Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - GGACP Classic: Gavin MacLeod

Episode Date: September 4, 2025

In connection with the latest "Fun For All Ages" tribute to "The Love Boat," GGACP revisits this 2019 interview with Captain Stubing himself, actor Gavin MacLeod. In this memorable episode, Gavin joins Gilbert and Frank for a candid conversation about paying dues, playing bad guys, crushing on Marilyn Monroe, acting with (and without) a hairpiece and sharing a decades-long friendship with the late, great Ted Knight. Also, Gavin praises Cary Grant, ad-libs with Peter Sellers, cuts the rug with Bing Crosby and breaks into the business with Martin Balsam, Martin Landau and Jack Warden. PLUS: Big Chicken! “Chuckles Bites the Dust”! The brilliance of Blake Edwards! A surprise caller chimes in! And Gavin and Tony Curtis share a donut!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Here's another Gilbert and Franks. Here's another Gilbert and Franks. Here's another Gilbert and Franks. Colossal classic. Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried, and this is Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast with my co-hosts, Frank Santopadre, and our engineer Frank Ferd Rosa. Our guest this week is one of the most recognized, versatile and popular actors of the last seven decades, appearing in notable films and some of the best-known TV series of all time. Memorable big screen performances include I Want to Live, Pork Chop Hill, the Sand Pebbles, Operation Pettycoat, the Party, the Comic,

and Kelly's Heroes. He's also made hundreds of appearances on the small screen. In classic shows like The Dick Van Dyke Show, McCale's Navy, Perry Mason, the Untouchables, the Munsters, the Andy Griffith Show, Hogan's Heroes, Ironside, That 70s show, Jagg, The King of Queens, and Oz, just the name of you. He also played one of Steve McGarrot's arch enemies, the notorious drug pusher, Big Chicken, on Hawaii 5-0,

and spoofed his old co-star, Telly Savalas, in the TV movie Frank and I are a. especially fond of murder can hurt you. But he'll forever be known for portraying a pair of iconic characters and two of them are the most beloved series in the 1970s and 80s. Newswriter Murray Slaughter on the Mary Tyler Show and Captain Merrill Stubing, On the Love Boat. In a lengthy and successful career that started back in the 1950s, he's worked alongside some of

Hollywood's biggest names, including Bean Crosby, Tony Curtis, Gregory Peck, Barbara Stanwyk, Carrie Grant, Helen Hayes, Steve McQueen, Peter Sellers, Robert Redford, and Clint Eastwood. His terrific 2013 memoir is called This Is Your Captain Speaking, my fantastic voyage through Hollywood, Faith and Life. It's our pleasure to welcome to the podcast and actor.

We all grew up watching, and the only guest we've ever had on this show, who can say they attended Ernest Borknine and Ethel Merman's engagement party. The Pride of Pleasantville, New York, Gavin McLeod. Well, it's nice. It was so long. I'm glad I lived through all those credits. Yeah.

Welcome, Gavin. You're finally here. Thank you so much. Pleasantville, New York was a wonderful place to grow up. Home of the Readers Digest. My mother worked for them when there were five people in the office. You know, they went on to do great things. The Wallace family, we used to live in New York,

1025 Fifth Avenue, across from the Metropolitan. And every month they would give new flowers. And I thought, oh, the Wallace has donated all those flowers from the Reader's Digest. My mom used to work for them. proud of that. Anyway, I love the reading. Thank you. It's a little like this is your life without Ralph Edwards. I know. Now, the one thing I'm most proud of, can you say your birthday? 228, 2.28, 21. No, okay, so it's February 28th? 1931. We share a birthday. Oh, there you go.

You're kidding me. Yes. Are you February 28th? Yes. Wow. That's why we're so much alike. You still have more hair than I have. What is it with these Pisces? We all lose our hair. He's got a few left. Now, also, I remember, I think the only time we met,

it was at an autograph signing years ago. In Parsipan, New Jersey. Oh, yeah, Chillerfest. Yes. And, oh, and I got to say thank you to Stuart Hirsch for getting... Yes, thank you, Stuart. He's a great guy. He's a good man.

And so you were there. And I thought, you know, I'm one of those people who would watch you on the loveboat and say, oh, he's so friendly and kind and considerate. He's got to be a total bastard in real life. and in person you're your captain stooping well well i guess i'm full of water i mean i don't know i mean i i think in the long run i played so many different human beings some of the meanest people in the world the drug pushers all these people it was nice to be me for a change and uh yeah i got to be me and i like people i like i'm very

grateful for my life. I'm grateful for every day. I have still a lot. My father died when it was 39. He had a very short life. And here I am, 88 years old, still going strong. I'm so grateful. And so how can you not be nice for something? Especially when people are nice to you. Now, I noticed

how nice, I noticed your lines are the biggest lines of them all. Oh, at the Chiller Fest. Oh, thank you. I said, what has he got? And I looked at his hair. I said, well, he has a little more hair than I had. But he's got his beautiful wife with him and two little children.

And I also remember the whole time I was sitting there I had to pee desperately but I was watching you and going well this guy's older than me and he's not peeing yet. Yes, but you've heard of Depends Bernie and I discovered Depends years ago.

You and Capel? Yeah. Well, we went to do the Rose Bowl parade. And they said, you're going to be up at 4.30 in the morning. You have to sit on this thing, on this thing until it gets light out and so forth. I said, Bernie, what are you going to do when you have to urinate? I don't know. I don't know. He's too younger than I am. I said, I'll tell you what. I'll get some depends. I'll bring them up. So I brought them up. And he and I both wore them.

Guess what happens? It's so cold out there. the one of us had to go for the whole morning, the end of the pandemic, and we were still full of that's anyway, that's a love boat story that I've never mentioned to anybody.

We feel honored. That's an exclusive, Gilbert. Oh, that's so funny. That's hysterical. Gil, if you do another chill, chiller, get the Depends. Yes. I would work for Depends. I mean, keep you, I'll tell you, we live I live in way down in the Coachella, well, can I mention where I live?

I won't get bad letters or anything. No, no, you're a grandson of a lot. I live in the Palm Springs area. Right. And my kids and most of them are all up in the L.A. area, and we have to drive up. And sometimes that's four hours. And sometimes it's very difficult because you can't find places to stop. And my dear, beautiful, wonderful love of my wife, wife is my age too.

And here we are, two alter-cockers both saying, Have you gone yet? Have you gone yet? No, I'm wearing it. I'm wearing it. I'm wearing it. The first time I wore it all the way on Christmas, I finally, I never had to go.

I said, those the pens play tricks with you. Ha! Oh, it happens. There's a tip. You know. Gavin, why were you cast as so many bad guys and mobsters and drug dealers and pushers in those days? Because I didn't have any hair. I was a young guy without any hair.

Did you ever, I'm sorry, there's my hair maker on, my wig makers on the phone. That's okay. I'll tell you what happened. Did you read my book? You know when I got my first hair piece, the second hand hair piece. From Ziggy. Yeah. it was from Ziggy

that's right and he was balder than both of us put together all these guys working in their hair places are bald so he gives me I said I was working at Radio City musical for $34 a week as an usher

and I had to get my cousin they don't write parts for a young bald guy you know even O'Neill didn't do that and so I saved up my $125 and I went to the Sins Brothers place I think they're still there in New York.

I don't think Ziggy's alive anymore. I went up to the other guy with the bald head. I'm Ziggy. How are you, kid? I said, good. He says, what can I do? I said, well, look at my head. He said, you don't have any hair.

I says, I know. That's why I'm here. You sell it. I'd like to buy some. He said, let me look at you. He walks around, looks at their heads and so forth. He said, that'll be about $300. I said, oh, no, no, no.

I only have $125. I took me six months to save this. I said, I don't make $34 a week at the music. musical. I'm a young actor. They don't write parts for bald-headed young people. So I need a hairpiece. He says, come back when you get the money. I have time for this. I says, all right. So I start walking down the stairs. Then I heard, hey, kid. I turned around. He says, come on up here. He says, follow me. So I followed him. He opened this big curtain. And there was a room with a whole wall with a mirror with a shelf and chair.

and there's like a skull there with some hair on it. He said, sit down there. So I sat down there. He put this thing on my head. He said, how do you like that? It was hair on my head for the first time in years. I said, it could have looked like a bird nest. I don't care.

I said, this is magnificent. He says, you can have this for 125. I said, but you told me it was like three something or something. He said, yeah, but you know, I got. guy came in this morning. He turned this one and he got a new one. You can have this for 125. I said, oh, oh, gee, that's wonderful. I said, who was it? He said, I'm not permitted to tell you. I said, oh, I said, do you ever hear of Frankie Lane? Frankie Lane? This is Frankie Lane's hair. I'm going to wear Frankie. Wait, like it to get to the Rockettes and tell

I'm wearing Frankie Lane's hair. It was wonderful, except every time. we were someplace and we heard mule train, it would go flip-flop, flip-flop by my head. It really belonged to not Frankie Lane, though he wore them. Oh, you see. It won to be off,

B, B, Wayne, and they had this wonderful radio program. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Andre Baruch. Andre Baruch. Andre Baruch. It was Andre Baruch and Boulain. So listen to this. I was telling this story 40 years later on the tonight show.

We're doing the love boat. The phone rings the next day. And somebody said, Gavin, somebody wants to talk to you. I said, well, do you know who it is? He said, a guy named Baruch, Baruch. I said, I wonder if that's Andre Baruch? So I went to the phone. I said, hello, Gavin.

This is Andre Baruch. I missed a Baruch. What an honor to talk to. He says, I heard you on the tonight show. He said, thank you for the point. plug. I didn't know. It was a plug telling people he had a bad hairpiece. I said, he says, I'm in town. My son represents the three tenors. And he said, I was interested. Would you be interested in another hairpiece?

That's the end of that story. But he and B. Wayne, he died. They had a show he invited me to go to Florida to see. He and B. Wayne was a big band singer and he had died in suing years and she was still alive a couple of years ago in Beverly Hills in a place I knew about anyway that was the hair and and I got to tell you a few months ago just switching around the channels I came across an old Hawaii 5-0 oh yeah and you were the drug pusher and killer big chicken big chicken big chicken now big chicken go ahead do you remember any of your lines i can tell you everything about that thing oh can you do it in the voice you did that i was oh yeah i was doing the play uh the web and the rock and i got a call

doing a new series with jack lord who i had met once before and uh so i go over there and you know you pick up the script and described he said i said who am i here for she says she says A guy named Big Chicken, I said, okay. So I read Big Chicken. Big chicken is notoriously thin. He's six foot six. He has a goatee. He weighs about 200 pounds.

And here I am about 240 pounds, five foot 10, bald. I said, what are he calling me for these parts for? So I said, what a waste of time. so I read it and I said oh man this guy is fantastic he's so evil oh yeah he got these kids hooks on drugs so they would steal for him and all these things he was evil so I said I'll go read so I'll go in and Joe Gantman was the producer then and I sat down in the room with him and read it's the same place where we did the Mary Tyler Moore show years later I'm sitting with him and we read this one scene and it's silence he says

you know I never thought you could act I said then why did I come here he said you blew me away I want you to play this character I said he's described as being 6 foot 6 and stuff he said no that's John D.F. Black the author he described himself

who I eventually met so I did I went to Hawaii that was like the third show they ever made Ricardo Multibon preceded me. We all had the same suite we stayed in. And I was in, and then the character was fascinating. And I thought, wouldn't be interesting. He's so evil.

They were wearing peace symbols in those days. I said, suppose I wear a peace symbol. And have him say, peace, brother, peace. And that's what he did. And I incorporated that in that character. And the review was outstanding. And they wrote him in again. And they wrote the next one called The Box, which was, he was in prison, this one.

The first time you see him, he's completely naked shooting from the nail up, taking a shower. And that's where these guys from Parsipanee, New Jersey, they came that day when I was with you, that first time I saw you with your kids and your wife signing those things, they came in and said, Hey, big chicken. And they start doing all the lines. I said, I don't believe you guys. They came back that night with t-shirts. They had big chicken on their t-shirts with their wines.

And they started playing some of the scenes. Now, you cut. And so I said, you guys are fabulous. This past year, I was there again in another place in Parsipone. And they showed up on a Saturday night. People are lined up and I hear, hey, big chicken. Now they got Tony the Greek was with them. And they got another guy who was.

And all day long. They do the big chicken lines. That's fantastic. They took me out. It was a Ruth Chris Steakhouse there. And they have chicken. So we all took chicken. We all had pictures of us holding our chicken.

They gave me a Christmas decoration that said, Love Hawaii 50 on it. And they're going to be in Vegas in July. And they may come over here to see me and my wife. Oh, they're wonderful guys. They're just hung up on their day. They love, they love big. Yicken, baby.

And it's so much fun. You know, you think maybe they're crazy, but they're very successful in their own businesses. Interesting. They're neat guys. You got to talk like big chicken. He wants you to do a little dialogue. Oh, wow, wow.

It's been a bit of a while. Yes. But I'm on a tell, you know, you know, you know, you know. You know, I'm going to have this zip gun right at your head, McGarrett. Yeah, McGarritt, you put me in this place. Now, you're going to get it, McGarrant. And I put a zip gun to his head. And you ready, baby?

Are you ready? This is big chicken talking. Big chicken. Let me lighten your burden, Mr. McGarrant. Now, even though she may say bad things about me, even though as a three-time loser, any conviction would close that gate for good on me, even though all of that,

I'm still safe, because I believe in the law. There's a favorite to you, Mr. McGarratt. That's a good citizen. You take yourself over to that little jungle, Maggie's pad. Just look on that like an early Christmas present, Mr. McGarrie. Me to you.

I'm gonna nail you, chicken. You'll miss some angle. You stay smug and I'll stay patient, and I'll nail you. Never, Mr. McGarrant. No chance you'll ever. No way. peace my son calls me he just sent me something from my birthday i said big chicken mcleod on it that's great and so that's that's we still have that going and it's either big chicken or chicken

friccazee a chicken there's a part in your book where jack jack laur took you aside and said gavin you're the bravest actor i've ever seen that's right yeah he asked me to do a movie for him he wanted the direct and I'm the only one they said he ever had lunch in his trailer oh you know and I had lunch in his trailer and he was telling me he had this movie he wanted me to be in he wanted to shoot it in Spain

but it never happened wow because I remember it's big chicken you sounded like a beatnik you know it's like hey I don't break no laws that's right I ain't got no I got that was so long ago

but he was he was he was genuinely scary. Oh, he was terrible. Yeah. No, it was probably one of the worst. I played drug pushers and evil people and all that, but this guy was one of the, one of the, oh boy. Actors always say they love playing villains. You played a lot of them.

Yeah, because it's, you know, you're getting away with something. You couldn't get away with in real life and you're getting paid for. It was, and, you know, I wanted to show that I could do something like that, And especially, you know, some of the things I've played, these outrageous characters. I mean, and Kelly's heroes with Donald. Oh, sure. You know, you played the Moriarty character. I still get a lot of mail on him.

And then going from him to Murray on the Mary Tyler Moore show, it's a big jump. A lot of range. It's wonderful. A lot of range. Gilbert, I was telling Gilbert, you played four different characters on the Untouchables. I'll assume they were all bad guys. Porker, Whitey, Three Fingers. And for some reason, there was a character named Artie McLeod.

Yeah. Well, I don't know. If I did, I did. I remember I was with Marty Balsam, bought Marty Balsam, Marty Landau. All those wonderful acts. Great names. Well, wonderful people did those shows.

Tell us about those two, because we brought them up on this show a few times. Yeah, we love character actors. Oh, yeah. Jack Warden, too, who you also work with. Oh, Jack Warden, I did asphalt jungle with him. Yes, yes. You know what he told me? I had done the sand pebbles with Robert Wise, you know? By the way, I did the introduction to, there's a new book on Robert Wise out that Joe Jordan wrote. Yes, we did do the introduction. Oh, great. So I did that because I had worked for him a few times. I know you guys were close. It was a wonderful, incredible human being and a great director. Now, now what was the point? Now I forgot what I was going to tell you?

The character actor Jack Warden. Oh, Jack Warden. Anyway, so when I met Jack, I was at the McGuire's house. He was one of the assistants on the sand pebbles with Steve McQueen and all that. And we were in China and all, it was a big, big, long, long 10-month run. So I went to this guy's house, Charlie McGuire, Charlie McGuire, and Jack Warden was there. And Jack said he was on. one of those boats that we were on with McQueen in real life.

Wow. He had really been a sailor on one of these boats on the China Seas in real life. And he said they shot at them too because they were shooting at us from the mainland at that time. Jack Wharton was great. And then I did ask for a jungle. He was an actor's actor. Everybody loved him. One of our favorites.

Working with him, you know. Jack Lord was a little different because of his hair moved, you had to do another take. what about his hair no matter what and he always had that little bit of hair coming down always and martin landau um marty was so wonderful uh uh he was on the road with um evergie robinson i was doing a play out here and he was on the road with everything robson oh it's a play that i was doing i was doing marty balsam's part that he did in new york i did on the west coast and When they came out with M.D.G. Robinson to do it sometime later. Marty Landau was in it.

Somebody saw him, and that was the beginning of his film career. And I think his first movie was North by Northwest. Sounds right. With Carrie Grant. Yes. That sounds right. I think that was Marty's first one, and he was a wonderful actor and a wonderful person. And my acting class in New York was this wonderful, beautiful model who he eventually married.

and then she did that other series with him. Oh, Barbara Bain. Barbara Bain, yes. And the other Marty Martin Mottie Balsam? Balsam, yes. Oh, boy, he was an actor's actor. And he married Joyce Van Patten, one of my best friends. We had Joyce here on the podcast.

Oh, you did. She's adorable. How is she doing? We love her. I love her. I love her. And Dickie was so great, too. But she was great.

I wrote a play for her. I belonged to a group called Theodore West, and I used to write plays and all that. Carol O'Connor did the same thing. And I wrote a wonderful part for Joyce because I thought she was just a sensational actress. I haven't seen her for years. We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast,

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and we said this before we turned the mics on, we were talking about you working as a cashier. Yeah, in Jim Downey's. At Jim Downey's Steakhouse, and the great Eli Wallach introduced you to somebody. I first met Eli Wallach when he was doing the rose tattoo when I was in college. He was Marine Stapleton.

I came with my friend, John Bartholomew, Chuck. He had a radio show in New York. Remember that name? Yes, yes. you, Tucker? Yeah, he hosted game shows, too. I do. He just died two years ago. He was one of my best friends, and we went to college together for four years and everything else. We had a nightclub act called The Sophisticates of Comedy, who we were like 18 years old. What do we know?

Was that the Vodville Act that you started and then you realized Vaudville was dead? That's right. That's right. Right. We know that name. Oh, John was wonderful, and he went to a retirement home in Nyack or something like that up there. And there were six of us in college hung out together. I'm the only one left.

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Yeah, I am too. I mean, you know, they were also one. I was the youngest, so that makes sense, a little sense. But great days. I mean, in the book, and I was telling Gilbert these wonderful stories about you eating at the automat, and having no money and the ketchup soup and you're working as an elevator operator.

Absolutely, and that's when I met the elevator operator. Are you kidding me? You know, wow, I took up and I used, you know, you had to buy special tickets to get into the elevator, the one elevator at Radio City Musical. And one night, the movie was going to be the world premiere of the world's largest trailer, something like that. Oh, yeah, the Lucy and Lizzie.

The long, long trailer. I brought them and Russell Market who created the Rockets up in my elevator Oh wow Lucy and Desi I mean that was my claim to fame And guess what Three years later I was on the West Coast Doing all those Desilu shows

I love it Walter Winchofile Untouchables Untouchables, yes And tell us about your starving years With the ketchup soup well you know they weren't that bad i always had something they ate like you know the ketchup soup and you find rich crackers and things like that then uh you find a friend that's doing all right

and we always helped each other starting out but i never had it that bad because i always had a job you know i i had i had a job i used to war i um when i went to new york okay i got a job i do one guy there Vince clemer he quit college and went to work at radio city musical his uncle worked there working lights. And you join the union and you make great money. He was making great money. He's the only guy I knew. So I called him when I got there. He said, well, maybe I can get your job at the musical. I said, working the lights. He said, no, no, no, you have to be in the family. He says, maybe you can be an usher. I said, that would be good. I didn't know. It was $34 a week. But listen, it's better than nothing. Sure. And so we lived on Central Park. He and John, a pianist,

and him and now me on 73rd in central park west and i used to walk i never could take a subway or a bus or anything else i used to walk from there down to walk sixth avenue and 51st or 50th street with radio city musical and work and then walk back and all those i would always stop a men's shop that had in the in the window men's underwear here we go with men's underwear again and that was before it depends. It was before it depends. But they had Fruit of the Loom underwear there. And I would always stop. This is the gods on this truth. I would look at that. And I couldn't afford it. I look at that and I look at that underwear. And I said, someday I'm going to get you.

And so I said making it to me was going in and buying a six pack just like that. Oh, that's fantastic. And that was really making it. That's fantastic. Back and forth and back. and forth and back and forth. They couldn't afford anything. That was one of the things in those days. And then I used to save enough, there used to be someplace where they had hot dogs. I would have a hot dog, but it was, they would have had a lazy Susan that would have mustard and onions and relish and all this stuff. So I would have a hot dog, but I would put like four inches of other stuff on top of it because that was the one meal for the day. It would lay out, oh, I can start.

still get like this when I think about it. And no, those were the early days. Yeah. You were, you were an usher first, Gavin, and then an elevator operator at Radio City. And, well, yes. And I did. That's right. I started as an usher. And I had, I had the, the flashlight. Right. But tell, tell, and they, go ahead. Yes. I was going to say, go ahead and tell, but tell us about who you met at, uh, Who Eli Wallach introduced you to when you were at... Oh, then, years later.

Downies. I had gone on the road to do Androclesdon Lion. I met a Rockett at a communion breakfast, a Catholic commandment. My mother says, you should go to go to communion. I said, I'm a little usher at Radio City Musical. Nobody wants me. She said, you should go to have communion, and then you go to the reception afterwards. You should do that.

I did that, and I saw this beautiful girl with all these other women and one empty seat next to her. And I said, you know, these are rockettes and who am I, you know? So I sat next to her. Well, I felt so much in love. I was with all the Rockettes and their husbands and boyfriends and stuff. I felt like I'm really, I'm moving up, you know? and I eventually got engaged to her and we got married

we had four children and we still see each other I just talked to Mother's Day the other day the other day and all that's nice that's nice it was very very special yeah and uh that was that was interesting time there and most of those a lot of those girls we knew in fact that's when I first saw Stephen Heady because it was a one of the girls dancing one of the Rockets, her husband was Jean, I think Bianco was his last name when he was a male harp. He

would play the harp, big Italian guy, young too. And he was doing the Steve Allen show late at night. And we all went over to see it after work at the music hall. And that's where Stephen Edie were just young singers going together at that time way, way, way, way back then. Those are some of the things we did. But getting back, then years later, I went on the road with they're crazy, the lion, saved enough money, paid off my debts, got married, and all that. Now I'm working at Jim Downey's as a cashier, and everybody came with. The actor's studio was a hangout for them because those people, then you'd have tourists come in to want to see the actors and stuff.

It was like the poor man Saudis, and Mr. Downey was always so great. So one day, in-comes, I'm in back of the cashiers thing, and it was a big wall, and the bar was here on the other side, you enter and you walk, down that, and you can see who it is, and they sit in the back. And I saw this beautiful creature there. I said, that must be Marilyn Monroe. Well, she starts coming this way, this way, and then I said, there's Eli. Everybody loved Eli Wallach.

He goes over, and he sits right there. I'm over here. They're right there. I couldn't believe it. He said, Gavin, come on over. He says, I want you to meet my... I said, I know who she is. Amazing.

You know, boy, I said, I was like 23 years old, 24 years old. I said, boy, you're more beautiful in person than you are on the screen. You'll be, thank you so much. You know, she had all powder. It was that part she had, she didn't put, she was just powder. Uh-huh. she wasn't a lot of eye makeup or stuff like that she was just powder and she was so beautiful and he was talking he introduced us he said he's a young actor here he's going to go far and all

this kind of stuff and she's I said you know this is this is just a wonderful moment for me I said you know what I'm going to do after work tonight I said I get off at one o'clock in the morning I got to go and add up all the bills and payment all that you know what I'm going to do after that. She says, no, what are you going to do? I says, I'm going to call all my friends to tell him I met Maryland Monroe. She was beautiful. A couple of years later, I'm a 20th century Fox. I'm shooting something with Blake Edwards for high time with Bing Crosby. Oh, yeah. You go on the makeup department. Everybody sits there. And that's, uh, so now, now I go. And she was shooting a wonderful movie.

Anyway, she was shooting something. So I was walking down to my soundstage and her limousine was coming past that she was in. And she looked out and the difference was night and day. The Merle Monroe I met was generally a beautiful skin, everything. And here she was made up. at 20th century Fox with the beauty mark they paint on here. My friend Whitey Snyder designed that for her, that beauty mark she had here.

And, you know, I said, I met the real person. This is the movie star. It's a big difference. How about that? Yeah, big difference. Since you brought up Blake Edwards, another guy, I mean, I know you got close to Robert Wise, but Blake Edwards was another guy who was pivotal in your career.

He really, yeah, especially at that turn. point where you were you would move to LA and you you lost that part in the Hal March pilot and you were despondent? Yes and they never sold it. Right. And then Blake Edwards was on the phone, right? And asked you to do the Peter, was it the Peter Gun Pilot? Can you imagine being Peter Gun Pilot? I was fired. The only, I had rented the car, everything on that job. And I was I didn't get a chance to even show him anything. The guy, they didn't want me. He wanted his friend that turned out to play the part. I can understand that. But for me, I was 20 in my 20s. Fum, I had to get back of the car and go and tell my agent I was fired. I had to

tell my wife I was fired. Harry Guardino was very understanding. Harry Garino. Oh, man. Harry and I were very close friends. He used to be on the road together and I had full of rain. Anyway, so I'm saying, I'm getting out of. here. New York is the place for me. At least you know if they're going to lie. They're lying. They don't, two-faced. And I said, we don't belong out here. These people aren't real. And then about a couple of hours later, after I was very self-indulgent thinking, I wasn't any good anymore, the phone rings. That's my age. And he says, do you know who Blake Edwards is? I said, well, I know who he is. I never met him and everything else. I used to send them

pictures. When I was doing my play, I'd send out pictures. He says he wants to see you. He's doing a thing called Peter Hunt. Peter Gunn. Peter. Peter Gunn. Yeah, with Craig Stevens, wasn't he? Peter Hunt was an artist in Cape Cod, I know. This is what happens to the brain. I said, oh, good, I can go see him. I said, I have my car. Because I rented the car. I said, should I wear my hairpiece? He says, no, just bring it. So I always had it with me. And so I go in, when they got the hair in the box and everything else, and I see a guy sitting there with a full head of hair,

he became a leading man with Donna Reed, eventually Paul somebody. I said, what am I doing here? Look at me. I'm a character man of this handsome. What am I doing here? So I went into, saw Blake, and I saw his assistant, Dick Crockett, who, ironically enough, he was bald too,

and he had done some stunts for me on U.S. Marshals, these other shows I did for Desi Lou at one time. So he says, we wrapped and wrapped and wrapped and told him I did, I want to live. His father was the company manager on that. His name was Mick Edwards, and Blake changed it to Edwards. Right. And we started talking about my career and everything. And he said, you know something?

He said, you know, I really want you to do this pilot. I said, wow, you know. What's the part? He said, well, it was going to be an Italian. I'm going to make him Irish so you can play him. We'll call him Fallam. You can play him. And he said, he's going to be the first heavy ever to play squash on television.

I said, how do you play squash? I didn't even know how you play it. He said, oh, it's going to be fascinating. So anyway, that was the beginning when I first met Blake and Herschel Bernardi and Craig Stevens and Hope Emerson and all those. Oh, we love these names. All right, all those wonderful people and the music and Hank Mancini. Oh, yeah.

Boy, that was the first big breakthrough there. And then. But he used you a lot. And that was just fabulous. It was just fabulous. And then they sold that. It's true that they said at that time, that pilot was sold faster than any pilot ever. It was very different.

The music was different. Sure. Shots were different. Sure. They were long scenes. They were not just long shots closer. They were long, the camera, you rehearsed a long time and the camera did all the movement.

Blake did a great job. And so I did a lot of those. Tell us about the voice of the tuna fish for all these years. That was, that was, that was, that was, that was, that was, that was, that was, that was great. Yeah, only, good change. You know what he used to tell us? I love that job because it's the only job I've ever had.

You don't have to get dressed for I can get down in my pajamas and do it. He used to live in a lake some places. I just go down in my closet. I don't care. Well, you know, they say next to zero, his tevia is the best. Oh, yes. Yes. Hershal Bernardis's teviya.

Yeah. He traveled all over for it. He was a wonderful, wonderful person. I didn't know him personally, you know, but I worked with him and he was so wonderful and great and all that. And as a matter of fact, my. my stepdaughter played his daughter on a series called Arnie. Sure, I remember that. Sue Ann Langdon was the wife.

Sue Ann Langdon, yes, and Stephanie Steele was the daughter. How about that? She was doing that when I was doing the Mary Tyler Moore show. How about that? She was 16 making more money than I was. Don't tell everybody. You remember that show, Arnie? With Herschel Bernardi?

Yeah. Oh, Sue Ann Langdon was great, too. I loved her too. I loved working with her. Well, Gilbert got a kick out of this question about we were talking something from your book about Blake. You said you were almost cast as Mickey Rooney's character in Breakfast to Tiffany's? Or you were up for it? Oh, yes.

You'd be surprised at many parts I was up for. Oh, boy. And also Max and the Great Race, the Peter Falk part. Absolutely. Absolutely. Amazing. If Blake was alive, he'd tell you that. That's how I know about it.

Wow. Wow. Oh, yeah. And then he also did, I don't know, I went over, we did the Peter Gun pilot. And then there was a series called Steve Canyon based on the cartoon character. Yeah, and one actor that played the lead, only had four fingers, I remember. It was kind of strange shaking hands. We also remember you in the party. I always kept looking for the other one, huh?

Gilbert and I were talking about the party, too, which you did with Blake. Oh, the party, everything was ad lib. They had me the, which happened first? The party or the high time? In 1960, we did high time with Bing Crosby. Yeah, the party came later. I played the nutty professor. It gave Jerry the idea.

He did a whole movie on him. Yeah. And then, and then the other one. Wait, how did the nutty professor come about? I played the nutty professor on the high time. If you look, see high time with Bing Crosby. Love is wonderful. The second time around.

That's from that show. high time was a that was one of blake's favorite movies and you know who else loved that movie frank sinatra interesting oh i was i was doing i was doing the loveboat years later and i got to work one day and frank junior is there oh how great to meet you and that's when i met his father it's a long story but he says my father loves high time i said is that right he says i'm going to have a screening in my house come on gavin you got to come so i went to junior's place and we watched high time on the big wall, you know, a huge big wall. Frank Sinatra, love that picture. And so did junior. It's a, it's a picture about a bunch of college kids, Tuesday Wells.

Oh, yeah, Tuesday Welts in it. Right. Fabian's first movie and things like that. And Bing Crosby plays the Howard Johnson's kind of character who says, I never went to college. I'm going to go to college. And his kids are stuck up rich. He goes to college. He falls in love with the French teacher, Nicole Moray. wonderful the second time around that's when he sings that oh it's wonderful and i played this dutty professor who does uh experiments that all explode stuff like that and then oh i remember bing was pledging for a fraternity and they made him dress in a big cotillion dress i have that picture and i played this nutty professor and i danced with him right i spent about four hours

dancing what's in the book how many guys could say that and Jerry got inspired by the character that you played yes right yeah anyway so after that came really the fun show with Peter Sellis when we did the party yeah was just watching it last night I think the opening of that is almost some of the funniest five minutes of the opening of any movie I've ever seen just Peter and those guys shooting he's like Gungadin, the take off.

Son of Gungadin. Yeah. And this guy, this guy, he sits on the thing. Yeah, the plunger. Everything explodes. Every, they had one set and all explodes. That's great. And they're going to kill him.

I'm the producer. I'm going to kill him. I remember. And he gets an invitation to a party by mistake. And he comes to the party. And it's what happens at the party with him. All that stuff, all those scenes were ad-libbed. Blake gave me about five,

pages with an outline. And we all ad-lived and rehearsed and shot like Jerry shot. That was a wonderful picture. And Peter was very, very, very interesting to work with. And Nancy Sinatra told me she was up for the lead part. Nancy's my neighbor here. And she, she told me she was up for the part. And Nicole, what's her name, Andy Williams's wife? Oh, Claudine Lange. Clorne Lange, got it. Right. Yeah. Right. Interesting. I had heard Peter Sellers was one of those actors who, if he wasn't in character, it's like he didn't exist. Oh, I wouldn't say that.

Well, don't ask me because I like people. But no, he was just himself, and himself was a different kind of, his characters were all kind of extreme. Even when you think about all of the characters he played, he had really, really great takes on every one of them. You should see the party because you should see what he does with him. He plays this Indian actor. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody in that movie's funny.

And Steve Franken, too. The late Steve Franken. He says that one scene near the end, we almost broke up because of the ad libs we do. He and Claudine and I were there when I had her. I was taking her away from him. And I said, you're my sugar. I am not your sugar. we didn't know he was going to say that

tell us about Kelly's heroes Gavin and anything about Rickles any memories of Don Oh don't you love Don Rickles God he was so funny It was well let me see Brian Hutton Yeah right

Brian Hutton he was an actor And I had seen some old Perry Mason's, some all those little things, little parts, big parts. He was on his way. And Brian started directing movies, first television things and so forth. And then he called me for one thing, I couldn't do what I was tied up. But then he called me for Kelly's Heroes in Yugoslavia.

And he told me the lineup of actors. I said, oh, my God. To be with telly, wow, wow, wow. And Donald Sutherland? Wow. and Clint Eastwood, look at this. And Don Rickles, are you kidding me? That was the beginning of it all.

The rest of the character men are incredible. So I went over there to, I remember when I was going on the airplane, it was when, what's his name, landed on the moon for the first time. Oh, Neil Armstrong. And you, there's this clip, Frank and I have watched it, and it's, you're on the... Oh, you're going to talk about him and Robert Blake singing? Yes, on the Dinah Shore show, you and Robert Blake,

you remember this, Gavin? Oh, yeah, I remember that. I've seen that on occasion. It's on YouTube. It's classic. I forget what the song was. You sang, it should have been me with that real fine chick. It should have been me.

That, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, yeah. Yeah, well, it's all like that. He was, uh, we were very, very close. We were still close. He spoke to me a couple of weeks ago, and, um, he was my one daughter's godfather. He's a wonderful. guy and they just did a special 2020. I came down here. I spent hours with these people showing them a scrapbook together, the plays we'd done and talked about how much he loves God and every

and they cut all that out. And he called me. He was a paper says, I'm so sick you did this because I asked you to. And all they wanted to do was talk about the murder, you know? And he's a wonderful, wonderful guy. I'm crazy about him. So you've been friends with him for a while? Since I've been friends with him since 1957. I've been through the first barrage. I took him down there when he went to shoot that picture with Redford and Natalie Wood. We took him down to the train station so he could go to a location. That was the Tennessee Williams piece.

I forget it was called. Although Robert and I have always been very, very close. I see the real person there. Then, unfortunately, a lot of people haven't. It's interesting. That's very interesting. Tell us about another close friend. about Ted Knight?

Oh, I know you adored. I could cry over Ted. We love him too. We never got to meet him. We had Ed here. You would have. He was like my big brother. When I came out here, when the play, after the play closed, I came, when we closed in Boston,

I came out to the West Coast, had one connection. So I went to the connection, Lou Irwin, the agent. And there was a guy named Ted Knight there. Now, he introduced us. I said, how are you? You know, nice to meet you and so forth. He says, are you new here? I said, I just got here yesterday.

He said, oh, the first thing you got to do is got, you need a business manager. I said, yeah, but don't you need money for a business manager? I said, yeah. I said, I don't have any money. He says, neither do I, but I have a business manager. I said, who is he? He says, Sam Cholkhov. I went and mess.

him and eventually he was my business manager but that was meeting ted for the first time and we had the same agent at that time he was seven years older than i was his name was tadis connopka i spoke at his funeral and uh he was one of the most talented actors i saw him on the stage to inherit the wind oh you said that the book that he did a great hornbeck and inherit the wind i'm telling you i'm telling you yeah and then he also did in the compulsion and that play too right it was fabulous and there's so much authority ted was a wonderful actor and to think that he would finally be ted baxter because they were thinking about young people to play that they thought about jack cassidy because he had just done he and she that series wound up playing ted's brother on the series

an ego kind of kind of model looking kind of guy and they had seen i guess 200 and something people. And Ted saw them once. And then they called them in again. So he told me on the way in, it was on Hollywood Boulevard. He looked in the window and he saw a blue blazer. And he stopped the car. He said, I'm going to get that blue blazer. He bought that blazer. He put that blazer on. He went in, read for the second time. He was the last one cast of the original five people on that show. And that was the beginning of Ted. playing, playing that character. But he had done voiceover work for you.

The voice of Superman on all those things. Versatile guy. He even did, he even did modeling in the newspapers. They had a thing called night and day. If you had gray hair and you wanted to make it dark, you can make it dark. So he did, he had an ad. Half his head was black and half his hair was gray like in real life.

And it was like. But yeah, Tadias Konopke, he's. buried up there in the hills there. And then his wife, Dottie just lasted about a year and a half after him. And I spoke at that funeral, too. Did he find the typecasting of the character difficult, Gavin? He had trouble playing a buffoon. I'll tell you what was difficult.

I think that could have been the beginning of the cancer. I'll tell you what happened. Because he would tell me things he wouldn't tell anybody else because it wouldn't go any place. and he told me he says i can't stand that he says ted is so popular it's the same name as me i walk into restaurants and say hey ted and they start pointing do you and they start making fun of him he was polish he was not used to be made he was a very strong man and it started to eat All of this great success, it's interesting about people's careers. Sometimes their careers can be like this, but their personal life can really suck, you know?

And then vice versa. And there's certain things you have to deal with that maybe are too difficult to deal with. And the fact that his character was called Ted, just like him, started to eat it. And then he had those two series after the Mary Tyler Moore show. And we knew he had this. He just told Patty and I this cancer, and we suggested these places that we know about with Laetrile and all this, where they can help you.

He got help for a while, but we never told anybody. And then it came back again. A shame. And that last time I saw him, you know, he gave his life to Christ, which is great comfort for me. A wonderful actor, a wonderful comedian. Oh, oh. A wonderful, I mean, the timing of everybody on that show. I'm I'm I look at them now watching the episode with you and Barbara Barry who we already we had here as well oh yes I love a piano where you where Murray thinks about straying I love a piano but since you're talking about this subject you know Joyce Bollifont that played my wife yeah we love Joyce too we see each other all the time it looks sounds like we're going to be having a project together great

Murray and Marie Murray Murray yeah yeah yeah where are they now And I remember we had Ed Asner and John Amos on. Oh, we had John here too. And both of them said every take Ted Knight did was like different than the last one. Well, Ed said you guys used to go and sit in the bleachers and just watch him work. Well, yes, when we weren't in the scenes. I used to sit and watch Mary work. and Valerie work and Chloris work

Yeah, what a cast Yeah, I mean, we had some wonderful actors on that show What a cast Looking at two, I was watching the episode yesterday Marry's Three Husbands Where you have the fantasy that you're married to marry And you're a, you're a successful playwright With Jet Black Hair

I've never seen that So wonderful You've never seen it? It's on YouTube, I'll send you a link I'm good. Thank you. It's wonderful. I would love to see that. It's wonderful.

I remember the still of us, the old age makeup. When she was married to Murray, wasn't she always pregnant having a baby? Yes, she goes in the bedroom and says I'll be right back and gives birth and comes out with a baby. And the baby has your hair, has a big shock of black hair. Oh, what a wonderful show. was how about chuckles bites of the dust? Yes. I was telling Gilbert that Jay Sandritch didn't want to direct that episode because he thought death wasn't funny.

Death is not funny. Amazing. And they got Joan Darling, this actress. Yes, sure. They gave great opportunities the females there. And she wanted to, she want to, what do you get, an Emmy? Emmy for it. Wow.

We were out of the big, big function last year out here, people from all over the country. We're dining with people we never met before. And one guy says to me, he said, you know what this funny is half hour? on television. I said, I think I know what you're going to say. He said, it's Chuckles bites the dust. I said, oh, yeah. Written by the great David Lloyd. Great David Lloyd. We had some great people. Oh, yeah, Stan Daniels. And you worked, you worked with Carrie Grant. Oh, yes. Oh, Operation Petticoat. I was in my 20s. Yeah, I was 1957. And we did Operation Petticoat. Again, Blake Edwards. That's right. I must have been a great heavy. He cast me in these

funny characters i was i was this yeah i went over to pick up this steve canyon script and the car stops it's blake he said i'm just talking about you he said i'm going to be at so-and-so's office he said come on down i got a part for you and carry grant's new movie i said wow i have to okay so i did that and i met the producer and all that he says he wants me to play this guy uncle. I hadn't even read it yet. And people still remember those big scenes. I'm telling you with Tony and me. Oh, sure. I represent Princess Cruises and I go out frequently and I have big audiences there and they want to know the stories. And one day I'm there talking and we went to Hawaii. And a guy says, any, I said, any questions? He says, how's, how's Mabel?

I said, how's, I'm thinking, was I married to somebody called Mabel? I don't, I said, no, no, Operation Petticoat, remember, on your chest? They tattooed this naked girl on my test. So I was afraid to go home to my wife and I re-enlisted. It was a funny, funny thing. Yeah. And Carrie Grant, what happened with Carrie Grant was 25 years after we did that picture. The love boat is a big thing.

And they're having a big function. to raise money for the new art museum downtown, but my boss, Doug Kramer, was involved in. They said, hey, we got a great way to make some money. When the ship comes in, the princess ship comes in, let's have a big function on that ship. We'll bring out these high rollers, you know, and they'll have an evening on one of the ships,

and they'll meet all the Aaron Spelling people. And so that's exactly what we did. We went there. I was with my wife and my daughter. We go down. And all these people come in and we shake hands with everybody coming in. And after about two hours, we're finished with all that. And we said, we'll go to the dining room. We go to the dining room. We're sitting. And we're having a great time. And all of a sudden, main door, in comes Carrie Grant, who's like 83 now without white hair. Without glasses. And everybody stops. I mean, it's Carrie Grant. And Patty says, there's Carrie Grant. I said, no kidding. Nobody's eating. They're all watching him. She says, watch where he goes.

He walks past us. He's going over to sit over there. I said, doesn't he look great? God, I haven't seen him for 30 years. Boy, he still looks great. She says, I want you to introduce me to him. I said, what? She says, well, you worked with him.

I said, how naive can you be? That was 25 years ago. it is now who I am. And my daughter said, please, pop. And my wife says, I'll never ask you for another thing. You know, you're in trouble when you use that line. So I say, oh, okay. Okay.

Okay. Let's go. So do you ever see these cartoons where like the heart is out coming out? Oh, sure. I felt like my heart was going to go like, just hold it in. I said, God, give me the right things to say. So here we are. He's talking to his wife. I go over.

Excuse me, Mr. Grant. He looks at me. He says, Gavin, Gavin, Gavin, I'm so proud of you. I tell you, if I didn't have those things on, then, I would have gone right in my pants. I didn't want to get back to that, but that's one of those moments. Oh, nice. I said he, no, I, and I introduced him to my wife and my daughter.

And I forget what else we said. I met his wife. Wow. And here he was. He's an older man, 83 years old, younger than I am now. So this is the end of the story. We go in there, and I couldn't sleep. I said, can you imagine?

and he was so nice, this giant was so nice to you and everything. Remembers you all these years. Two weeks later, he was in Davenport, Iowa. He was traveling with certain movies. He would tell stories, you know, Gregory Peck did it too. Yeah. And answer questions and stuff. He had a stroke and died.

Yeah. The lesson for me was you better risk. Because if I didn't risk not knowing what he would say, Oh, bald, get out of here. Who are you? If I didn't risk, I never, for the rest of my life, I would have said, why didn't I do it? I had that moment and I didn't do it.

Sometimes we're given moments in life, like this interview. Yeah. You know? Come on. We're thrilled to be put in the same category as Carrie Grant. But, you know, your daughter and your wife deserve a lot of credit for egging you on to do that. Yes, they did.

If they didn't do that, I don't think I would have done it. Yeah. What a beautiful story. Yeah, but then that was the lesson. And I've, and I've, and I've, I've, I've, I've, I've talked about risk to other actors all those years after that. Because if you don't risk, you're never going to gain. You're not going to. Oh, that's my ear, that's my ear doctor.

Oh, that's right. I got to see him tomorrow. Oh, that's so funny. I can't, I can't, that my secretary's got to get it. Why don't they pick it up in the other room? Sorry about this, like a running monologue. That's okay, Gavin. We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast after this.

Oh, hi, buddy. Who's the best? You are. I wish I could spend all day with you instead. Uh, Dave, you're Huff mute. Hey, happens to the best of us. Enjoy some goldfish cheddar crackers. Goldfish have short memories.

Be like goldfish. Hit pause on whatever you're listening to and hit play on your next adventure. This fall get double points on every qualified stay. Life's the trip. Make the most of it at Best Western. Visit bestwestern.com for complete terms and conditions. Speaking of phone calls, we got, we got somebody here for you, Gavin.

We're hoping you can hear him. Is he there? It's a, it's a him. Gavin McLeod, Gavin McLeod, I cannot tell you how much I love you. You are the best actor. I have a met. You're the most incredibly wonderful human being. You're my dear friend, and I love you so much, especially.

When you came on the love boat, I was no longer the oldest member of the cast. I've got some new Depends for you. These are really going to work. Gabby, can I tell the Depends thing? Okay, first. You already told him the Depend thing. First, let me tell the audience, Doc from the love boat, Bernie Capell. Bernie's here.

My favorite doctor. Okay, so anyway, three years ago, the Lombot cast was doing the Rose Parade. So Gavin comes up in a very secretive way, and he puts his hand into a big bag, and he says, burn. I said, what? He says, put this on. What is it? He says, it's the male version of Depends. And while you put it on, while you're waving, you could use this.

you could use the depends thing. Reluctively, I put it on, but three hours, I didn't use it because I was so concerned about making a mess. Gabby, I love you, baby. I interviewed, started with this story. But it's good to get two versions of it, Bernie. Oh, yeah, well. It shows you how important it is in our age.

I love you, Bernie. Oh, God. I love you, sweetheart you were in Alaska. I ran into a couple the other night that saw you in Alaska. I was, yes, I wasn't, I wasn't in Alaska. Yeah, lots of crabs and it took me months to get rid of them. But there you go. Yeah, we were.

The most exciting part of the. Alaska was there was like 50 eagles in the trees and the guys on this, on this fishing boat, they threw out fish and the eagle swooped down and got the fish in mid-air. Some got the fish in the water. So it was very, very exciting. Sounds like my ex-agent. Can I tell you? We, you, not everybody knows this. We did three pilots, but on the third one, they said, what are we going to do? They almost dropped the idea of having a love boat. Gavin McLeod comes on in the third one

and that sells it that sells it so I'm so grateful to you not just for being an alter caca but also you think it's easy to get the show on the air

did you guys have a history before Love Boat had you had you a big big fan of his we met on the Cale's Navy but I mean we are We are both veteran actors. I go back all the way. I've become a professional in 1961, if you can believe that.

And Gavin has been doing this for years and years and years. And we used to sit in the makeup room, 7.15 in the morning. Look at each other, smile, and say, we got a job. That's right. Some of the best scenes. It never goes away. Best scenes ever are the scenes with the two of us, the two alter caucus talking about life and our situations and so forth.

I know. Those were some of the nicest scenes to play without holding our hair pieces down. Oh, that was just you. What? Gavin and I had a scene on the deck. You know, I had an undetectable hairpiece until that moment. It was on the deck. The family and I were coming on to Connie Stevens on deck.

It flew right off on the bridge. You got the wind is blowing, and the forward motion of the ship is going. And I'm feeling something like a on the top of my head. What the hell? And the director calls, cut, cut, and we have lift off. Let's propel that. He looked like a raven on his head. At that time, I understand that you gave your hairpiece a burial at sea.

Is that true what, Gavin? No, I buried down a McHale. I shot it and buried it on McHale's Navy. Oh. I shot it on the ground. What an untimely death for that hairpiece. Gavin, were you envious of all the fan mail that Bernie was getting from the ladies during the loveboat run?

I know there was quite a lot of it. No, I got two letters. Two letters a month is not a lot. My attitude about, you know, skirt chasing and all that was, and I said, look, I'm a seasoned, disciplined professional. I look at the script and he says, it's just, Doc chases Louise. And I said, well, I guess I got to do it. It's in the script. So I did it.

It was exhausting. I'll never forget. When Bernie comes to me one day and said, you'll never guess, oh, I'm going to play the opposite next week. I said, who? Juliet Prows. He couldn't sleep for four days

before they started that show. He and Juliet Prows. I thought it really was going to manifest into something else. I had had a crush on her. for years and she'd gone with Sinatra so my feeling about her was partial intimidation and partial lust

and so we got this scene we got this scene in bed and there's 50 people you got the camera people you got the sound people and I'm just so concerned about this I don't know if I'll be able to speak this is Juliette Pras I'm in bed with we're supposed to have an incredible

night this morning and she says you know Charles Boyer had a sexy scene like this with a very sexy girl. And I'm saying to myself, why is she telling me a story now? I'm trying to concentrate. So, and he said to the sexy girl, you know, darling, if possibly I get, how you say, aroused during the scene, forgive me, please. If possibly I don't get aroused, forgive me, please.

Juliet Proust. She was South African, wasn't she? Juliet Proust. Yeah, she was great. She was married to John McCook. Yep. Sweet human being worked. Before Bernie.

Yeah. Most beautiful legs in the universe. Yeah, she was great. And the softest, softest lips. If Katrina's listening, I'm only kidding, huh? Now, when you were with Juliet Prousted, you wear you to bench. I thought you were going to ask me if I wore my toupee. I did wear my toupee.

And it stayed on, and I was very grateful. I didn't, where it depends on it, because if anything happened, I said, well, that's life. Bernie, what did you think of Gavin's musical bit? His famous musical number with Cab Calloway and Ethel Merman. And who was it, Carol Channing and Delorese? Gavin. That was, it was incredible, Ethel Merman. Gavin is basically, on top of being a phenomenal actor,

He is, he has music in his soul. He has, he's a musician, and he had such joy in singing. I was just sort of, I was awed by, by Gavin singing. Oh, thank you, Bernie. I have now been handed my baton. I am conducting the Pasadena City. You'll find one that you like. Bernie, what were you doing in Alaska?

I was. On a cruise. Oh, I was on a cruise. Oh, I was on a cruise. Oh, you're right. That's right. That's right. Right, right.

Yeah. So you... I think they're just using the love boat people. Oddly enough, for years, they had sort of kept us at arm's length. And lately, they said, here, take a free cruise. So take a free cruise, meet the people, be nice and schmooze, and it's wonderful. It's wonderful to be on those ships. It makes me feel good because it reminds me of those immensely marvelous.

years that I had. And I remember doing one of these morning shows, Gavin and the rest of the cast and Teddy and Fred. And the question came up with all the people you had romances with us. They said, who is the best kisser? And right out of my mouth, I said, Gavin! It was on a today show. I got so much mail you couldn't believe it, Bernie.

Really? Oh, yes. Bernie Gavin's got his baton out since you said he was musical. Well, he better zip it up again because that's not... I tell you, if you want to get serious for a moment, I have been a little bit of conducting in my lifetime with Richard Kaufman. I've traveled. I've been with the Dallas Symphony, the Florida Symphony.

the San Diego Symphony, that was a good one. Wow. Even the Cape Cod Symphony many, many years ago. That was the smallest. And, yeah, I do, I conduct and I talk. And that's kind of, and I weather, it depends, so I'm safe. We should call this the Depends Hour. We might be able to get a sponsorship.

Hey, Bernie, how about that? The doctor in the capital. But did you wear your hairpiece With those musical Not there, I wear it on my head No It keeps you warm in the wintertime Oh, what a treat to have the two of you guys here together

This is great I love him, he's wonderful This is great I've always had a great harmonious time with you And it's always in my memory and I cherish it. I love you so much. His wife had a great idea for the doctor and the captain to go to Florida,

they say, an evening with the alter-cockers, and we could just sit there and tell stories. That's great. I know. We could go on forever. I think we have. There's still time to do it. You should do it.

You should put it together. It's hard to remember those stories. We've had you. both on this show and you're both done wonderfully in remembering those stories. What a treat to have Bernie come in like this. Wow, this really made it. Thanks, Darren. Dara's idea. We have to thank Dara. Or was it Gilbert's idea. Thank you, Dara. You're such a beautiful lady. Barbara Felden says you're so gorgeous. We had Barbara Feldon call in when we had Bernie on the show, Gavin. Oh, yeah. Oh, wow. And wish him a happy birthday.

She was there in New Jersey. He saw her in New Jersey, too. Yeah, yeah. Darra, what is the question I have for you, Dara, is what are you doing with that schmendrick? No, I ask this sincerely. I always seem to be grumpy all the time. Yes, sincerely, he says. He's all right. I mean, if you're forgiving and all that, he's okay, I guess. For a schmendrick, you know, it's okay.

Bernie, we love you. Thanks for chiming in, man. Love you right back. Gabby, I love you, baby, and keep kissing, baby. Keep kissing. This was so exciting. Exciting and new. Yes, exciting.

Come aboard. Captain Steubing and Doc together again. And we have Charles Fox here Wednesday, the composer of the theme. Oh, really? Yes. So it's Love Boat Week. He did the Mary Tyler Moore song also, too. It's Charlie Fox.

It's Love Boat Week here on the Gottfried Pud. Why not, why not? Bernie, we adore you, and we'll talk to you, pal. Right back at you. It's been a great pleasure, guys. All the best, okay? Thanks for chiming in, buddy. Okay, you back.

Thank you. Bye-bye. Love you. Okay, Bernie. What a kick. Yeah, well, it's been an hour and a half, and we talk so much about those depends. I'm telling you, I've got to go down.

Gavin, let's plug the book. which you wrote in 2013. Oh, I have. Listen, can I tell you about my book? Go ahead, please do. That paper right there. Oh, sorry. Yes. My book is called, This is Your Captain Speaking.

Great read. You can get at any place. And then I wanted to tell you about two more books. My daughter-in-law did a fabulous book who's going to make a great movie called Blood on the Orchids. It takes place in Hawaii. And she did it before the last eruption. And that eruption came.

It sounds sexy, but it didn't. work out. The eruption came and my son and her and the two kids lost everything they had. Oh, my gosh. So they had to move up to another area now. But the book is prior, everything she talks about in this book, the different parks and the different things they do to make to live no longer exist. What's it called? So it's become a part of his blood on the orchids by Jill Steele. Blood on the orchids. And then there's another book that I think is everybody should have called the Little Town Band. It's written by a friend of mine in Cape Cod, who conducts his own band in Hyannis, and it's fabulous. And it's a great story with a happy ending. And it's, I feel good,

kind of a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful book. The Little Town Band. He's going to do a another one called The Little Bound Christmas. Little Town Christmas. You'll send us that info. You'll give us that info and give it to Dara, and we'll promote it on social media. Okay, Gavin, we'll promote all those books to our, to our listeners. I've enjoyed this so much, the energy that you guys have and to be able to see you does make a big, big difference. You know, are those teeth real? Gavin, we love you. Next time you come back, you'll tell us the story of when Betty Davis came to dinner from the book. I do an evening on that.

It's a great story. I'm going to do that as a play. Yeah, when Betty Davis came to dinner, it was a disaster. It's a great story. It was all Kay Ballard's fault. She said, she ran into her in a party. She said, nobody invites me to dinner anymore. Nobody invites me.

Well, I found out why. It's a very funny story, and all of it's true, too. We'll save it so we can have you back. Okay, that would be fun. Do you want to do the Tony Curtis, Gavin McLeod, bit for Gavin before he runs away? Do you know he's been doing a bit in his act for 40 years? This is... Go ahead.

He's going to do it for you. Tony Curtis talking to Gavin McLeod. Hello, Gavin. Hello, Tony. How are you? I'm fine. You want to have some coffee? Okay.

I think I'll have a donut too. So you will have two donuts? No. I will have a donut. donut uh you are having a donut and i shall have the same so you will eat the same donut that i am eating no i meant although you're both eating two entirely different donuts the very fact that they are both donuts puts them in the same food group are you saying like an apple and an orange No, because the orange is a citrus fruit.

This is the highlight of my career. Later, I had to tell you something. You don't know. You don't know. But when we were doing Operation Petico, Tony had his own suite at Universal. And he invited over for me to lunch every once in a while. And one time he was getting measured for his costume for, with Kirk Douglas, the Greek thing.

Oh, Sparnikas. Yes. And we had donuts. he was a wonderful guy oh boy tony was great what a moment i never met him i would have loved him he was wonderful we had a lot of the scenes we had but in real life too he's been doing this on stage for 40 years garris the same one yes well thank you i never sounded so good. I have to tell you, four stars out of four stars. Gavin, we'll have you back. We barely got into it. There's so much.

Yeah, I'd love to come back. Let me know. Okay. You want to let this man get to the bathroom? So this has been Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast with my co-host, Frank Santo Padre, and the great Gavin McLeod. Gavin, thanks so much. It's so nice. Thank you so much. votes back to you The Lord boat Soon we'll be making him all the run The Lord boat

Promises something for everyone Set a course for adventure Your mind on a new roadland It won't hurt anymore It's an open smile On a friendly shore It's wrong Welcome to the morning

It's love Robert Godfried's amazing colossal podcast is produced by Dara Godfried and Frank Sontapadre, with audio production by Frank Ferdorosa. Web and social media is handled by Mike Lee Padden, Greg Pear, and John Bradley Seals. Special audio contributions by John Beach. Special thanks to John Fodiatis, John Murray, and Paul Rayburn.