Fred Willard passes away aged 86
This was no
contest. Shut down by the coronavirus crisis, Europe’s annual musical spectacular that pits countries against one another instead sought to unite them Saturday.
The Eurovision Song Contest whose final was scheduled for Saturday night was cancelled. So rather than judging songs from 41 artists from Albania to the United Kingdom, organisers created a two-hour show called ‘Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light’ that was broadcast in more than 40 countries. Saturday’s show featured appearances by past favourites as well as the artists that were to have taken part in this year’s competition jointly performing 1997’s winning song, Love Shine a Light. Former winner Johnny Logan of Ireland opened the show with a performance of his 1980 winning song, What’s Another Year, accompanied by Eurovision fans on screens like a Zoom meeting and the three Dutch presenters of the show, including Nikkietutorials (pictured).
Bjorn Ulvaeus of Abba paid tribute to the contest that catapulted him and the band to global fame after their song Waterloo won in 1974. “It still remains one of the most genuinely joyous events of the TV year and it’s so disarmingly European,” he said in a recorded message. “It so allows you to escape and be happy — even forget about the coronavirus for a little while.”
Four-time emmy award-winning comedian Fred Willard, who appeared in films including Anchorman and This is Spinal Tap and television shows such as Modern Family, has died aged 86, his agent announced Saturday.
Tributes poured in for the actor, with long-time friend and fellow showbiz veteran Jamie Lee Curtis tweeting “Thanks for the deep belly laughs Mr. Willard.”
“Fred Willard was the funniest person that I’ve ever worked with. He was a sweet, wonderful man,” tweeted actor Steve Carrell.
Willard himself had just paid homage to two other showbiz legends, singer Little Richard and fellow comedian Jerry Stiller, who also passed away this month.
“A bad time! Just getting over the loss of Little Richard, and now I learn my old friend Jerry Stiller has passed away. He was a good friend and a very funny man,” he wrote on May 11, in the last thread on his Twitter account.
Modern audiences knew Willard as the TV father of actor Ty Burrell’s character Phil Dunphy on ABC’S hit sitcom Modern Family.
But his decades-long career saw him make audiences laugh in ensemble films such as Waiting for Guffman, A Mighty Wind and Best in Show.
Earlier audiences encountered him as Jerry Hubbard, sidekick to actor Martin Mull in the 70’s talk show spoof Fernwood Tonight.
Willard also had a recurring role as Hank Macdougall on the later seasons of CBS’S Everybody Loves Raymond. AFP