Wilford Brimley (born September 27, 1934) is the man. And a man with an awesome mustache.
He is also a man of many talents. Before beginning his legendary acting career, Wilford worked as a ranch hand, blacksmith, wrangler and bodyguard for Howard Hughes. And this was after Brimley dropped out of high school to join the Marines during the Korean War. He served three years in the Aleutian Islands. No wonder he’s the most badass diabetic this side of Lemmy Kilmister.
After all of these uber-manly exploits, Wilford got into acting in the 1960s at the behest of his friend, Academy Award-winning actor Robert Duvall. Brimley would later become famous for appearing in films such as Hotel New Hampshire, The Thing, Cocoon and many others. He would also appear in the baseball film The Natural as a manager.
Wilford urges you to eat your oatmeal. (Source: cloudintegration.wordpress.com)
Brimley is also famous for his appearances in commercials. Brimley appeared in commercials for Quaker Oats in the 80s and 90s, where he proclaimed “it’s the right thing to do” about eating Quaker Oats. “It’s the right thing to do even if it’s a muffin!” proclaimed Brimley, proudly, in one exceptional ad. (Which you can see right here)
Wilford has more recently appeared in ads for well-received and memorable ads for Liberty Medical.
Brimley, who was diagnosed with diabetes in 1979, has been active in raising awareness of the disease, and has won several awards for his service to various diabetes-related causes.
Way to go, Wilford!
The Blog of Funny Names 
I remember Wilford from those commercials, but had no clue about all of his other accomplishments. Always learning something from you guys!
Glad to hear it! Wilford rules.
Dude, I can’t believe Wilford never even crossed my mind! The guy is awesome! We shared a lot of Wilford moments throughout our childhoods, that’s for sure!
The weird thing is that Wilford is actually old now. He has played old characters for years now, but it seems he’s finally fit for the roles! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SCOaBXES7Y
Oh my! I didn’t realize Wilford would win the golden mouth organ! Watch the video starting at 8 minutes! What a champ!
Wilford still has it. He was excellent in that segment, made me laugh several times. And he did play the mouth organ exceptionally well. He definitely deserved the prize!
I was all set to be like, Rob!! Two non-baseball posts in a row, what is going on?!? Then I saw you circled back to The Natural. Which ok, is no Bull Durham, but is still a solid baseball movie. Well played, Rob, well played.
Haha thanks, I actually just got lucky that he was in The Natural – I had forgotten about that. But I thought of Wilford this week and needed to post about him!
what a horrible commercial–we had such bad taste in the ’80s 😉 Nowadays the kid would be eating a portion-control size muffin along with a side of fruit and glass of (soy?) milk. Brimley plays his characters well and sounds like he’s had great roles. lol badass diabetic. I think you’ve coined a phrase, Rob! And I will definitely use his “eat your damn oatmeal” line on my kids at tomorrow’s breakfast:-)
You should definitely use that line! 🙂 You’re right, eating a whole muffin is kind of uncool these days haha.
she ate two and they were huge! not that she doesn’t need the calories, active little girl that she is. And they were full of (damn) oats, so…
What a guy!
Yes he is!
If imitation is the best form of flattery then Wilford’s diabetes commercials and all resulting parodies suggest to me he is the most popular man on earth. He is for diabetes what Jared Fogel is for Subway.
I totally agree. Wilford was so awesome! It also seemed like the older your show’s average demographic was, the more Wilford you got to see. I think Rob’s favorite shows a few years ago were The Price is Right and Matlock, so it explains Rob’s connection to the guy! 🙂
Haha excellent point, Dave! I’ve seen so many Wilford ads. Matlock is still one of my favorites, but I don’t get to see Wilford anymore because I have them all on DVD. I wish Jared had a funnier name so I could post about him – Jared rules!
His voice is as mellifluous as Morgan Freeman’s, I think, and I loved him in Cocoon. 🙂
Same here! I loved Cocoon! Also, “mellifluous” is an outstanding word. Do you mind if I borrow it for an upcoming edition of Wordful Wednesday? http://wordsbecomesuperfluous.com/2013/02/20/wordful-wednesday-for-february-20-2013/
I love Wilford Brimley because it’s the right thing to do.
Also mustache.
Well said!
I love Thora Birch in that ad: “This isn’T oatmeal!”
http://www.inthehills.org.uk/grey/ugg-boots-uk-cheaper-co.html ugg boots uk cheaper co
I saw a greater opportunity. To expand the field of mobile phone accessories based on two considerations: first, the phone and the camera’s LCD screen saver film belong to the same field, it had accumulated in the field of high-end digital camera accessories seven years of accumulated experience and technology, our own R \u0026 D team, has 17 national or international patents in the digital camera field, so this year we launched the first block of magic to synchronize phone protective glass screen with anti-glare borders and automatic absorption features in the world, we have the ability to protect the screen on the phone this one subdivision be the first brand on the market; Second, the market is very huge