Willard Scott, rollicking weatherman of TV's 'Today' show 35 years, dies at 87

Willard Scott, the ebullient former "Today" show weatherman, venerator of centenarians, pitchman extraordinaire and the original hamburger-hawking Ronald McDonald, died on Saturday, his successor on the morning show Al Roker said. He was 87.

Scott's chatty, folksy manner covered up his lack of meteorological training during his time as American television's most popular weatherman.

Roker tweeted that Scott died peacefully surrounded by family but released no further details. He described Scott as a broadcast icon.

Believing television weather forecasters needed to have some sort of shtick, Scott gave viewers a madcap, eager-to-please persona during a 35-year run on NBC's "Today" that ended with his retirement on Dec. 15, 2015.

Scott was with NBC a total of 65 years.

His act was aided by a high threshold for embarrassment. He dressed as Cupid for one Valentine's Day, came out of a manhole in a groundhog costume on Groundhog Day, had an on-the-air bar mitzvah (he was a Southern Baptist) and kissed a pig.

Most famously, he went on the air dressed as 1940s dancer Carmen Miranda - including dress, earrings, high heels and fruit-laden hat - to benefit a charity.

"People said I was a buffoon to do it," Scott told the New York Times. "Well, all my life I've been a buffoon. That's my act."

At his peak popularity, Scott also was a well-paid, in-demand convention speaker and ubiquitous pitchman, promoting sodas and tea, oranges, cars, hotels, jelly, hardware and other products.

Scott was born and grew up in Alexandria, Virginia, a Washington suburb, and was a teenager when he took his first broadcast job as a page for an NBC station in Washington in 1950.