Biography
This page uses content from the Gavin MacLeod biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.
Gavin MacLeod (born February 28, 1930) is an American actor, notable for playing Murray Slaughter on Mary Tyler Moore and Captain Merrill Stubing on The Love Boat.
Born Allan See in Mount Kisco, New York, he grew up in Pleasantville and studied acting at Ithaca College, graduating in 1952. His father, a gas station attendant, was a Chippewa (Ojibwa) Indian. After serving in the Air Force, he moved to New York City and worked at Radio City Music Hall while looking for acting work. At about this time he changed his name, drawing "Gavin" from a cerebral palsy victim in a TV drama, and "MacLeod" from his Ithaca drama coach, Beatrice MacLeod.
His first movie appearance was in I Want To Live!, a 1958 prison drama starring the late Susan Hayward, who won an Oscar for her performance. He was soon noticed by Blake Edwards, who in 1958 cast him as a neurotic navy clerk in Operation Petticoat with Cary Grant and Tony Curtis. Operation Petticoat proved to be a breakout role for MacLeod, and he was soon cast in another Blake Edwards comedy, High Time, with Bing Crosby.
MacLeod also appeared as the villain on TV shows of the late 1950s and early 1960s. His first regular TV role came in 1962 as Joseph "Happy" Haines on McHale's Navy. MacLeod's role as "Murray Slaughter" on The Mary Tyler Moore Show won him lasting fame, and two Golden Globe nominations, followed by another three nominations for his Love Boat work.
During the mid-80's, Gavin and his then ex-wife Patti became Evangelical Christians and remarried (see TPE "Conversations 12/25/2005"). Following his conversion and remarriage, he and his wife wrote about struggles with divorce and alcoholism in Back On Course: The Remarkable Story of a Divorce That Ended in Remarriage. The MacLeods have been hosts on the Trinity Broadcasting Network for 14 years, primarily hosting a show about marriage called, "Back on Course" (see TBN "Our Programs").
MacLeod currently serves as the honorary Mayor of Pacific Palisades.
Filmography
- I Want To Live!
- Compulsion
- Pork Chop Hill
- Operation Petticoat
- The Gene Krupa Story
- Twelve Hours to Kill
- High Time
- Kelly's Heroes (1970)
- The Crimebusters
- McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force
- Time Changer (2002)
- The Sand Pebbles
Television
- Mr. Lucky
- The Untouchables
- Perry Mason
- Dr. Kildare
- The Dick Van Dyke Show
- The Munsters
- The Twilight Zone
- Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
- McHale's Navy
- The Andy Griffith Show
- The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
- Hogan's Heroes
- The Rat Patrol
- Combat!
- The Big Valley
- It Takes a Thief
- Hawaii Five-O
- Mary Tyler Moore
- The Love Boat
- The King of Queens
- That '70s Show
External links
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify the biographical information on this page under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation.
IGN RSS Feeds