Willard Scott, legendary TODAY show weatherman, dies at 87

Willard Scott — the legendary TODAY weatherman identified for his exuberant character and launching the custom of celebrating followers who reached the century mark — died this week, TODAY’s Al Roker has confirmed. He was 87 years previous.

Scott, who joined TODAY in 1980, could have been greatest identified for wishing joyful birthday to followers turning 100, a characteristic that soared in reputation through the years, with photographs of centenarians showing on Smucker’s jelly jars whereas Scott acknowledged them in entrance of thousands and thousands of viewers.

Scott, who started his 65-year profession with NBC as a web page at the affiliate station in Washington, D.C., in 1950, would additionally do his forecasts on the highway, delighting locals along with his unflagging allure.

”I simply love individuals,” he advised The New York Times in 1987. ”Plenty of audio system on the speak circuit go away proper afterward. I do numerous shmoozing. I’m like a canine. You simply open the door and I am going, ‘rrrr, rrrr,’ after which I lick all people’s face.”

Born March 7, 1934 in Alexandria, Virginia, Scott’s broadcasting profession started within the 1950s, after he graduated from American University in Washington.

In 1955, he started internet hosting the “Joy Boys” radio show on the NBC radio station WRC and stay on this system till it resulted in 1974.

In the 1960s, he additionally hosted kids’s TV reveals and appeared on WRC taking part in a variety of characters, together with Bozo the Clown, a bygone kids’s icon who appeared on airwaves across the nation within the ’60s and ’70s.

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 remained in Washington all through the 1970s, turning into the weatherman for NBC’s native channel four station. In March 1980, the community got here calling, and he changed Bob Ryan as weatherman on TODAY. (Ryan then took Scott’s previous job, turning into the meteorologist at WRC.)

No gimmick was an excessive amount of for Scott. In 1985, he did the climate dressed as Boy George whereas the singer was at the peak of his fame. He additionally dressed up as a large Cupid on Valentine’s Day, in a barrel on the day taxes had been due and a groundhog to rejoice Groundhog Day.

His most memorable stunt, although, could have been dressing up as Brazilian singer and actress Carmen Miranda in a 1983 episode of TODAY with a view to safe a $1,000 donation to the USO. He took some flak for it, however stood by it.

”People mentioned I used to be a buffoon to do it,” he advised The New York Times in that 1987 interview. ”Well, all my life I’ve been a buffoon. That’s my act.”

In 1983, Scott honored a viewer’s request to want his mom a cheerful 100th birthday, which started the custom of of greetings to centenarians that’s nonetheless going robust at the moment.

He received dressed as Santa Claus at the National Tree-Lighting Ceremony in Washington, D.C. for a number of years all through the ’80s, in addition to at a number of occasions held at the White House. He co-anchored NBC’s protection of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade from 1987-1997 and likewise loved a recurring function because the gregarious Mr. Poole within the sitcom “The Hogan Family.”

The lovable Scott was additionally as soon as approached by first woman Barbara Bush throughout the 1989 inauguration parade of her husband, President George H.W. Bush.

“Suddenly, I look over and see this very joyful face, race over, give that face a kiss, race again to (husband) George,” she recalled. “He mentioned, ‘I did not know you knew Willard Scott.’ I mentioned, ‘I do not know Willard Scott. I simply love that face.’”

“I believe individuals are so drawn to Willard, they actually simply need to be part of his orbit and that features first girls,” former TODAY anchor Katie Couric mentioned concerning the encounter.

In 1996, Scott semi-retired and was changed on TODAY by Al Roker, though he would fill in for Al for the subsequent 10 years. He formally retired from TV in 2015, wrapping a 35-year run with TODAY.

“He’s a good friend. He is actually my second dad,” Al said at the time.

Scott resurfaced on TODAY in August 2019 in a video that includes the show’s solid and crew wishing Al a cheerful 65th birthday.

“I can not consider it. My little man is 65 years previous,” he mentioned. “What’s the world coming to? Hey, pay attention, now you’ll be able to acquire Social Security and you may make much more cash. What a fortunate man you’re. You are nothing however the very best. Who loves ya, child? I do?”

In 1985, President Reagan awarded Scott a Private Sector Award for Public Service. He was married to spouse Mary Dwyer Scott from 1959 till she died in 2002. They had two kids. He is survived by spouse Paris Keena, whom he married in 2014.

Disclosure: Comcast is mother or father of NBCUniversal and CNBC.