RIP Gavin MacLeod

[WhatTheBuck 28690]

Passed away at 90.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/29/entertainment/gavin-macleod-obituary/index.html

[WhatTheBuck 28690]

On the Mary Tyler Moore show, Gavin’s character Murray Slaughter was the only one who appeared in every episode alongside Mary herself. Not Lou Grant. Not Ted Baxter. Not Rhoda Morgenstern, thank goodness. Just Murray. (And a young Helen Hunt played his daughter in a couple episodes. Not that that’s particularly relevant but it seemed like it was worth mentioning.)

[TwiceHorn 30972]

That's a good run.  Solid character actor.

[RPM 26148]

He may have been a good copywriter and sea captain, but he learned everything he knew from the crew of PT73.

[WhatTheBuck 28690]

People in the media keep saying Ed Asner and Betty White are the only two cast members from the MTM show who are still alive. Last I checked, John Amos is still breathing. 

[Nivek 16737]

Captain Stubin is a jerk… barrahhh

[RPM 26148]

2 hours ago, Nivek said:

Captain Stubin is a jerk… barrahhh

[WhatTheBuck 28690]

15 hours ago, Nivek said:

Captain Stubin is a jerk… barrahhh

*Stubing

Also, Mr. Roarke would like a word.

That was regular back-to-back viewing in my household growing up. 

[DougO 5238]

Always with the  negative waves...

 

 

Edited June 1, 2021 by DougO

[Jive Turkey 12496]

i believe this picture is from the first season of MTM, which was 1970.  Gavin MacLeod was 39 years old and Ed Asner was 41.  they look like they're both in their 60s.  RIP Cap'n Murray.

[RPM 26148]

He originally was offered the Lou Grant role, but he asked to play Murray because he didn't want to yell at Mary.

[atomheartbevo 89288]

“I swear I won’t stop until your legs are shaking and the neighbors know you're fucking the one and only Murray Slaughter.”

Don't remember which episode of the MTM Show that was.

 

[Richard Kimball 1491]

10 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

“I swear I won’t stop until your legs are shaking and the neighbors know you're fucking the one and only Murray Slaughter.”

Don't remember which episode of the MTM Show that was.

 

That was the dream sequence, where Ted, Murray and Lou all fantasized about marrying Mary. I think it ended up with them running a train on her. 

MacLeod really latched onto that Captain Stubing role, almost like Alan Hale latched onto the Skipper persona. He wore that captain's outfit for the rest of his life. Sometimes, in interviews, he sounded like he really thought he was a ship's captain. 

I think he loved the role so much because all of his career he'd been cast as a kind of pathetic character. In McHale's Navy, he was always dirty and greasy, and got two lines, at most, per episode. Kelly's Heroes, basically the same character, but in the army. In Mary Tyler Moore, he was a downtrodden writer who wrote for a moron, and spent all his time simping over MTM, even though his wife at home was pretty hot, at least hotter than he deserved.

In an interview, he talked about how much the role of the captain meant to him, because he'd always been cast as the low man on the totem pole. He also mentioned that he'd worked for quite a while to change the persona of the character, as he'd originally been written as a severe, by the book, somewhat tyrannical character, and he didn't think the character could survive on a show that was mostly about good feels, so he badgered the writers, and softened him. 

He had a long life, and got to play a lot of different characters. By all accounts, was a good guy. RIP. 

[Richard Kimball 1491]

23 hours ago, Jive Turkey said:

i believe this picture is from the first season of MTM, which was 1970.  Gavin MacLeod was 39 years old and Ed Asner was 41.  they look like they're both in their 60s.  RIP Cap'n Murray.

Ed Asner is the only one left, which is weird. If people were placing bets in the 70s, he'd have been first on the bucket list from a heart attack. Still rolling at 82. 

Cloris Leachman was a surprise, cause she was in her mid forties when the show started, and acted up until a few months before her death this year. She did the voice of the grandmother in the Croods, and two movies will be released posthumously. 

[Hate 20081]

She’s not pictured, but Betty White was on the MTM show as well.

[WhatTheBuck 28690]

22 minutes ago, Richard Kimball said:

almost like Alan Hale latched onto the Skipper persona.

*Alan Hale Jr.

His father had a much longer and more distinguished career. Pretty much any old b&w movies he made in the 40’s, many of them war movies, are worth a watch. He was always great. He also played Little John in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1939), one of my all time favorite films. 

[WhatTheBuck 28690]

And, once again, John Amos is still alive. He was a regular on the MTM show too. 

[DougO 5238]

43 minutes ago, WhatTheBuck said:

And, once again, John Amos is still alive. He was a regular on the MTM show too. 

Amos was not part of the regular cast. He had a recurring role, 13 appearances over eight years, according to IMDB.

[WhatTheBuck 28690]

22 minutes ago, DougO said:

Amos was not part of the regular cast. He had a recurring role, 13 appearances over eight years, according to IMDB.

Plus he was black so fuck him, right?

Also, IMDb says 14 episodes. But I assume you didn’t watch the show because he played a major role in a number of episodes. 

Edited June 2, 2021 by WhatTheBuck

[Richard Kimball 1491]

2 hours ago, Hate said:

She’s not pictured, but Betty White was on the MTM show as well.

 

1 hour ago, DougO said:

Amos was not part of the regular cast. He had a recurring role, 13 appearances over eight years, according to IMDB.

Yeah, the photo shows the regular characters from the first season. Amos was never a regular, and Betty White's character was, if I recall correctly, planned to be a one off in the third season, but her character worked so well they kept her. 

[Upgrayedd 5797]

3 hours ago, Richard Kimball said:

That was the dream sequence, where Ted, Murray and Lou all fantasized about marrying Mary. I think it ended up with them running a train on her. 

Never watched the show.  Rethinking that decision. 

[Sbbruin 21651]

He also played a bank robber posing as a film crew that was going to pretend to be filming a scene inside the bank while in actuality robbing it.

[WhatTheBuck 28690]

51 minutes ago, Richard Kimball said:

Yeah, the photo shows the regular characters from the first season. Amos was never a regular, and Betty White's character was, if I recall correctly, planned to be a one off in the third season, but her character worked so well they kept her. 

Gordy was in a lot more episodes than Chuckles the Clown was.

[Sbbruin 21651]

3 hours ago, WhatTheBuck said:

And, once again, John Amos is still alive. He was a regular on the MTM show too. 

What?  I thought he died in a car wreck in '76?  Florida sure seems to think so.

[DougO 5238]

5 hours ago, WhatTheBuck said:

Plus he was black so fuck him, right?

Also, IMDb says 14 episodes. But I assume you didn’t watch the show because he played a major role in a number of episodes. 

I watched the show and enjoyed it. Amos appeared in less than 10 percent of the episodes. Not a regular cast member, probably because they were racists, as you suggest.

[DougO 5238]

Notice the "Georgette" character was not included in the photo, either, though Georgia Engal was involved in 57 episodes. So they obviously hate women, too.

[WhatTheBuck 28690]

4 hours ago, DougO said:

Notice the "Georgette" character was not included in the photo, either, though Georgia Engal was involved in 57 episodes. So they obviously hate women, too.

She’s also dead. 

[RPM 26148]

Damn, 2 roles I forgot about... Seaman Hunkle in Operation Petticoat and Pvt. Saxon in Pork Chop Hill. Working with Cary Grant and Gregory Peck in the same year is impressive.