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Ronald McDonald
Portrayed By: Willard Scott (1963-1965), Michael Polakovs (1965-1968), Ray Rayner (1968-1969), King Moody (1969-1985), Squire Fridell (1985-1991), Jack Doepke (1991-1999), David Hussey (2000-2014), Brad Lennon (2014-present)
Voiced By: Squire Fridell (Ronald McDonald and the Adventure Machine and McTreasure Island), Jack Doepke (Kid Rhino albums, first three The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald videos and Intergalactical Magical Radio), David Hussey (remaining three The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald videos)
- All-Loving Hero: Ronald's friends with everyone, to the extent that he even offers food to Captain Crook and the Hamburglar after they tried to steal it.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: Being a clown, he was pure white skin.
- Captain Ersatz: Of Bozo the Clown, who was played by the same actor.
- Clown Species: There is no indication that he is wearing makeup, suggesting that he naturally looks how we see him. A commercial detailing how he got his trademark shoes from the Tooth Fairy even shows that he looked like a clown when he was a child.
- Early Installment Character-Design Difference: The very first commercials he appeared in depicted him with brownish hair in addition to wearing a costume solely of red and yellow stripes, white gloves and a styrofoam cup over his nose.
- Friend to All Children: Often surrounded by the kids he's friends with.
- The Leader: If the characters are all doing something together, you can bet that he's in charge.
- Limited Wardrobe: He is rarely seen wearing anything besides his trademark yellow suit.
- Magical Clown: Frequently uses magic to help or entertain his friends.
- Mascot: For McDonaldland and the McDonald's company as a whole.
- Nice Guy: Always cheerful and friendly to everyone.
- Non-Ironic Clown: As friendly a clown as you could find. He's even the page image.
- Only Sane Man: Often the straight man to other characters' zany antics.
- Trademark Favorite Food: McDonald's hamburgers.
- Unfazed Everyman: Aside from dressing like a clown and having magic powers, he is by far the most normal character of McDonaldland, but he sees nothing weird about his friends.
Sundae
Portrayed By: Verne Troyer (animatronic suit in live-action segments of first three The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald videos)
Voiced By: Dee Bradley Baker
Ronald's loyal if snarky dog. Created for The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald.
- Adapted Out: He isn't acknowledged at all in Intergalactical Magical Radio in spite of the audio play being a tie-in to the Wacky Adventures videos.
- Canon Foreigner: Didn't appear in the commercials, only in Wacky Adventures (though there is a storyboard sketch suggesting that it was at least considered to have him appear in official McDonald's ads).
- Deadpan Snarker: Frequently makes witty, snide asides.Ronald: "Come on! Where's your sense of adventure?"Sundae: "Mine's back there, where I left my stomach."
- The Lancer: Almost always by Ronald's side, and his snarkyness and insults contrast Ronald's eternal friendliness.
- Sad Clown: Downplayed. While not a clown outright, he does have clown-ish features, like his painted smile and red hair. And while not exactly sad, he is always complaining about something.
- Talking Animal: Ronald's talking dog.
Grimace
Portrayed By: Patty Saunders (1971-1983), Mauri Bernstein (some 1980s commercials), Terry Castillo-Faass (1983-2000)
Voiced By: Lennie Weinrib (1971-1986), Frank Welker (1986-2003, Ronald McDonald and the Adventure Machine, Kid Rhino albums, Intergalactical Magical Radio, Ronald McDonald & Friends Friendship Adventure Show and Musical Show of Ronald McDonald stage shows), Larry Moran (McTreasure Island), Kevin Michael Richardson (The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald), Ryan Reynolds (2022 Super Bowl ad)
Large purple milkshake-loving monster. Former villain, now one of Ronald's best friends.
- The Artifact: He got his name back when he was a villain. Now that he's friendly, it's ironic.
- Big Fun: Post-villainy, he's very fat and very friendly.
- The Big Guy: The biggest of McDonaldland's main characters.
- Characterization Marches On: Began as "Evil Grimace" for his first year of appearing in advertisements. Between 1971 and 1972, he was given a personality overhaul to be a meek and friendly creature.
- Deathbringer the Adorable: A grimace refers to a vile, twisted facial expression. Even after Grimace was reimagined as a big adorable softie, the name just stuck.
- A Dog Named "Dog": After it was revealed that "Grimace" was the name for his species, he retroactively became this.
- Dumb Is Good: Not the brightest fry in the carton, but has a heart of gold.
- Early Installment Character-Design Difference: He had four arms in his "Evil Grimace" days, having only two after he was retooled to be a friendlier character.
- Elemental Embodiment: He's been described as "the embodiment of a milkshake".
- Fat Bastard: What he started out as, stealing everyone's shakes, but he got better.
- Fat Idiot: He's as dim-witted as he is pudgy.
- Gentle Giant: He's big and monster-looking, but he wouldn't hurt a fly.
- Harmless Villain: Back when he was a bad guy.
- Heel–Face Turn: When Grimace was first created in 1972, he was designed to be the villain franchise who was called "The Evil Grimace," and was a character that used to steal milkshakes. However, in the 80s, he was just called "Grimace" and was changed into a cowardly but lovable, emotional, and energetic purple fellow that is one of Ronald's closest friends that goes on adventures with him in commercials and in Ronald's own cartoon.
- Kindhearted Simpleton: The only thing his stupidity is matched by other than his girth is his friendliness.
- Lovable Coward: This trait is particularly emphasized in Wacky Adventures.
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Had four arms back when he was evil. When he became good, his design was changed to have only two.
- Sudden Name Change: Was "the Evil Grimace" until he was retooled as a good guy, then the "evil" was dropped without in-universe explanation.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Started out as a milkshake thief, but soon got recast as one of Ronald's closest friends.
- Trademark Favorite Food: McDonald's shakes. He would try to steal them in his first few appearances.
The Hamburglar
Portrayed By: Frank Delfino (1971-1992), Tommy Vicini (1992-2003), Max Greenfield (2015 ads)
Voiced By: Larry Storch (1971-1986), Howard Morris (1986-2003), Charlie Adler ("The Hamburglar Touch" commercial, The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald and the Ronald McDonald & Friends Friendship Adventure Show and Musical Show of Ronald McDonald stage shows), Carl W. Wolfe (some 1990s commercials, Kid Rhino albums and Intergalactical Magical Radio)
Thief of hamburger sandwiches. Later on became one of Ronald's friends, like Grimace.
- Abandoned Catchphrase: His Wacky Adventures incarnation never says "robble robble".
- Age Lift: Started out as an ugly old man, but transitioned into a more child-like appearance. Then when The Bus Came Back, he was a grown man.
- Blatant Burglar: Wears a domino mask and a costume with black-and-white horizontal stripes. (One commercial claimed he wore all-black when he first came to McDonaldland, until one of his hijinks turned it striped.) His frequent mutterings of "robble robble robble" don't exactly help hide his intentions, either.
- The Bus Came Back: Unlike Ronald, who had never left, or the other McDonaldland characters, who disappeared entirely from commercials, he was briefly brought back in 2015 to promote the Surloin Burgers.
- Catchphrase: Before he started talking normally, it was "Robble robble".
- Characterization Marches On: Originally much more menacing, but was softened up over the years.
- Fast Food Vice Reward: Even after his schemes to get hamburgers invariably failed, Ronald and the others would sometimes invite him to have some anyway.
- Deadpan Snarker: In Wacky Adventures.Grimace: (terrified) "I can't look!"Hamburglar: "You miss a lot that way, don't ya?"
- Delicious Distraction: Ronald has been known to use hamburgers to distract him from stealing... more hamburgers.
- Domino Mask: Always wears one.
- Early Installment Character-Design Difference: In his earlier appearances as a more antagonistic character, he had gray hair, a pointed nose, buck teeth and yellow spots on his necktie. He went through several redesigns over the years after he joined Grimace in being retooled as a more benign character, gaining the more youthful, red-haired appearance and necktie decorated with burgers most people are accustomed to by the mid-1980s.
- Gonk: His original design was this, with grotesquely large ears, nose, and teeth.
- Happily Married: His 2015 revamp establishes him to be a married man with a son.
- Harmless Villain: All he does is try to steal food, and he never succeeds.
- Limited Wardrobe: Always wears his prison-striped suit and domino mask.
- Malevolent Masked Men: Always wears a domino mask.
- Red Baron: Was called "the Lone Jogger" in a couple commercials.
- Token Evil Teammate: He's this when hanging out with the other characters. Or at least Token Mischievous Teammate, since the worst he ever did was try to steal burgers.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Hamburgers, of course.
- The Unintelligible: At first. His language later solidified into mostly "robble-robble-robble" with the word "cheeseburger" sometimes interspersed between the "robbles". Captain Crook would often translate for him, but after the cast got the "cute treatment", everyone could understand him, and he eventually started to talk normally.
- Villain Team-Up: Often worked together with Captain Crook.
- You Don't Look Like You: While all of the McDonaldland mascots were redesigned at some extent in the Wacky Adventures videos to better fit with the signature Klasky-Csupo art style, Hamburglar's redesign is the most drastic, as he looks far more like a distant relative of Chuckie Finster than his standard depiction and his only recognizable attributes are retaining his signature hat and his shirt at least having black-and-white stripes like his usual outfit.
Birdie the Early Bird
Portrayed By: Felix Silla (1979-1986), Patty Maloney (1986-2001)
Voiced By: Russi Taylor (commercials, Ronald McDonald and the Adventure Machine, McTreasure Island, Kid Rhino albums, Intergalactical Magical Radio and the Ronald McDonald & Friends Friendship Adventure Show and Musical Show of Ronald McDonald stage shows), Christine Cavanaugh (The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald)
The first female (and a bird at that) character shown in McDonaldland, first appeared to promote the new breakfast items on the menu.
- Abandoned Catchphrase: She had a tendency to say "You betcha" in her earliest commercials, but it was quickly dropped.
- Barefoot Cartoon Animal: She doesn't wear footwear in the commercials, but is depicted with shoes in the Wacky Adventures videos.
- Born as an Adult: The commercial "The Night Birdie the Early Bird Came to McDonaldland" shows her hatching from her egg, emerging fully grown, already clothed and able to speak.
- A Dog Named "Dog": A bird named "Birdie".
- Early Installment Character-Design Difference: The earliest commercials she appeared in depicted her with a pointier beak, longer pigtails, thicker eyelashes and overalls that were a lighter shade of pink and had an image of a smiling sun above the McDonald's M (itself referencing the now dropped logo for the restaurant's breakfast menu).
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Birdie the Early Bird is, in fact, an early bird. Not just in the sense of being avian in nature, but also because she is very much a morning person and is shown waking up Ronald in some of the commercials featuring her. She was created as an advertising mascot for the restaurant's breakfast items after all.
- Feather Fingers: Her wing feathers tend to function as if they were fingers.
- Funny Animal: She's a bird, but she acts pretty human (excepting the flight).
- Girlish Pigtails: Birdie has a pair of upturned, braided pigtails.
- Goggles Do Nothing: She is rarely, if ever, seen with her aviator goggles over her eyes or on her head.
- Limited Wardrobe: Her overalls, goggles, and scarf (and occasionally a flight suit).
- Non-Mammalian Hair: She's a bird with hair worn in pigtails.
- Pink Is Feminine: She wears dark pink overalls and pink hair ribbons.
- The Smurfette Principle: The first female character in McDonaldland, and the only one for a while until the Fry Girls and Bernice came along. Once the cast was pared down to the quartet of her, Ronald, Grimace, and Hamburglar, she became the only female character once again.
- Trademark Favorite Food: The McDonald's breakfast menu in general is her favorite food.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: In Wacky Adventures, she and Hamburglar are friends who tend to get into squabbles.
Mayor McCheese
Portrayed By: Billy Curtis (1971-1979), Jerry Madden (1979-1985)
Voiced By: Howard Morris (commercials), Bob Joles (The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald: Have Time, Will Travel)
The burger-headed mayor of McDonaldland.
- Anthropomorphic Food: Has a cheeseburger for a head.
- Expy: Of the titular character from H.R. Pufnstuf, to the point Sid and Marty Kroft actually sued McDonald's.
- Hat of Authority: He wears a deep purple top hat with a gold band.
- Large Ham: He can be pretty dramatic.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: His voice and mannerisms are modeled after Ed Wynn.
- Non-Human Head: His body appears human except for the giant burger head.
- Ultimate Authority Mayor: McDonaldland doesn't appear to have any authority figures higher than him.
Officer Big Mac
Portrayed By: Jerry Madden
Voiced By: Ted Cassidy
The resident policeman of McDonaldland, usually in pursuit of Hamburglar or Captain Crook.
- Anthropomorphic Food: His head is a Big Mac sandwich.
- By-the-Book Cop
- Non-Human Head: It's a Big Mac.
- Police Are Useless: Played with. He's always able to apprehend Hamburglar or Captain Crook, but they're always at large by the next commercial.
Captain Crook
Portrayed By: Robert Towers
Voiced By: Larry Storch (1971-1983), Tim Blaney (1984-1985)
Filet-O-Fish-stealing pirate. Frequently teamed up with the Hamburglar.
- Captain Ersatz: Of Captain Hook.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Later, he was usually called simply "the Captain".
- Fast Food Vice Reward: Even after his schemes invariably failed, Ronald and the others would sometimes invite him to eat with them anyway.
- Harmless Villain: He never stands much of a chance against the others.
- Sudden Name Change: From "Captain Crook" to "The Captain".
- Villain Team-Up: Often worked with the Hamburglar.
The Professor
Portrayed By: Lou Wagner
Voiced By: Andre Stojka
McDonaldland's eccentric resident inventor, researcher, and scientist. He was the creator of the McNugget Buddies.
- Absent-Minded Professor: He once built a Rube Goldberg Device that dipped Chicken McNuggets in sauce, but ended up eating them before the machine could complete its task.
- Bungling Inventor: His inventions rarely work out the way they're intended.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": No name besides his title is ever given.
- Idea Bulb: He occasionally wore a gold helmet with a lightbulb on the top, which lit up when he had an idea.
- The Professor: Didn't the name tip you off? He's always creating wacky and fantastic inventions for the other characters to use.
- Mad Scientist: He's loosely based on this archetype, and in fact used to be called "The Mad Professor". The "Mad" part was later removed from his name.
Fry Kids
Voiced By: Unknown (Commercials), Kath Soucie (Yellow Fry Guy in The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald: Scared Silly), Paul Greenberg (Red Fry Guy in Scared Silly), Nika Futterman (Blue Fry Girl in Scared Silly)
First introduced as "the Fry Gobblins", these fuzzy little creatures steal french fries.
- Harmless Villain: Not much of a threat even when they were trying to steal your fries.
- Sudden Name Change: First called the Fry Gobblins, then the Fry Guys, and then just the Fry Kids after Fry Girls were added to the mix.
- Our Goblins Are Different: They were originally called "Gobblins",
- Trademark Favorite Food: French fries. No duh.
- Waddling Head: They're made up of pom-pom-like heads on top of feet.
The McNugget Buddies
Voiced By: Hal Rayle, Frank Welker, Katie Leigh, Greg Berg, Pat Musick, Don Messick and Pat Fraley (commercials), Pamela Adlon (Blue McNugget in The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald), Lisa Raggio (Red McNugget in The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald), Charlie Adler (Purple McNugget in The Wacky Adventure of Ronald McDonald)
A group of anthropomorphic chicken nuggets.
- Adaptation Species Change: The McNuggets in The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald are still anthropomorphic chicken nuggets like their standard McDonaldland counterparts, but are depicted with limbs and distinctively avian features such as wings, beaks and combs rather than just being chicken nuggets with eyes and mouths.
- Anthropomorphic Food: They're living chicken nuggets.
- Ditto Aliens: They all look the same, except for when they wear costumes.
- Let's Meet the Meat: They love
jumping into Barbecue Sauce and Ronald doesn't seem to mind.
The Happy Meal Gang
Voiced By: Bob Arbogast (Hamburger), Jeff Winkless (Fries), Hal Smith (Drink)
A gang of anthropomorphic Happy Meal food, including a hamburger, a packet of French Fries, a soft drink, a bag of cookies. Later joined by a Happy Meal Box and Toy Bag.
- Animate Inanimate Object: Happy Meal Box and Toy Bag are anthropomorphic like the rest, but the only members of the group who aren't food.
- Anthropomorphic Food: They are each a talking food, with the exception of Happy Meal Box and Toy Bag.
- Living Toys: The Toy Bag is one.
- Sharp Dressed Food: Later installments have them all wearing bowties.
CosMc
Portrayed By: Tom Vicini
Voiced By: Frank Welker
An alien visitor to McDonaldland.
- Aliens Love Human Food: Turns out he loves McDonald's food.
- Amusing Alien
- Surfer Dude: Talks like one.
Uncle O'Grimacey
Portrayed By: Robert Towers
Voiced By: Lennie Weinrib
Grimace's green, Irish-like uncle, came around yearly to promote the Shamrock Shake on St. Patrick's Day.
- Commuting on a Bus: He only showed up around St. Patrick's Day, though was among the mascots phased out in post-1970s commercials.
- Oireland: A green grimace who speaks and dresses like a stereotypical Irishman.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Shamrock Shakes, to the point that he was very pleased when his nephew gave him one as a present for one of his visits.
Bernice
Voiced By: Tim Blaney and Tom Urbano
A strange creature with a penchant for eating inedible things.
- Cruel Elephant: She resembles an elephant with her trunk and big ears, and while not cruel exactly, she does steal and eat other people's things.
- Extreme Omnivore: Eats everything, even a movie script.
Iam Hungry
Voiced By: Jeff Lupetin
The self-proclaimed "Vice President of Snacking".
- Big Eater: He definitely is one. You don't get to be the Vice President of Snacking for nothing.
- Extreme Omnivore: Ate part of a table and Ronald's hair (which inexplicably grows back in the next shot) when attempting to steal a cheeseburger.
- Flying Face: His body is just a big fuzzy floating head with arms.
- Pokémon Speak: He only says "Iam Hungry", except in his debut commercial.
- Punny Name: His name sounds like "I am hungry".
Mike the Microphone
Voiced By: Larry Moran
A talking microphone created for the Ronald Makes It Magic and Ronald McDonald Presents Silly Sing Along albums.- Animate Inanimate Object: He's a talking microphone.
- Bouncer: In addition to running the McDonaldland Magical Radio Station, he also guards the door.
Vulture
A recurring talking vulture.
- Talking Animal: He's a vulture who can speak.
Trash Cans
A couple of singing trash cans.
- Animate Inanimate Object: They're sentient trash cans.
- Sharp Dressed Can: They both sport bowties, despite being dispensers for holding garbage.
- Verbal Tic: They sing everything, even when the other characters talk.
Magic Movie Kit
Three magical talking objects (a megaphone, a camera, and a slate) who Ronald uses to make movies.
- Animate Inanimate Object: Each of them is an object used in the making of films.
- Magical Camera: One of them is this.
The Griddler
An apocryphal McDonaldland character allegedly created to promote the McGriddles breakfast option by stealing them from other characters. "Apocryphal" because no photos or video evidence can be found on the web, and McDonald's hasn't made any official statements as to the character's existence. Nevertheless, the belief persists.
- Anthropomorphic Food: Some accounts attribute him having a McGriddle for a head, similar in style to Mayor McCheese.
- Fast Food Vice Reward: He would apparently steal McGriddles from other characters.
- The Ghost: No images of him have been found.
- Urban Legends: There are people who are adamantly convinced he appeared in commercials, but there hasn't been any conclusive proof so far. Granted, there's been no proof he never did either...
