Willard Scott, whose exhuberant persona and penchant for honoring followers who reached 100 made him a beloved tv icon, died this morning at 87. His demise was confirmed by fellow Right now present host Al Roker. No reason behind demise was given.
“We misplaced a beloved member of our @todayshow household this morning,” Roker shared on Instagram. “Willard Scott handed peacefully on the age of 87 surrounded by household, together with his daughters Sally and Mary an.d his pretty spouse, Paiis. He was actually my second dad and am the place I’m at the moment due to his beneficiant spirit. Willard was a person of his occasions, the last word broadcaster. There’ll by no means be anybody fairly like him.”
Scott joined Right now in 1980. He started his 65-year profession with NBC as a web page on the affiliate station in Washington, D.C., in 1950. Born Alexandria, Virginia, Scott’s broadcasting profession started after he graduated from American College in Washington.
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In 1955, he started internet hosting the Pleasure Boys radio present on the NBC radio station WRC. He remained on this system till it led to 1974.
He hosted kids’s TV exhibits within the Nineteen Sixties and appeared on WRC enjoying a variety of characters, together with Bozo the Clown. Scott additionally had the excellence of being the primary particular person to play Ronald McDonald, showing in commercials within the Washington space beginning in 1963.
Scott grew to become the weatherman for NBC’s Washington DC native channel 4 station. In March 1980, he ove to the community, and he changed Bob Ryan as weatherman on Right now.
Not content material to merely give the forecast, Scott grew to become recognized for such stunts as doing the climate dressed as Boy George whereas the singer was on the top of his fame. He additionally dressed up as a large Cupid on Valentine’s Day, in a barrel on the day taxes have been due, and a groundhog to have fun Groundhog Day. He additionally dressed as Brazilian singer and actress Carmen Miranda in a 1983 episode of Right now with a purpose to safe a $1,000 donation to the USO.
”Individuals mentioned I used to be a buffoon to do it,” he instructed The New York Occasions in that 1987 interview. ”Nicely, all my life I’ve been a buffoon. That’s my act.”
The custom of honoring those that turned 100 years outdated started In 1983. Scott honored a viewer’s request to want his mom a contented a centesimal birthday. That custom lives on.
Scott grew to become an all-purpose image of enjoyable in his profession. He dressed as Santa Claus on the Nationwide Tree-Lighting Ceremony in Washington, D.C. for a number of years all through the ’80s and at a number of occasions held on the White Home. He co-anchored NBC’s protection of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade from 1987-1997, and had a recurring function as Mr. Poole within the sitcom The Hogan Household.
In 1996, Scott semi-retired and was changed on TODAY by Al Roker, however occasionlly stuffed in for the following 10 years. He formally retired from TV in 2015, wrapping a 35-year run with TODAY.
In 1985, President Ronald Reagan awarded Scott a Non-public Sector Award for Public Service.
He was married to spouse Mary Dwyer Scott from 1959 till she died in 2002. They’d two kids. He’s survived by spouse Paris Keena, whom he married in 2014.