The Munsters brought classic monsters to suburbia as a typical sitcom family.
There was no predicting how this series would become a hit for generations of fans. It wasn't
an easy show to film, with all-day shoots in heavy costuming and make-up. For some cast members,
life was truly monstrous.
Although actor Fred Gwynne was born into privilege,
his life before Herman Munster was often anything but easy. As documented by Biography,
tragedy ripped the Gwynne family apart when Fred's father died after a routine
sinus operation. Eight-year-old Gwynne was devastated by the sudden loss.
A few years later, a growth spurt would isolate Gwynne from his adolescent peers,
making puberty, already an awkward time, even more difficult. With the support of his mother, the
gangly teen made it through to become a popular, outgoing student who excelled in art and drama.
After graduating high school, Gwynne enlisted in the United States Navy,
where he served as a radio operator on a submarine chaser during World War II, according
to the New York Times. The stress and constant beeping of Morse Code took a toll on Gwynne,
and he once broke down in tears in front of his captain, who relieved him of radio duty.
In the 1950s, Gwynne began working as an actor on stage and television
while juggling a second career as a copywriter for an ad agency. In 1961,
he made his big breakthrough as Officer Frances Muldoon on the cop comedy Car 54, Where Are You?
However, just as Gwynne was settling into his success and enjoying family life with
his wife and four children, his youngest son Dylan drowned in the family pool. While still
dealing with his grief, he got word that "Car 54" was canceled and fell deeper into depression.
The role of Herman Munster made Fred Gwynne a household name,
yet the actor nearly passed up the part.
Fred's former wife, Foxy Gwynne, told A&E's Biography in 1999:
"He didn't want to do it, but the money was too good. The whole idea kind of turned him off."
Ever the professional. Gwynne nevertheless gave the role his all, and his childlike interpretation
of Doctor Frankenstein's monster remains one of the greatest dads in sitcom history.
"You're gonna be your daddy's big, smart, successful son."
Eventually, Gwynne discovered a wholly unexpected set of challenges in portraying Herman.
Donning the costume and makeup proved torturous for the actor. Perspiring heavily under the
makeup and heavy costume, Gwynne was forced to take salt tablets to stave off dehydration.
He also developed severe back pain and began to lose weight at an alarming rate.
Physical rigors aside, Gwynne also grew frustrated with the show's recycled scripts and jokes. The
stale material eventually left the actor feeling creatively stifled. Following The
Munsters cancelation in 1966, Gwynne found that he couldn't escape the long shadow of Herman.
Foxy Gwynne also said:
"It wasn't until he was out of 'The Munsters' that he realized [the show] had hurt him a lot
as far as acting. His name would come up for a part and they would say, 'Oh,
come on. Herman Munster for that? Are you crazy?'"
When Yvonne De Carlo took the role of Lily Munster in 1964,
she had been an established Hollywood star for two decades.
As detailed by A&E's Biography,
a grisly accident on the set of 1962's How the West Was Won left De Carlo's husband,
stuntman Bob Morgan, permanently disabled. Movie studio MGM refused to take responsibility for the
negligence that led to Morgan losing his leg, leaving the couple in dire financial straits.
Forced to mortgage the family home, De Carlo took any job she could get, from singing in nightclubs
to summer stock theater. With medical and legal bills mounting, De Carlo needed a miracle.
In 1964, Universal offered De Carlo the role of Lily Munster. Although The Munsters was
the solution to De Carlo's money troubles, the actress was still reluctant to take the role.
Biographer James Parish explained to Biography:
"At first, she was embarrassed by the thought of doing it, but her agents and
her bankbook told her, 'Go audition for this. You need the part, and you need the money.'"
Co-stars Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis initially had their misgivings about working with a movie star,
but quickly reevaluated their attitudes when De Carlo got on the set.
Lewis told the Archive of American Television in 2002:
"When we heard that Yvonne De Carlo was going to play Lily Munster,
I guess [there was] some reverse snobbery. We were wrong. She was wonderful."
Yvonne De Carlo was one of the most glamorous starlets of the 1940s and '50s. With her
exotic beauty and vivacious personality, the young actress was sought after by some of the
most powerful men in the world. Yet her many relationships rarely brought her happiness.
While under contract to Paramount in the early 1940s, De Carlo began a romantic
relationship with legendary director Billy Wilder, whom she would later call the,
quote, "first big love" of her life. As detailed in her 1987 autobiography Yvonne,
Wilder was physically far from De Carlo's idea of the perfect man.
Still, she fell head over heels for the director of Double Indemnity.
Their romance ended abruptly when De Carlo spotted Wilder arm in arm with actress Doris Dowling.
In 1945, De Carlo became involved with eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes, but their relationship
fizzled when Hughes refused to commit to marriage. After breaking up with Hughes,
De Carlo briefly dated actors Robert Stack and Burt Lancaster.
While working on the 1949 film The Gal Who Took the West,
De Carlo met actor and stuntman Jock Mahoney. The couple fell in love and
were engaged to be married when De Carlo discovered she was pregnant.
Sadly, she lost the baby when doctors removed a large cyst from one of her ovaries.
Best remembered as Sam "Grandpa" Dracula, Lily Munster's dad and Herman's partner in hijinks,
comedic actor Al Lewis was one of the most visible members of
The Munsters in the decades after the show ended,
especially in the last years of his life. Still, Lewis' past is something of a mystery.
As irascible in real life as the character he made famous, Lewis was known to bend the truth,
often to the breaking point. The beginning of Lewis' self-mythologizing likely dates to 1964,
when Lewis was first cast as Grandpa. Fearing he might lose the part if producers discovered he
was younger than Yvonne De Carlo, it's thought that he fudged his date of birth by 13 years.
As detailed in the A&E Biography episode "Al Lewis: Forever Grandpa,"
Lewis was actually born on April 30th, 1923 to Russian immigrants in Manhattan.
Lewis decided to fill in the 13 year gap in his biography with many unlikely exploits.
Telling interviewers that he had been everything from a circus clown to a union organizer in the
South, Lewis always placed himself just at the edge of important historical events.
He also claimed to have a totally unverifiable doctorate in child
psychology from Columbia University, earned some time between 1941 and 1949.
"I have a degree in education. I also have a degree in child psychology."
As documented in "Al Lewis: Forever Grandpa," in his 60s, Al Lewis embraced his Munsters persona,
using his famous image as the foundation for an Italian restaurant in Greenwich
Village appropriately called Grampa's Bella Gente.
The eatery brought Lewis back into the public eye and the aging actor used
his renewed celebrity to promote everything from liquor to a line of children's videos.
Ever a political activist, Lewis ran as the Green Party candidate for Governor of New
York in 1998 at the age of 75. Although he lost to Republican George Pataki,
Lewis garnered enough votes to make the Green Party a viable force in New York politics.
Although his enthusiasm for new challenges never waned,
Al Lewis' health was in rapid decline by the early 2000s. According to the New York Times, in 2003,
Lewis underwent an operation to clear a blockage in his heart. Complications during the surgery
led to an emergency bypass and the amputation of his right leg and the toes of his left foot.
Lying in a coma for a month, the end seemed near for Lewis. However, he rallied and, a year later,
he made an appearance in the music documentary Ramones Raw. On February 3, 2006, Al Lewis died.
"He'll be back. I'm sure he will."
"Grandpa, nevermore."
Considered the family's, quote, "ugly duckling" because of her girl-next-door good looks,
the character of Marilyn Munster was inspired by blonde bombshell Marilyn Monroe.
Beverley Owen was the first of two actresses to portray
Herman and Lily's niece. She only appeared in the initial 13 episodes.
Owen, in love and living in New York, had reluctantly accepted the role in The Munsters
pilot, believing the outrageous show had little chance of going to series. When The Munsters
not only went to series but became a huge hit, Owen was forced to move to Los Angeles.
Overcome with homesickness, the 25-year-old actress spent much of her time on the set in
tears. Under contract with Universal, Owen felt trapped. At one point, told Biography:
"I had signed one of those seven-year Hollywood contracts. And I certainly
didn't get a lawyer. I just believed what they told me."
As Owen grew more miserable, two of her co-stars intervened on her behalf. She further explained:
"Finally, Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis marched into the office and said,
'You either let her go or we're all walking and you're not going to have a show.'"
Co-star Butch Patrick explained to the Seattle Times.
"And they let her go, but they blackballed her and she never worked again."
Following Beverley Owen's departure from The Munsters,
the show's producers found themselves in the difficult position of having to replace a cast
member halfway through the first season. At last, they settled on Utah-born Pat Priest.
Priest had previously appeared in small roles on My Favorite Martian and the sci-fi series Voyage
to the Bottom of the Sea. A dead ringer for Beverley Owen, Priest slipped into the role
virtually unnoticed and co-starred on The Munsters until its cancellation in 1966.
Despite its strong first season, the show was getting clobbered
in the ratings by ABC's Batman. Soon, CBS pulled the plug on show,
but The Munsters weren't quite ready to slink off to the grave just yet.
Hoping to generate foreign interest in the show for syndication, producers Joe Connoly and Bob
Mosher brought the original cast together for the feature film, Munster, Go Home! in 1966.
Unfortunately, Pat Priest wouldn't be invited along for the Munsters' last ride.
Connolly and Mosher considered Priest, who was approaching 30,
too old to reprise her role and the part of Marilyn went to 17-year-old Debbie Watson.
Already a veteran TV actor at age 11, Butch Patrick replaced Nate "Happy" Derman in the
role of youngest Munster, Eddie, after Derman's performance in the pilot was deemed unsuitable.
Patrick's interpretation of Eddie as a normal kid who just happened to be
a werewolf made him lovable, where Derman's snarling, feral performance was anything but.
Following the cancelation of The Munsters, Butch Patrick continued to work as a child actor,
appearing in episodes of The Monkees, I Dream of Genie, and Family Affair.
In 1970, Patrick starred in the Sid and Marty Kroft Saturday morning
series Lidsville opposite legendary comic actor Charles Nelson Riley.
The show briefly established Patrick as teen idol in the mold of David Cassidy,
Bobby Sherman, and Davy Jones.
However, by 1974, life had taken a turn for the 21-year-old actor. Descending
into alcohol and drug abuse, Patrick disappeared from public life. It would
take Patrick decades to finally put drugs and alcohol behind him.
Patrick told Australia's Studio 10 talk show:
"I was a functioning alcoholic and drug addict. Nonetheless, I still was doing what I was doing.
It caused me a lot of grief. But I'm back now.”
Fred Gwynne, died of pancreatic cancer in 1996, at the age of 66. Al Lewis passed
away 10 years later, in 2006, and in 2007, Yvonne De Carlo died of heart failure at
84. With Beverley Owen's 2019 death at age 81 from ovarian cancer, Butch Patrick and
Pat Priest are the last remaining principal cast members from the original The Munsters.
Both Priest and Patrick are cancer survivors; Priest was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's
lymphoma in 2010. After a successful series of treatments, Priest remains in remission.
In 2011, Butch Patrick had surgery to remove a small cancerous mass from his prostate.
Butch and Pat often appear together at autograph shows and fan conventions,
to the delight of generations of fans of The Munsters.
If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, please call the Substance Abuse
and Mental Health Administration's 24/7 National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP. That's 1-800-662-4357.