Willard Scott, the ebullient former"Today" show weatherman, venerator of centenarians, pitchman extraordinaire and the original hamburger-hawking Ronald McDonald, died on Saturday, his successor on the morning show Al Roker said. He was 87.
Believing television weather forecasters needed to have some sort of shtick, Scott gave viewers a madcap, eager-to-please persona during a 35-year run on NBC's"Today" that ended with his retirement on Dec. 15, 2015.His act was aided by a high threshold for embarrassment. He dressed as Cupid for one Valentine's Day, came out of a manhole in a groundhog costume on Groundhog Day, had an on-the-air bar mitzvah and kissed a pig.
At his peak popularity, Scott also was a well-paid, in-demand convention speaker and ubiquitous pitchman, promoting sodas and tea, oranges, cars, hotels, jelly, hardware and other products. For the national ad campaign McDonald's hired someone else to play Ronald, leaving Scott to think it was his size - he was 6-foot-3 and weighed close to 300 pounds at times - that cost him the job.
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