Gavin MacLeod

Gavin MacLeod was interviewed for three hours in Santa Monica, CA. He talks 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 discusses his appearance as a regular on McHale's Navy and how despite playing the character of "Happy Haines," it was an unhappy period in his life where he experienced a bout with alcoholism. He speaks earnestly about inspiring others to overcome such obstacles and describes his own career resurgence after appearing in Robert Wise's The Sand Pebbles and as a notable recurring character on Hawaii Five-O. MacLeod then details the roles on 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 talks about how he was cast, his thoughts on the other regulars and the series creators, and reminisces about memorable series episodes. He also mentions 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. Karen Herman conducted the interview on January 3, 2003.