Willard Scott portrayed Ronald McDonald in his first widely recognized 1963 television commercials.
Scott was a Washington, D.C., television personality who had also worked as a radio announcer and performer. In the early commercial, Ronald’s costume incorporated McDonald’s packaging, helping make the mascot part of the restaurant’s visual world rather than presenting him as an unrelated clown.
Ronald’s appearance later changed, and many different performers played the character in advertisements, public appearances, and restaurant events. That long succession of performers can make it easy to overlook Scott’s role in the mascot’s earliest major television exposure.
The character became a durable part of McDonald’s family branding during the 1960s. He was distinct from Speedee, the older hamburger-headed mascot, and from later McDonaldland figures such as Grimace and the Hamburglar.