"It does keep me from doing some roles," he said. "When I heard Clint Eastwood was doing Flags of Our Fathers' and Letters from Iwo Jima,' I had my agent call and say that I had done dramatic acting, that I had been in the Army, blah, blah, blah. His people said, Clint loves you, but what would people think if suddenly Fred Willard shows up?'"

Such rejection is frustrating, but Willard has no problems putting it into perspective.

"It's a lucky cross to bear," he said.

http://venturacountystar.com/news/2008/feb/07/dogpatch-dolt-fred-willard-is-having-a-blast-an/