Fred McCarren

McCarren was born on April 12, 1951 in Butler, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Butler Senior High School where he starred in several plays. After attending the University of Cincinnati and Point Park College, he left for a different kind of campus – Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College in Venice, Florida – and instead of joining the circus afterward, he headed for New York City where he immediately found work in TV commercials.[1]

A subsequent career in film and television followed soon thereafter from the late 1970s throughout the 1980s. He starred opposite Bea Arthur on the short-lived 1983 sitcom Amanda's and he later made guest appearances on television shows such as Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Hill Street Blues, Remington Steele and The Golden Girls.

After several years of living in Tarzana, California, McCarren and his wife moved back to his native Pennsylvania in 1989 where he focused on raising his six children. He continued to work in both radio and television commercials and his voice was heard as the crazy Dr. Sanchez in radio spots for the Mad Mex restaurant chain, and he was seen as the coach in a series of TV commercials for Dick's Sporting Goods, as well as TV spots for PNC, PPG, Comcast and Builder's Surplus.

Fred McCarren died on July 2, 2006 at the age of 55 from colon cancer at Butler Memorial Hospital in Butler, Pennsylvania.

• Fred McCarren at IMDb