Squire Fridell (born February 9, 1943) is an American retired actor, author, and winemaker who appeared in over three thousand television

commercials A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

; he also appeared as

Ronald McDonald Ronald McDonald is a clown character used as the primary mascot of the McDonald's fast-food restaurant chain. He inhabits the fictional world of McDonaldland, with his friends Mayor McCheese, the Hamburglar, Grimace, Birdie the Early Bird and ...

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold ...

commercials from 1985 to 1991.

Early life

Fridell was born in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

. He attended the

University of the Pacific University of the Pacific may refer to: *University of the Pacific (Colombia) *University of the Pacific (Ecuador) *University of the Pacific (Peru) * University of the Pacific (United States) *University of Asia Pacific, Bangladesh * University of ...

where he was a member of

Phi Sigma Kappa Phi Sigma Kappa (), colloquially known as Phi Sig or PSK, is a men's social and academic fraternity with approximately 74 active chapters and provisional chapters in North America. Most of its first two dozen chapters were granted to schools in ...

fraternity.

Career

Fridell began his acting career on stage in

South Carolina )'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = "Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = G ...

in 1968. In 1974 he was an acting teacher at El Rancho High School in Pico Rivera, California. From 1978 to 2012, he was a spokesman in the American TV ads for the

Toyota Motor Corporation is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 m ...

. Fridell became the official

clown character in 1985, after

King Moody Robert "King" Moody (December 6, 1929 – February 7, 2001) was an American actor, best known for playing Shtarker (Get Smart), Shtarker in the television series ''Get Smart'' and for his portrayal as Ronald McDonald in the McDonald's commercial ...

retired from the role. He portrayed the character in the

McDonald's Corporation McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hamburger ...

television commercials and for the chain fast-food restaurants for six years until 1991. Besides the commercials, he also portrayed the character in the 1988 film ''

Mac and Me ''Mac and Me'' is a 1988 American comic science fiction film cowritten (with Steve Feke) and directed by Stewart Raffill. Starring Christine Ebersole, Jonathan Ward, and Tina Caspary alongside Lauren Stanley and Jade Calegory, it centers on a ...

'' and provided the voice of the character in the 1989 DiC animated film ''The Adventures of Ronald McDonald: McTreasure Island''. From the 1970s until the mid-1990s, Fridell also had supporting character roles in a number of popular TV series, such as ''

M*A*S*H ''M*A*S*H'' (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is an American media franchise consisting of a series of novels, a film, several television series, plays, and other properties, and based on the semi-autobiographical fiction of Richard Hooker (auth ...

'', ''

Newhart ''Newhart'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on CBS from October 25, 1982, to May 21, 1990, with a total of 184 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons. The series stars Bob Newhart and Mary Frann as an author and his wife ...

'', '' Ironside'' and ''

Adam-12 ''Adam-12'' is an American television police procedural crime drama television series created by Robert A. Cinader and Jack Webb. The series follows Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers Pete Malloy and Jim Reed as they patrol the stre ...

''. In 1980,

Harmony Books Harmony Books is an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, itself part of publisher Penguin Random House. It was founded by Bruce Harris, a Crown executive, in 1972. The imprint has been used for such books as: * Jill Freedman, ''Circus Days'' ...

published Fridell's book, ''Acting in Television Commercials for Fun and Profit'', subsequently re-released by

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Ger ...

in 2005. Fridell returned as himself in several Toyota commercials in 2010, responding to the image damage the company suffered due to a slow response to safety issues in 2009. He is also the co-owner and operator of GlenLyon Vineyards.

Author

Fridell, Squire. ''Acting in Television Commercials for Fun and Profit'', 4th Edition (2009).

Penguin Random House Penguin Random House LLC is an Anglo-American multinational conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, from the merger of Penguin Group and Random House. On April 2, 2020, Bertelsmann announced the completion of its purchase o ...

Personal life

Squire and Suzy (a professional dancer and dance teacher for many years) were married in 1977. They have one daughter, Lexy, who is pursuing an acting career in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. The family currently resides in

Glen Ellen Glen Ellen is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sonoma Valley, Sonoma County, California, United States. The population was 784 at the 2010 census, down from 992 at the 2000 census. Glen Ellen is the location of Jack London State Historic Par ...

(in the

Sonoma Valley Sonoma Valley is a valley located in southeastern Sonoma County, California, in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Known as the birthplace of the California wine industry, the valley is home to some of the earliest vineyard ...

region of California) where they have operated the GlenLyon Vineyards and Winery since 1989. His sister, Barbara, is married to former NFL player and coach

Tom Flores Thomas Raymond Flores (born March 21, 1937) is a former American football coach and quarterback. After his retirement as a coach, he was a radio announcer for more than twenty years. Flores won a total of four Super Bowls in his playing and c ...

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

References

External links

GlenLyon Winery site
* 1943 births American male film actors American male television actors Living people Male actors from Oakland, California {{US-tv-actor-1940s-stub