RIP Gavin Macleod, the Love Boat Captain

[Music] we never like to be the bearers of bad news but once again we have another hollywood tragedy to report legendary actor gavin mcleod made famous for his memorable roles and shows like the love boat and the mary tyler moore show has just passed away at the age of 90. mcleod died sometime in the early morning hours of may 29th at his home in palm desert california the actor's nephew mark c confirmed the news first to variety at the moment we don't have a precise cause of death but we're aware he was dealing with some particularly serious health issues for the past few months mcleod was born february 28 1931. he was born in an affluent town in new york state called mount kisco which is in westchester county his name at birth was alan george c he got his middle name in honor of his father george c gavin along with his mother margaret younger brother allen and his father grew up in pleasantville new york they continued to live there even after the death of the family patriarch george in 1945. when it came time for college mcleod relocated to ithaca new york home of ithaca college where he studied acting he graduated with honors in 1952 before moving to the big apple to pursue a new acting career gavin served a stint in the u.s air force after moving to new york city he adopted his stage name he came up with the name drawing from a character on a tv show called climax combined with the name of his drama coach back in ithaca speaking on the name change some years later mcleod further revealed his birth name proved to be a bit of an obstacle to his career and that once he adopted the new moniker everything changed for the better mcleod's career was picking up steam before the mary tyler moore show for all intents and purposes mcleod's acting career got its start in 1957 at the age of 26. he landed several guest stars and bit parts on a number of tv programs and films like operation petticoat where he got to work with the likes of superstars like cary grant and tony curtis the party which starred peter sellers and the dick van dyke show the latter presented him with his first opportunity to work with comedic genius mary tyler moore throughout the 60s he also appeared in acclaimed series like perry mason hawaii 5-0 the man from uncle and the andy griffith show in 1962 gavin scored his first recurring role in the series mchale's navy as the character joseph haynes who viewers might better remember as happy the wartime sitcom introduced mcleod to his castmate actor ernest borgnine gavin appeared in two seasons of the series and later reprised his role for the show's two theatrical films mikhail's navy and mikhail's navy joins the air force in 1970 mcleod was given one of the most iconic roles of his career when he joined the cast of the mary tyler moore show that series revolutionized the world of tv mcleod was given the role of murray slaughter the perpetually frazzled head writer of the six o'clock news who was constantly irked by news anchor ted knight throughout the series his character slowly became a good friend to the show's lead mary as slaughter mcleod appeared in all seven seasons of the groundbreaking show he even reprised his role once more for an episode of the spin-off series ronda for his contribution to the series mcleod also received two golden globe nominations for best supporting actor hey if you're enjoying this video so far make sure you give it a like and be sure to subscribe to fax first if you haven't already and stick around to find out how gavin was able to save his failed marriage even after they had already divorced from a high-stakes desk job to a life at sea when the mary tyler moore show wrapped up in 1977 mcleod felt no need to take a break from the small screen he immediately hopped aboard the cast of the romantic comedy series the love boat which premiered in the fall of that year the whimsical series was set on a luxury cruise liner called the ms pacific princess it was produced by their prestigious television producer aaron spelling mcleod took the reins of the ms pacific princess as the vessel's captain he appeared in every installment of the series as well as three made-for-tv movies in fact he was just one of three of his castmates to do so bernie koppel and ted lang persevered to the end as well that role also earned mcleod three more golden globe nods for best actor in a tv series comedy or musical mcleod's acting career continued after the show's cancellation he frequently found himself in guest roles on a number of classic and modern shows you might have seen them most recently in series like oz that 70s show and king of queens his last appearance on tv was in 2014 on the series the comeback kids mcleod's family life in addition to being an actor macleod was also quite the family man although it would take a faith awakening experience for him to fully acclimate himself in that role he was married three times twice to actress patty kendig whom he remained with until his death they got married for the first time in 1974 but divorced eight years later after having a change of heart they got back together and picked up where they left off in 1985. mcleod credited their conversion to evangelical christianity for their second chance at marriage he touched on that chapter of his life in his 1987 memoir back on course the remarkable story of a divorce that ended in remarriage gavin also fathered four children whom he loved very deeply he struggled with alcoholism mcleod shared in his book this is your captain speaking my fantastic voyage through hollywood faith and life that he regretted signing on to do michael's navy he was unsatisfied with the discouragingly low number of lines he got each week and often felt more like a living prop than a member of the cast he knew he had a lot more to offer but he still had to prove himself worthy before he could land more substantial and fulfilling work even though he was aware of this he still felt miserable most of the time and this led to him seeking solace in the bottle eventually his drinking started interfering with his personal life his relationship with his first wife joan rutvik was the first thing to suffer the more he drank the more irritable and short-tempered he became he often would become someone who was bitter selfish and cruel after they divorced his second wife patty insisted she wouldn't marry him until he was sober so in the year 1974 he put the bottle down and didn't drink since he went bald early on in life gavin lost his hair early on in life he went almost completely bald in fact while he was still in college he touched on this a bit in that memoir we mentioned he commented on how surprised he was to lose his hair as fast as he did to him however it didn't matter that much he explained there were a lot of young men playing senior citizens in college theater back then so if anything his early baldness was more of a blessing that is until he moved to new york that's when his chrome dome started presenting more of a problem he looked far and wide for an agent but it seemed like no one wanted to represent a young bald man after running into one brick wall after another he eventually decided it was within his best interest to invest in a hairpiece after purchasing one his life and career prospects quickly changed for the better he could have played archie bunker before his role on the mary tyler moore show mcleod tried out for the part of archie bunker in all in the family but he found the character too much of a bigot he refused to say the hateful things required of this character for the sake of the script regardless of this he auditioned for the part anyway when the show's creator norman lear called him up to inform him he had selected carol o'connor for the part instead mcleod let out a big sigh of relief he knew he wouldn't have been happy doing that show the love boat curse in his book mcleod made a rather curious observation it seems every regular character on the love boat had been divorced at least once in their life he also expressed bewilderment that the tabloids haven't caught wind of the fact and ran with dubbing it the love boat curse or something like that despite marital troubles fortunately each cast member ended up happy macleod included of course now it's time to hear from you in the comments section let us know which love boat cast member you recall most fondly gavin mcleod or ed asner and before you go make sure you give this video a like and subscribe to fax verse if you haven't already click the bell icon to stay updated on all our latest content you

Channel: Facts Verse

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Id: CA0L4yCtX_Q

Length: 9min 3sec (543 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 08 2021