Fred Gwynne was born on 10 July 1926 — 99 years ago. He died at the age of 66 back in 1993 of causes related to pancreatic cancer.
I think people don’t take him seriously enough. He was 6’5″ with a goofily asymetric face You might think he fell into acting. But he was interested in acting while in school. And as a result of his work on Broadway, he gained the reputation as a great comedic actor.
This first big break was as co-star of Car 54, Where Are You? It ran for two long (30-episode) seasons starting in 1961. He was paired with Joe E Ross, who was almost a foot shorter than Gwynne. Unlike his next TV series, Gwynne is mostly a straight man and is mostly understated in the role.
I know I would have loved this show if I had been alive then. But it wasn’t syndicated when I was old enough to notice. I was, however, alive for Fred Gwynne’s next great success — at least in syndication. The Munsters also ran for two long seasons (70 total episodes) starting in 1964. When I was a kid, I liked it a lot — mostly for Herman Munster, which makes sense given he’s just a big kid himself.
Over time, I find the whole property pretty hard to take. It’s so broad and dumb. But at the time, it worked really well — for me and millions of others. It did marginally better than The Addams Family.
Given how little money TV actors made in the mid-1960s, taking the role was probably a mistake. Gwynne was typecast and it was hard for him to find work for a while. And even after, he didn’t work a lot. Of course, with his looks, this might have been inevitable. But he put in some notable performances.
I loved him in The Cotton Club. He played George Jean “Big Frenchy” DeMange along side Bob Hoskins who played Owney Madden. The two men owned the Cotton Club. They were both vile human beings but in the movie they are colorful characters who are extremely close friends (even lovers if you want to go there). And once again, Gwynne found himself paired with a very short man.
Everyone knows My Cousin Vinny, so we can move on.
But despite The Munsters being iconic and much more important in terms of pop culture, when I think of Fred Gwynne, I think of his outstanding performance as the kindly and “helpful” neighbor, Jud Crandall, in Pet Sematary.
If you want to remember Fred Gwynne, I recommend watching Pet Sematary. It is available to watch for free from either of the two big public library streaming services, Kanopy and Hoopa.
The Munsters publicity photo via GetArchive. It is in the public domain.