Actor Fred Willard Dead at 86

Fred Willard has died … TMZ has learned.

The veteran comedic actor passed away late Friday night. His daughter Hope tells TMZ, “My father passed away very peacefully last night at the fantastic age of 86 years old. He kept moving, working and making us happy until the very end. We loved him so very much. We will miss him forever.”

Fred had a long career of making people laugh on camera — whether it be TV or film. He rose to fame in the late ’70s with appearances on parody sitcoms like ‘Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,’ ‘Fernwood 2 Night,’ ‘America 2-Night,’ and others like it throughout the ’80s.

In the ’90s, FW started appearing on a bunch of hit comedy shows on air at the time, like ‘Sister, Sister,’ ‘Roseanne,’ ‘Access America’ and ‘The Simpsons,’ among others. He later went on to star on ‘The Weird Al Show,’ ‘Maybe It’s Me’ and a number of mockumentaries — including ‘The History of White People in America,’ ‘This Is Spinal Tap,’ ‘Waiting for Guffman,’ ‘Best in Show,’ ‘A Mighty Wind,’ ‘For Your Consideration,’ and ‘Mascots.’

He’s also known for his role as Ron Burgundy’s news director in the ‘Anchorman’ films. Fred often played the straight man in his films, to hilarious effect because of how goody-goody and naive he appeared in whatever ridiculous situation his characters found themselves in.

He’s starred in countless cult comedies over the years, such as … ‘American Wedding,’ ‘How High,’ ‘Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle,’ ‘Date Movie,’ ‘Epic Movie,’ ‘Roxanne,’ ‘Monster House,’ ‘WALL-E,’ ‘The Wedding Planner,’ ‘Harold,’ ‘Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me,’ ‘Idle Hands,’ and so on. He was in even more hits on TV.

Fred appeared in shows like ‘King of the Hill,’ ‘Mad About You,’ ‘Hercules,’ ‘Family Matters,’ ‘Married With Children,’ ‘Modern Family,’ ‘Ally McBeal,’ ‘Family Guy,’ ‘Hey Arnold!’ ‘A Minute with Stan Hooper,’ ‘SNL,’ ‘Everybody Loves Raymond,’ ‘MADtv,’ ‘Kim Possible,’ ‘Back to You,’ and so many other great series. Most recently, he was set to appear in Netflix’s forthcoming comedy “Space Force,” alongside Steve Carell and other comedic geniuses.

He was married to Mary Willard from 1968 to 2018, when she passed away. He’s survived by his daughter, Hope.