Gavin MacLeod (born February 28, 1930) is an American actor most notable for playing Murray Slaughter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Captain Merrill Stubing on The Love Boat. He is the stepfather of Drew Steele, of the rock band the Surf Punks.

Biography

Early years

Born Allan George 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.

Career

His first movie appearance was in I Want To Live!, a 1958 prison drama starring Susan Hayward. He was soon noticed by Blake Edwards, who in 1958 cast him as a neurotic harried navy yeoman 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 Edwards comedy, High Time, with Bing Crosby.

MacLeod also appeared as the villain on TV shows of the late 1950s and early 1960s. He played the role of a drug pusher, 'Big Chicken', in two episodes of the first season of Hawaii Five-O. 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 The Love Boat work.

Conversion

During the mid-80's, McLeod 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"). Gavin Macleod appeared in Rich Christiano's "Time Changer", a movie about time travel and how the morals of society have moved away from the Bible. He also has the lead role in Christiano's "The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry" due out in Spring 2009.

Current work

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
• The Party (1968)
• Kelly's Heroes (1970)
• The Crimebusters
• McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force
• Time Changer (2002)
• The Sand Pebbles
• The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry (filming)

Television

• ''My Favorite Martian
• 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

• Gavin MacLeod at the Internet Movie Database
• NNDB Entry
• Archive of American Television Interview with Gavin MacLeod in Jan 3, 2003 on Google Video
• TBN page