..::FRED GWYNNE EXPERIENCE::.. [Biography]

BIOGRAPHY

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FRED STATS

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Name: Frederick Hubbard Gwynne

Date of birth: 10 July 1926

Place of birth: New York, New York, USA; Tuxedo Park area of NY; Nursery And Childs Hospital

Date of death: 2 July 1993, Friday (8am, in his home)

Place of death: Taneytown, Maryland, USA; Stone Road (40 miles Northeast of Baltimore)

Cause of death: Metastasis Pancreatic Cancer, Cardiopulmonary Arrest

Height: 6ft. 5in.

Religion: Methodist

Education: Groton prep school, Connecticut; New York Phoenix School of Design, New York; Harvard University, Massachusetts (1951, under the G.I. Bill); Brattle Theater Repertory Company, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Parents: Frederick Walker Gwynne; Dorothy Ficken

Marital status: Jean "Foxy" Reynard (30 June 1952-1980) (divorced); Deborah Flater (9 March 1988 - 2 July 1993) (his death)

Children: Son Dylan, daughter Gaynor, son Kieron, son Evan and daughter Madyn (all with first wife, Foxy).

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FRED TRIVIA

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His father, Frederick Walker Gwynne, was a wealthy stockbroker and part of the security firm Gwynne Brothers. He died in St. Luke's hospital at age 50 from complications after routine sinus surgery in 1932. He had been sick for two months.

His mother, Dorothy Ficken, was a former cartoonist.

His maternal grandfather was an immigrant from London, England.

His paternal grandfather was an Episcopal minister from Camus, County Tyrone, Ireland.

At the time of his birth, he and his parents lived at 955 Park Avenue and Cedarhurst in Long Island, New York.

"Gwynne" is a variant of the "Gwynn" surname which is Welsh for "light," "white" and/or "fair." It was a common name in the Middle Ages and can also be used as a nickname for a person with a pale complexion or a fair hair colour.

Met his first wife Foxy through friends at a wedding.

His son Kieron was mentally handicapped and needed constant care.

Evan Gwynne worked as an animation designer, animator and layout artist in the 1992 movie Cool World.

In 1963, his youngest son Dylan drown in the family pool. Shortly after, Car 54 was cancelled.

He and Foxy split up after the death of their son, but reconciled after the birth of their third child and made a new start in Hollywood.

He and Foxy decided to divorce after 28 years of marriage.

He moved to an apartment in Manhattan's Upper West Side in 1980 and soon after met the thirty-year-old Deborah.

Was life-long friends with Al Lewis.

Author and illustrator of several children's books including "A Chocolate Moose For Dinner."

Madyn Gwynne says her father was "foremost an arttist, not an actor."

Sang professionally, sculpted and painted.

Attended the exclusive Groton prep school, which Franklin Delano Roosevelt also graduated from. He first appeared on stage in a student production of Shakespeare's "Henry V."

He went to Goton Prepatory School in Connecticut, then worked as a radio operator during World War II, then on to the New York Phoenix School of Design. He planned to pursue his interest in art but ended up going to Harvard, joining the college's famous capella group, The Krokodiles, founded two years prior in 1946 by David S. Biddle and David G. Binger.

Graduated Harvard University, class of 1951.

Performed in the Hasty Pudding Theatricals drag troupe from 1949-1951.

Member of the Harvard cappella group, The Krokodiloes. Some of his fondest memories were of the Kroks.

One of the jokes he used to tell to friends was "What did the big rose say to the little rose? Hiya Bud." He made his friends laugh and got detention for disturbing the dining room.

He once tried to invent a fin that would help people swim better underwater but it didn't work.

He first tried to act while in Groton prep school. He had a speech affliction and thought dramatics would help. He wasn't accepted the first year and that drove him to continue trying. At age 13, he was finally accepted, but continued to stammer occasionally.

After high school, he enlisted and served in the United States Navy as a sub chaser and radioman in Word War II.

Majored in English while at Harvard and was on the "Harvard Crimson" student newspaper.

While at Harvard, he studied drawing with artist R.S. Merryman, was president of The Harvard Lampoon and did drawings for the popular periodical.

After Harvard, he acted in Shakespeare with a Cambridge, Massachusetts repertory company, then went to New York where he made a living as a musician and copywriter.

Was a salesman at Seal Lock Burial Vault in Forest Hills, New York during the early 1950's.

While doing stage performances in New York, he also worked as a copywriter for the J. Walter Thompson Advertising agency writing newspaper, magazine, radio and television blurbs for the Ford Motor Company to make ends meet between jobs. He spent five years juggling his day job and his acting on both stage and television (including The Phil Silvers Show).

His artwork was being acclaimed at the Westchester County art show. He decided to leave his job at the Ford Motor Company and focus on his art.

The day he was cleaning out his office to leave his Ford job, he got the call from his agent with his first major Broadway role in the musical Irma La Duce where TV producer Nat Hiken hired him to co-star as Francis Muldoon on the NBC hit (though running only from 1961-1963) show Car 54, Where Are You?

In 1953, he moved to New York. Some of his cartoons in the Harvard Lampoon had been reprinted in Flair magazine.

For many years, his main source of income came from his work as a book illustrator and as a commercial artist.

Made his film debut in On The Waterfront at age 28, in 1954.

In 1958, his first illustrated children's book Best In Show was published.

Never took part in the Hollywood or Broadway social circles and kept to his private and professional lives separate.

He was a star himself, but still overwhelmed by meeting other stars and being in the same room with people like Jimmy Stewart, Danny Kaye and Groucho Marx.

He had royalties for Car 54, but noted that he received a check for 27-cents.

His schedule was so demanding that he spent little time at home.

While in California, he lived with his wife and kids in a rented Hollywood Hills ranch house, but also kept a $100-a-month rent-controlled apartment in Manhattan, New York on 85th and Broadway. It was home to many of his paintings and wood sculptures. The apartment gave him the feeling of having a root.

He appeared in several failed TV pilots, including The Littlest Angel and Arsenic And Old Lace.

Returning to the stage, he played Big Daddy in the Broadway production of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. He also played Claudis in Hamlet and was the stage manager in Our Town.

In 1976, he won an Obie Award for his performance in the off-Broadway play of Grand Magic.

In 1964, he was cast as Herman in The Munsters where he was required to wear 5-inch thick platform shoes and weighed 10 pounds.

The padded clothes he wore for Herman were suffocating and heavy, causing him to lose 10 pounds. He sweat constantly in them and required sugarless lemonade and salt tablets. Someone stood by to run a hose down his collar to blow air into his costume.

Towards the end of his life, he had trouble turning his head from side to side. One of his friends claims it was due to the Herman costume which put a lot of weight and strain on his head and shoulders.

Herman's hairpiece was made of real human hair.

Herman's make-up made his nose itch and at the end of the day, he was relieved to be able to blow his nose.

Used to bring sketch pads to work on the Munsters set and doodle while he wasn't doing scenes. He'd ask to do caricatures of people, sign them and give them to the people as a gift. Once told TV Guide, "If I doodle on the sides of my script, I remember the doodles, not my lines."

He frequently played the guitar on the set to pass the time and once bought Karl Silvera a guitar like his. They'd play them together.

He got paid about $100 extra because of the extensive make-up he had to endure.

His stunt-double for Herman was Bill Foster who worked under the professional name Jefferson County.

Herman was ranked number 19 in TV Guide's list of the "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time" in the June, 2004 issue.

His alarm would go off at 5:40am, he'd throw on some clothes, drive to the studio in his 1957 sedan he purchased for $500 and proceed to be made-up for his role as Herman for approximately 2 hours. Someone would bring in coffee, hard boiled eggs and shredded wheat.

The Munsters show wore him down by the end of the day so Al Lewis suggested he hire a masseur. The first time he had a rub-down, he was extremely tight and felt like dancing afterwards.

He used the lyrical voice tones of his mother as Herman's voice.

He used a prop man's laugh, which became Herman's trademark.

In 1966, The Munsters was fighting ratings wars with Batman. In an attempt to save it, they released the movie Munster Go Home, which failed at the box office and the series was taken off the air.

TV and movie producers were afraid to hire him after the cancellation of The Munsters because they thought audiences would only see him as the clumsy Herman Munster. He became bitter and shied away from anything to do with The Munsters.

After The Munsters, he was treated by casting directors as if he had leprosy. They didn't think he could play anyone else but Herman. He gave up after a year and moved back to New York to pursue his career on stage, but eventually told his agent that he belonged in pictures.

After "The Munsters" ended, he tried to avoid type-casting by going back to theatre work.

During the 1964 Macy's Day Parade, he brought a bottle of whiskey with him to settle his nerves so he could say hello to the children for 40 blocks. He got a bit drunk and was cussing at people. Al Lewis was mad at him for doing it. Karl Silvera was in charge of playing the song from the car and he kept it up loud to cover up what Fred was saying. They turned the corner and drove by a media box where Betty White and Lorne Greene were describing the parade. Fred looked up at the camera and yelled "F---k you!" Karl and Al told him what he had done later on after he sobered up and he was embarrassed about it.

When driving the Munster Koach, he took his shoes off and wore slippers.

He once drove the Munster Koach off the lot and onto Hollywood Boulevard.

The bottom part of the front seat had to be removed from the Munster Koach in order to fit him in it. He didn't go in for a fitting and they didn't think the costume would be that big.

In 1981, he put The Munster grudge behind him and starred in the TV movie The Munsters Revenge. He didn't fancy doing it and Deborah told him to name an astronomical figure that they wouldn't agree on, he did and they paid him that figure.

An underground chat room that sells stolen credit card numbers and personal consumer information offered data about Herman Munster, listing his personal details. His birthday was listed as 15 August 1964, which was close to the September 1964 airdate of the show. They also listed his home address as 1313 Mockingbird Lane and offered what appeared to be his MasterCard number.

Though he rarely talked about his role as Herman, privately he as proud of the character he had created.

He and Al Lewis were friends with Jackie Coogan who played Uncle Fester in The Addam's Family.

He appeared in 79 episodes of The CBS Radio Mystery Theater between 1975 and 1982.

In 1976, he appeared in an NBC Bicentennial Special called Bound For Freedom.

During the filming of Disorganized Crime, his fear of flying lead to driving to the Montana location in a custom motor home with Deborah. On the set, they were still newlyweds and they're chemistry together lit up the set.

Deborah explained that he often seemed manic-depressive because he was so emotional. When he wasn't working, he became frustrated with himself.

When he was at the point where he was ready to retire, he found himself in greater demand than ever before.

He had his hair dyed for his role as Jud Crandall in Pet Sematary. Every three weeks or so, he'd go to work at 5am and have it redone. Director Mary Lambert said he hated it and would chain smoke while he had it done.

He told Brad Greenquist, who played Victor Pascow, that he couldn't get the emotions for the "She knew it was an abomination" scene just right. He said he smoked too many cigarettes and had a lot of coffee and that allowed him to finally get the scene right.

He was very spiritual and interested in the here after, who God was and the power that makes people tick. He often expressed those things in his paintings.

In 1989, the year after he and Deborah were married, he decided to publicly display his artwork. He called the art show Drawn And Quartered and featured paintings containing word play and humour.

In 1989, after working non-stop for nearly forty years, he decided to put his film career on hold. He left behind the city life and he and Deborah moved to rural Maryland and bought a farm near where she had grown up.

The farm was 280 acres and they added an additional 10.

The house needed a lot of work so he started doing easy voice-overs, including one for Dreyer's Ice Cream, to help pay for the renovation costs.

He eventually came back to the big screen with his role in Bernardo Bertolucci's Luna. He also appeared in such movies as Ironweed, Fatal Attraction, The Cotton Club and possibly one of his best supporting roles as the Judge in My Cousin Vinny in 1992.

In January of 1993, discovered he was ill. CAT scan in February confirmed he had pancreatic cancer. He was treated at Johns Hopkins medical hospital but, unfortunately, was unsuccessful in beating it.

After his diagnosis and news of only having six months to live, he spent a lot of his time in his studio doing artwork to keep his spirits up.

In the final months of his death, he took the time to say goodbye to everyone. He discussed death with his daughter Madyn and told her that he would get to see his mother and spend time with his father and it was something to look forward to. He told her that he always thought life was as quick as the snap of your fingers and told her he'd see her in that quick amount of time.

Months before his death, he was said to have retired from doing anything. His agent stated that he was happy and in perfect health.

Underwent surgery at Johns Hopkins Medical Centre in Baltimore, Maryland. Doctors found the cancer had spread to his liver, were unable to get it all and put him on chemo treatments.

He died just eight days before his 67th birthday.

His body was taken to Fletcher Funeral Home in Westminster. The 3rd of July, he was taken to Sandymount Methodist Church where a brief, private service was held.

[Note: Information on this page was researched and compiled using various sources. Any errors are unintentional and corrections are quite welcome.]
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