Ratzenberger riding inside Macy's very own Airplane.
John Ratzenberger is an American actor and director who is one of the most successful actors of all time in terms of box-office receipts, along with Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Downey Jr., and Scarlett Johansson, Ratzenberger became internationally famous when playing the character Cliff Clavin on one of the longest-running comedy series of all time, award-winning Cheers. Ratzenberger earned two Primetime Emmy nominations for his role as the popular mailman that he portrayed and in which he had created. After acting and directing many feature films and TV roles, Ratzenberger voiced (provided the voice over for) animation characters in 22 of Pixar Animation Studios' successful feature films. Some of his most popular voice-overs are Hamm in the Toy Story franchise, The Abominable Snowman in the Monsters, Inc. franchise, Mack in the Cars franchise, The Underminer in The Incredibles franchise, and others.
Ratzenberger began his entertainment career while living in London, England in the 1970's. He acted in and wrote film and television through the 1970s and early 1980s before moving to America. At an audition for a role in a new sitcom, Ratzenberger created the character of know-it-all mailman Cliff Clavin. Cheers (1982–1993) was a huge success and went on to run for 11 years. After Cheers, he began acting in voice-over roles for Pixar; his first role the voice of Hamm in Pixar's first feature film Toy Story (1995), and voiced Pixar characters in every film and video game until 2020.
Overlapping with Pixar acting, Ratzenberger hosted the TV documentary series Made in America from 2004 to 2008. Outside of acting, he has promoted American entrepreneurship and manufacturing, by publishing several books on the subject and being keynote speaker at various events and conferences.
History with the Macy's Parade[]
Ratzenberger only appeared at the 1984 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. He first sang "I'm Giving Thanks" at the very staring point of the lineup at 77th Street before hitching a ride on The Toy Airplane which took him to Herald Square.