Gavin MacLeod

Gavin MacLeod was interviewed for three hours in Santa Monica, CA.  He talked about changing his name from Allan See to Gavin MacLeod and his early years as an actor in theater, movies, and as a guest on such television series as Peter Gunn and The Untouchables.  He spoke about his appearance as a regular on McHale’s Navy and that, despite playing the character of “Happy Haines,” how it coincided with an unhappy period in his life where he experienced a bout with alcoholism.  He spoke earnestly about inspiring others to overcome such obstacles and described his own career resurgence appearing in Robert Wise’s The Sand Pebbles and in a notable recurring character on Hawaii Five-O.  McLeod than spoke in great detail about the two series for which he is best remembered and most beloved, playing “Murray Slaughter” on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and “Captain Merrill Stubing” on The Love Boat.  For both series he talked about how he was cast, his thoughts on the other regulars and the series creators, and reminisced about memorable series episodes.  He also mentioned his recent talk show series Back on Course: A Ministry for Marriages, a series on the Trinity Broadcasting Network that he co-hosted with his wife Patti.  The interview was conducted by Karen Herman on January 3, 2003.