Lyman Ward appeared on the first episode of Laverne & Shirley as Tad Schotz, but is most noted for playing Ferris Bueller's father in Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986). In 1990, Ward was cast as Jim Walsh in the pilot of the show Beverly Hills, 90210. Producers later recast the role and his scenes were cut and reshot with James Eckhouse. In 2001, he made a cameo appearance in the movie Not Another Teen Movie as Mr. Wyler, spoofing his role in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Ward also played a minor role in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987) as John, one of the marketers. Lyman Ward and Second City actor Sandra Bogan lived together in 1985. Ward met Cindy Pickett on the set of Ferris Bueller, where they played the parents of the teenage protagonist in the 1986 film. They married in real life, had two children together, then divorced shortly after playing the parents of the teenage protagonist in the 1992 film Sleepwalkers.