'Modern Family’ Star Fred Willard’s Lost His Will To Live After Wife’s Tragic Death
Aug. 7 2019, Updated 1:34 p.m. ET
Modern Family star Fred Willard has lost the will to live now that he has lost his wife of more than 50 years.
Friends said the despondent 79-year-old funnyman has been frail, sickly and shaky for more than seven years and is ready to join his wife, Mary, who died last July.
“Mary was Fred’s everything,” a pal said. “He’s been a broken man since her death. He told friends, ‘I don’t know how I can go on without her.’”
The improv star, who plays Phil Dunphy’s dad on Modern Family, is best known for his roles in Christopher Guest’s mockumentaries This Is Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show.
“He was once one of the top comic actors in the business,” an insider said of Willard, who did not respond to a request for comment. “But his illness and his grief have slowed him down considerably.”
In his last appearance on Modern Family, only his face was seen — on an iPad screen.