Gavin MacLeod, the veteran supporting actor who achieved stardom as Murray Slaughter, the sardonic TV news writer on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” before going on to even bigger fame as the cheerful Capt. Stubing on “The Love Boat,” has died .
He had originally tested for Moore’s TV boss, Lou Grant, a part that went to Ed Asner. Realizing he wasn’t right for playing the blustery, short-tempered TV newsroom leader, MacLeod asked if he could try instead for the wisecracking TV news writer, his jokes often at the expense of the dimwitted anchorman Ted Baxter.
“The Mary Tyler Moore Show” was a smash from the start and remains a classic of situation comedies. It produced two spinoffs, “Rhoda” and “Phyllis,” starring Valerie Harper and Cloris Leachman, who had portrayed Mary’s neighbors.
It was still top-rated when Moore, who played news producer Mary Richards, decided to end it after seven seasons.
Gavin MacLeod, Love Boat captain, dies at 90
FILE - In this Jan. 2007 file photo, the cast of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, from left, Gavin MacLeod, Cloris Leachman, Mary Tyler Moore, Valerie Harper, Georgia Engel and Ed Asner, present the award for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series at the 13th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, in Los Angeles. Gavin MacLeod has died. His nephew told the trade paper Variety that MacLeod died early Saturday, May 29, 2021. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File) May 29, 2021 - 1:42 PM
LOS ANGELES (AP) â Gavin MacLeod, the veteran supporting actor who achieved stardom as Murray Slaughter, the sardonic TV news writer on âThe Mary Tyler Moore Show,â before going on to even bigger fame as the cheerful Capt. Stubing on âThe Love Boat,â has died. He was 90.