Frederick Hubbard “Fred” Gwynne (10 July 1926 – 2 July 1993) was a highly talented American actor, being famous for his roles in the sitcoms “Car 54, Where Are You?” (1960s) and “The Munsters” (1960s), also appearing in musicals on Broadway.
Gwynne was born in New York City to a wealthy family, attending the Groton School and graduating from Harvard University in 1951. At Harvard, he was on staff of the “Harvard Crimson” newspaper and performed in the dining club’s several theatricals. He served in the US Navy as a radioman during World War II. After graduation, Gwynne acted in the Brattle Theatre Repertory Company in Cambridge, Massachusetts acting in Shakespeare. Later on, he moved to New Work working as a musician and copywriter; he also worked as a book illustrator and commercial artist, and had his first book, “The Best in Show” published in 1958.
Gwynne debuted on Broadway with the role of Stinker in the comedy “Mrs. McThing”. In 1955, he had a remarkable appearance on “The Phil Silvers Show” in the episode “The Eating Contest”. From 1956-1963, Gwynne appeared in several TV dramatic showcases – The Kaiser Aluminum Hour (1956), The DuPont Show of the Month (1957) or The United States Steel Hour (1953), but he gained fame in situation comedies. He was cast by producer-writer Nat Hiken in a lead role in the situation comedy, Car 45, Where Are You” (1961), as officer “Francis Muldoon”, sitcom that lasted for two seasons. During these two seasons of the sitcom he became longtime friends with co-star Al Lewis. Gwynne was cast as Herman Munster in the sitcom, The Munsters (1964) that also lasted for two seasons. For the role, Gwynne had to wear 40-50 lbs of padding, makeup and heavy 4 inch elevator shoes. He made a couple of guest appearances as “Herman Munster” on The Red Skelton Show and in a “Freddie the Freeloader” comedy sketch.
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Tags: Biography, Filmography, Fred Gwynne, Pictures
