Some sad news in the TV world this week: Michael Vale, the actor best known as sleepy-eyed Fred the Baker in Dunkin’ Donuts commercials, died at age 83.
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Ads featuring Fred, who uttered the trademark line “Time to make the doughnuts,” ran for 15 years until Vale (left) retired in 1997.
It got us thinking: Who will be remembered as the great TV ad actor of our time?
The Dell Dude
The words “Dude, you’re getting a Dell!” made Ben Curtis (right) a famous face. The words “Dude, you’re arrested” lost him his role in those computer ads. Curtis, however, has bounced back from that marijuana bust and continues to pursue acting work.
Wing Maaa-aaaaan
Thank you, Coors, for giving us the best vocal performance of the new millennium. Sing along with musician Chris Lee, who we can only hope lands a major record deal soon: “So buy her a beer, it’s the reason you’re here, mighty wingman …”
The Sprint Trench Coat Dude
Need help clearing up a cell phone conversation? Call Brian Baker, the flat-voiced, coat-wearing actor who cleared up tons of cell phone snafus as star of the long-running Sprint PCS ad campaign.
Miss Mercury
A lot of guys are noticing Mercury cars these days, and that’s thanks to new spokeswoman Jill Wagner. In a recent profile, the Detroit Free Press called her “pleasant enough to be a fun girl pal, but sexy enough to stick in the minds of men.”
Leon
Actor Nigel Thatch made it big playing a camera-hogging prima donna (far right) in Budweiser’s clever sports spots. Then he tried his hand at real-life athletics, auditioning as a pitcher for the minor-league Schaumburg Flyers.
Thirst
Sprite’s afro-wearing, “Show ’em my motto”-yelling pitchman has a big voice for such a small doll. And that voice belongs to actor Reno Wilson, who had a role on ABC’s “Blind Justice.”
The mystery of the Verizon Guy
Can you hear him now? Good. Can you name him? Not likely. “We actually don’t share his name,” a Verizon Wireless spokesman told RedEye, refusing to name the glasses-wearing star of the company’s ad campaign. But according to USA Today, it’s New York actor Paul Marcarelli. True to form, he wasn’t quoted in the article.
What’s new?
Watch out for The Sword in 2006.
Not the metal weapon, mind you, but the metal band. The Austin, Texas-based rockers are among Billboard magazine’s “Top 10 Faces to Watch” in the music world in 2006.
They join a mix of pop, country, R&B and Latin acts Billboard says is primed to break out next year.
Others on the list:
– Singer Teddy Geiger
– Rapper Ne-Yo
– Country singer Shannon Brown
– Electronica act Mylo
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– Rockers Arctic Monkey
Big fish?
Has soon-to-be divorced actress Christina Applegate reeled in a new flame? Alaskan fisherman and aspiring photographer Lee Grivas tells People magazine he and Applegate are “very happy with each other.” They met through a dancer in Applegate’s Broadway show “Sweet Charity.” Her ex, actor Johnathon Schaech, filed for divorce on Dec. 5.
Holding court
“Lost” stars Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Watros were arraigned on charges of drunken driving Thursday in Hawaii, nearly a month after both actresses were arrested in separate cars. Neither attended the hearing, but Watros plans to return to court and plead guilty, her attorney said.
Wonder woman
Supermodel Eva Herzigova ought to be in movies, or at least she thinks so. The Czech beauty told a Hong Kong magazine she wants to direct a movie about her life. “It would be about a girl from the Eastern bloc who makes it in the fashion world. You know, a Cinderella story,” she said.
Voted off
Pack your monogrammed luggage, Paris Hilton–the tribe has spoken. If the socialite were in a “Survivor”-style competition with other newsmakers, she’d be the first to go, Parade magazine readers declared. Hilton got 35 percent of the vote in the magazine’s annual celebrity poll, with President Bush receiving 33 percent and Tom Cruise 12 percent, according to the New York Post.