ululate!

A belated ululate! to bland, ubiquitous Everyman actor Fred Willard, who died this past May 15th at the age of 86. Willard often played roles in which he portrayed a normal guy who finds himself in bizarre, surreal, or even dangerous circumstances. Occasionally, Willard would play seemingly normal guys who had certain kinks in their personalities. He did it all with a cheerful smile and a palpable sense of self-deprecation: if one thing was true of Willard, it's that the man never took himself seriously, and that was part of his charm. A glance at his TV and movie filmography shows that he was in just about every show ever made—often in comic roles, but sometimes in more serious roles. The world is a dimmer place now that he's gone; I'll miss Fred Willard's cheerful, humble demeanor and—now that I know just how extensive his résumé was—his ferocious work ethic. RIP, Fred.