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Direct TV: Cable Corp merges with Cable World[edit]

Fred Willard stars with Jeffrey Tambor in TV spots for Direct TV late-2015. In typical Willard style the ads are hilarious with off-the-wall gags like bringing "peel-and-eat shrimp" for the board meeting brunch. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.115.238.102 (talk) 05:09, 22 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified[edit]

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1933 or 1939[edit]

Was he born in 1933 or 1939. The 1940 Census states he was 6 on April 1, 1940, his 7th birthday being September 18, while he himself has stated that he was 12 years old when his father died in 1951. He graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 1955 with a Bachelor's degree in English. If it was a 1 or 2 year difference, it wouldn't matter as much. Which one is it?

The Perfect Woman (1981)[edit]

Fred Willard was also in The Perfect Woman (1981), a TV movie. That should be in his filmography or TV-ography. Felicity4711 (talk) 22:24, 31 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Rifftrax[edit]

Mr Willard was a co-host on an episode "Missile to the Moon" of RiffTrax (Mystery Science Theater 3000) in 2007 https://rifftrax.fandom.com/wiki/Fred_Willard — Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.152.37.108 (talk) 02:03, 13 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Charity work[edit]

I have deleted the "Charity work" section for lack of appropriate sourcing. Describing it as "considerable, ongoing dedication" without third-party sourcing drifts into the direction of MOS:PUFF. My non-exhaustive search for references turned up this and this. More third-party coverage than my limited search would be needed to build a sound section. BiologicalMe (talk) 14:48, 19 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

2605:E000:100B:73:E0BF:59F8:F9C8:7D8 (talk) 06:53, 20 May 2019 (UTC)Can some explain why we have to have Fred's arrest in this article? The guy has a 50 year career in entertainment, does anyone really think anyone is coming to Wikipedia to find out about him getting arrested in a movie theatre?[reply]

This is some weird cultural quirk where we feel we have to shine the spotlight on negative things. Fred's arrest is trivial, irrelevant and really not at all interesting.

I propose Fred's arrest be deleted from this article

We don't bury things that were well covered in reliable sources. Given that it cost him a job with PBS, it is not trivial. See the due weight policy. BiologicalMe (talk) 12:02, 20 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]

It seems terribly inconstant to include his arrest details, yet bury his horrifing involvement in the 1981 TV movie The Perfect Woman, where and why does Wikipedia draw the line? proof https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZbhHuZO_fI&t=1s

Fred-rick?[edit]

Why does the article make a point of saying 'he pronounced his birth name as "Fred-rick Charles Willard", but did not specify the spelling of his first name, and noted that his father was also "Fred-rick Willard" but with a different spelling.'? "Fred-rick" is the standard pronunciation of "Frederick" in modern English, so it makes more sense without the hyphen. I'm going to alter this sentence.Sadiemonster (talk) 08:00, 17 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Sadiemonster: I think I may have also reverted you when I reverted a bunch of other stuff today; you weren't the target for that. To the point: I tried to make a judgement call on that. The sourcing problem with his first name is subtle but significant: He said that he and his father's names are spelled differently. So at least one of them must be nonstandard. And then he spelled out his mother's maiden name, but not his or his fathers' names. So, I specified a neutral written pronunciation that nobody would mistake for the correct written form of either name, so that it's clear that, even though it's the "standard" pronunciation both times, a reader won't glance at the sentence and infer that Fred Willard said on tape that his name was "Frederick" as commonly spelled. We don't know which person's name, if either, had the most common spelling. (Someone might try and wiggle out of this by saying that it must be the father's name that is nonstandard because someone would have caught the actor's/son's spelling by now. But we can't even get his birthdate nailed down definitively from that interview right now, let alone a spelling situation that he said was unusual. If one looks closely at the sources we have so far, there is no first-party source for the father's or son's spelling. There is a 1940 Census record, and sometimes Wikipedia editors absurdly declare Census sheets as definitive, but this Census page itself proves that stance to be ridiculous: The Census enumerator, speaking to Ruth, the mother of the family, wrote "Fred C" for the father and "Frederick" with no middle initial for the son, so clearly the enumerator was not asking for spellings, but instead was writing down whatever was close enough. So, in the face of Willard's own claim, either his or his father's name must be nonstandard, and I didn't want some Wikipedia fly-by do-gooder to flat-out claim that the actor's name is "Frederick" just because the Census line says it, or because a bunch of low-effort tertiary sources just assumed the common spelling over the years without knowing or caring that the actor himself indicated that it wasn't so straightforward.) This probably could be solved if someone releases his birth certificate from Cuyahoga County, Ohio. --Closeapple (talk) 22:23, 17 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Age of Death[edit]

According to his daughter and sources he died at the age of 86. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.122.216.158 (talk) 14:51, 17 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

If one looks at the discussions, this seems to be a controversial thing. I would guess that he shaved a few years off as it's sometimes more convenient for an actor. --Clibenfoart (talk) 15:00, 17 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

This looks similar to the Ric Ocasek dispute. I personally do not see any need to contend 1939 as valid; there is too much evidence to the contrary. The 1951 high school graduation (and his daughter's word) cinches it for me. But clearly this needs further discussion. Nohomersryan (talk) 21:35, 17 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

But his daughter's word (or possibly her publicist's words in her name) say 86 according to Rolling Stone, which kicks it back to 1933–1934. I suspect I'm going to post a pretty long analysis here so that we can point to it when some drive-bys start "helping" by sourcing from fourth-party websites. --Closeapple (talk) 22:39, 17 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I was implying 1939 was not correct, fwiw. Nohomersryan (talk) 01:08, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Per The New York Times Obituary -> "Frederick Charles Willard Jr. was born on Sept. 18, 1933, in Cleveland, the only child of Frederick Willard, who worked in finance, and Ruth (Weinman) Willard. He grew up in Shaker Heights, the affluent suburb". I don't like the current setup as it looks sloppy. Perhaps a (September 18, 1933[note a] – May 15, 2020) with a note added next to the date of birth stating the uncertainty of his birthday but seeing that multiple obits say he was 86 years old when he died that that is what's being reflected on the article (it would also reduce the size of the early life section seeing it's mainly about this uncertainty) --TDKR Chicago 101 (talk) 04:51, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

There are also sources about his father’s death occurring in 1945.2605:6000:1526:450B:448E:D576:264F:50F9 (talk) 07:28, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@2605:6000:1526:450B:448E:D576:264F:50F9: Can you point us to some of the sources? I can't find them easily. --Closeapple (talk) 05:27, 21 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Not sure why his DOB has been removed. It was always common in Hollywood for actors to understate their age in order to broaden their audience appeal. The evidence seems to overwhelmingly point to him being 86. It should be restored with a note attached. --Jkaharper (talk) 10:52, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

  • Howdy hello folks. I have just full protected this page for disputes over his age. I recommend y'all talk the issue out here, and figure out exactly how to cover his age, be it choosing one date, putting two dates, putting "birth disputed" or what have you. Should four days of protection not be enough to solve the issue, ask me for an extension. CaptainEek Edits Ho Cap'n!⚓ 16:24, 25 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  • Imdb says 1933 so the age should be 86. OcelotCreeper (talk) 17:10, 25 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@OcelotCreeper: See WP:IMDB/BLP and WP:RS/IMDB. IMDb is untraceable user-submitted noise: There's no way to tell which dates are copy-pastes from God-knows-where, which are publicist requests, which are some user's "recollection" because they knew someone's brother 20 years ago, and which are just made up. Only the writers' credits actually tagged as WGA, and the MPAA movie ratings, are reliably sourced on IMDb. In other words, it's basically worse than a random message board, because at least on a message board someone can reply and point out some nonsense immediately. --Closeapple (talk) 18:43, 25 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@Closeapple: Maybe then the birthdate section should have a note mentioning the 1933 1939 issue. OcelotCreeper (talk) 18:46, 25 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I found a Frederick Charles Willard who died in 1945 in Ohio.2605:6000:1526:450B:1C24:ADDA:CDBF:2BD0 (talk) 22:37, 25 May 2020 (UTC) https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=60525&h=162573817&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=edl3&_phstart=successSource[reply]

With Fred Willard, Jr.'s 1933 birthdate, this would tie in with Willard saying his father died when he (i.e. Fred, Jr.) was 12. Everything -- the family statement, census records, school graduation dates, and now this -- points to the 1933 birthdate. I understand still noting the 1939 claim, mind you. 70.54.30.101 (talk) 23:29, 8 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Space Force[edit]

Article is locked. Please add links for Space Force (film). Thank you. —scarecroe (talk) 22:18, 25 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Name again[edit]

@Justin W Smith, Sadiemonster, Closeapple, and TDKR Chicago 101: Just pinging some users who've previously mentioned Willard's birth name here, apologies if not appreciated. Anyway, I'm aware several reliable sources (Guardian, NYT, etc) spell his given name as "Frederick"; however, Willard's entry at Find a Grave and his death certificate obtained by TMZ would indicate he was Frederic Charles Willard. This may also tie into his claim that his name was spelt different to his father's, although the certificate of death also spells his father's name as "Frederic". Sigh. —Jonny Nixon (talk) 01:24, 11 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Jonny Nixon: I'd trust the death certificate over NYT since its an official government record of the individual in question over a news article which often has erroneous information. Perhaps adding a note next to his birthname almost like the note added in reference to his birthday/age. --TDKR Chicago 101 (talk) 03:28, 11 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Cheers. —Jonny Nixon (talk) 04:30, 15 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Unsourced content about burial[edit]

I have reverted an editor's removal of the "Citation needed" tag related to content about burial. The edit summary that accompanied the removal said, "Removed request for citation, since "Find-A-Grave" in the External Link section confirms". Find a Grave is not a reliable source (WP:USERGENERATED). Therefore its appearance as an external link is not adequate support for unsourced content. Eddie Blick (talk) 21:25, 10 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

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