'Mac and Me' at 30: 'Ronald McDonald' remembers his infamous 1988 movie
“It was kind of a disappointment,” admits Squire Fridell, the actor who wore Ronald’s white facepaint in nearly 50 commercials that aired during the height of his ’80s ubiquity, from 1985 to 1991. That’s also him in Mac and Me, popping up during a sequence in which the movie’s handicapped hero, Eric (Jade Calegory), smuggles his extraterrestrial friend, Mac (as in Mysterious Alien Creature), into a birthday party/dance-off held at his local McDonald’s franchise.
The fast-food giant was closely involved with the film, having been convinced by producer R.J. Louis to lend the brand to a major motion picture as a way to boost both the box office and burger sales. And as the face of McDonald’s, Ronald also served as the face of Mac and Me; in fact, the trailer opens with Fridell in full makeup, boasting about being “on the set of my very first motion picture ever.”
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