Willard Scott, the longtime television personality best known as an upbeat meteorologist on the Today show, has died. His passing was confirmed by his brother-in-weather, Al Roker, on Instagram, where the current Today star called Scott a “second dad.” Scott was 87 years old.
Scott’s career began in the mid-1950s on radio in the Washington, D.C. area, where he appeared on a comedy series called The Joy Boys. He also appeared as the D.C.-area Bozo the Clown on WRC, an NBC affiliate. (There were different Bozos in different markets.)
In 1963, based on the strength of his Bozo work, McDonald’s hired him to develop a new character for local advertisements, thus giving birth to Ronald McDonald, the Hamburger-Happy Clown. However, Scott was not selected to become the national representative of the fast-food restaurant, due to, in his words, “his corpulence.”
Scott turned his attention to meteorology in 1967 at WRC, leaning into the role of the wacky weatherman. (The New York Times cites a Groundhog Day appearance in which he donned an enormous rodent costume.)
In 1980, he got the call to come up to the big leagues and anchor the weather desk for NBC’s national morning program, the Today show. Scott’s folksy ways are perhaps best represented by how he took time each morning to wish centenarians a happy birthday. The segment later grew into a sponsorship opportunity for Smucker’s, the jam and jelly company, who offered condolences on Twitter late Saturday.
Over the years, Scott read the weather report dressed as Boy George, Carmen Miranda, and while wearing a zany top hat. (Does your DarkSky app do that? I think not.) After taking a look at the national map, he’d kick it over to local with his catchphrase, “here’s what’s happening in your world this morning.”
Scott went into semi-retirement in 1996, handing over much of his weather-related duties to Roker. But he stayed with Today until 2015, holding a kind of entertainer emeritus status. He visited state fairs, wished old-timers a happy birthday, and made corny jokes for people as they went about their mornings, readying kids for school and worrying if the boss was going to be in a bad mood.
In 1992, he appeared in a series of ads for Burger King, perhaps as quiet revenge for never getting the national Ronald McDonald gig.
He was also a pitchman for Days Inn in the 1990s, appearing in ads with co-stars such as Fred Flintstone.
In addition to Roker’s heartfelt comments, Scott was warmly remembered by colleagues Katie Couric, Jim Acosta, Wolf Blitzer, Maria Shriver, and Janice Huff.
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