FRED GWYNNE

'Frederick Hubbard Gwynne' (July 10, 1926 – July 2, 1993) was an American actor, known for starring in the television sitcoms ''Car 54, Where Are You?'' and ''The Munsters''.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Career

References

External links

Biography

Early life

Gwynne was born in New York City, the son of Dorothy (Ficken) and Frederick Walker Gwynne, a stockbroker.^[1] His paternal grandfather was an Episcopal minister who was born in Camus, County Tyrone, Ireland and his maternal grandfather was an immigrant from London, England. Gwynne attended the prestigious Groton School and went on to graduate from Harvard University in 1951. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Navy and studied art on the G.I. Bill.

Career

His first forays into acting in 1951 did not pay well so he worked for a while as a copywriter for "J. Walter Thompson". His Broadway career began to take off in 1952 so he quit the agency. He was a cartoonist for the Harvard Lampoon and became its president; he acted in the Hasty Pudding Club, and joined the Brattle Theatre Repertory Company after graduation. His first Broadway role was as a gangster in a 1952 comedy, "Mrs. McThing," which starred Helen Hayes.^[2]
After parts in ''The Phil Silvers Show'' (as Private Honigan in "The Eating Contest" in 1955 and "For The Birds" in 1956) and many other shows as well as films, Nat Hiken cast him in the sitcom ''Car 54, Where Are You?'' as Patrolman Francis Muldoon, opposite Joe E. Ross, who played his partner, Gunther J. Toody. That program lasted two seasons, where he met longtime friend and later co-star, Al Lewis. After his experience in ''The Munsters'', he was unfortunate to be typecast as Herman Munster, the tall, goofy parody of Frankenstein's monster, and experienced difficulty with being cast in other projects. Gwynne was 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) tall. For his role as Herman Munster he had to wear 40 or 50 lb (20 kg) of padding, makeup and 4-inch elevator shoes. While filming ''The Munsters'', his face was painted a bright violet because it captured the most light on the black-and-white film. Of the face-paint, he said, "I didn't mind it all that much, although it kind of made me look like a purple Indian." Gwynne was known for his good spirits and sense of humor, and retained fond recollections of Herman. He was later cast as Jonathan Brewster, a Frankenstein monster-like character, in a 1969 television production of "Arsenic and Old Lace".
In addition to his acting career, Gwynne sang professionally, painted, and wrote and illustrated children's books, including ''A Chocolate Moose for Dinner, The King Who Rained, Best In Show, Pondlarker,'' and ''A Little Pigeon Toad.'' He also lent his voice talents to commercials and radio shows such as CBS Radio Mystery Theater. Later, he held a number of shows of his art work, the first in 1989.
He was able to display his musical talents in a Hallmark Hall of Fame made for television production, "The Littlest Angel" (1969). Gwynne eventually proved himself as a fine dramatic actor on stage. In 1974, he played the role of "Big Daddy" in the Broadway revival of ''Cat On A Hot Tin Roof''. Another memorable role was as the Stage Manager in ''Our Town''. He also appeared as "Colonel J. C. Kinkaid" in two parts of A Texas Trilogy". In 1984, he tried out for the part of Henry on the show ''Punky Brewster''. He withdrew when the auditioner identified him as "Herman Munster" rather than by his real name. The role of Henry subsequently went to George Gaynes.
His performance as Jud Crandall in ''Pet Sematary'' was based on author Stephen King himself, who is also quite tall — only an inch shorter than the actor — and uses a similarly thick Maine dialect. Gwynne's ''Pet Sematary'' character has had recurring parody appearances in the ''South Park'' episodes "Butters' Very Own Episode", "Asspen", and "Marjorine". Gwynne also had roles in the movies ''On the Waterfront'', ''Disorganized Crime'', ''The Cotton Club'', ''Captains Courageous'', ''The Secret of My Success'', ''Water'', ''Ironweed'' and ''Fatal Attraction'', ''The Boy Who Could Fly''. Gwynne's last film performance was as Judge Chamberlain Haller in the 1992 film comedy, ''My Cousin Vinny'', in which he used a credible Southern accent. In ''My Cousin Vinny'', Vinny sees a Yale Law School Diploma on the wall behind Judge Haller (Fred Gwynne). As noted above, Gwynne was a Harvard man.
Earlier he was in the cast of ''The Phil Silvers Show'' as a man of enormous appetite that Sgt. Bilko entered in a pie-eating contest—then found out he could only consume mass quantities when depressed.
On July 2nd, 1993, Gwynne died of pancreatic cancer in Pennington, New Jersey. He left wife Deborah and four children.

References

1. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~battle/celeb/gwynne.htm
2. Lambert, Bruce (2004): Fred Gwynne, Popular Actor, Is Dead at 78. ''The New York Times,'' August 28, 2004, p. 8: Reference for Harvard Lampoon, Hasty Pudding, Brattle Theatre, "Mrs. McThing."

External links

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★ Fred Gwynne details on biography.com

★ the Fred Gwynne Experience