Ronald McDonald first appeared in a 1963 television commercial for the McDonald's restaurant chain.
The character was created as a clown mascot for McDonald's advertising and quickly became associated with the company's family-oriented identity. Early commercials presented Ronald as a friendly figure connected with the restaurant and its food.
Willard Scott played the earliest television version of Ronald McDonald. The character's appearance changed over time as McDonald's refined its advertising style, but the clown identity remained central to the mascot.
Grimace, the Hamburglar, and Mayor McCheese were introduced later as members of the wider McDonaldland cast. Ronald's 1963 debut therefore predates those characters and marks the beginning of McDonald's most famous mascot tradition.