Turning some freakish-looking ghouls into sitcom characters was the mission for writers and producers who worked on The Munsters.
This show helped make Herman Munster a household name. Well, it didn’t hurt that he had the distinguishing looks of Frankenstein. The Munsters ran for two seasons between 1964-66 on CBS. Fans tuned in each week to see Grandpa (Al Lewis) come up with a concoction in his dungeon. Herman (Fred Gwynne) had a day job at the funeral parlor, yet he always made time for his family.
Lily (Yvonne De Carlo), Herman’s attentive wife, spent time being a happy homemaker. Eddie (Butch Patrick) had his eyes on having fun, albeit with a weird twist. All of these Munsters are right out of central casting for a late-night horror film.
Then there’s Marilyn, who is the “weird” one (meaning normal-looking) in the clan. Beverly Owens played the role in the show’s first season before leaving. Pat Priest took over in Season 2.
Bringing Universal’s Monsters Back To Life
The Munsters had some advantages over its ghoulish competition, ABC’s The Addams Family. Because the show was produced by Universal Studios, they could get away with the Frankenstein makeup. Heck, even Uncle Gilbert shows up. It’s the “Gill-man” from the Universal movie Creature from the Black Lagoon. In the TV show’s credits, makeup wizard Bud Westmore got a credit due to his work on these movie characters.
This show had some good fortune as Gwynne and Lewis worked on an earlier sitcom. They played roles on Car 54, Where Are You? Gwynne was Officer Muldoon, who rode alongside his partner Officer Toody (Joe E. Ross). Lewis played Officer Schnauser. Due to their sitcom experience, Gwynne and Lewis leaned into the laugh-filled scripts from The Munsters.
De Carlo had made a name for herself in movies. Yet her career had stalled, and she needed to work. At the time, hospital bills for her husband, stuntman Bob Morgan, were piling up. He’d been injured while working on the 1962 epic How The West Was Won. De Carlo got the part. This role was not only a blessing for her career, but it put her in front of a whole new generation. Years later, after The Munsters started running in syndication, De Carlo said she was amazed by her new fans. Young adults and children would approach her and say hello.
Gwynne sat for hours so that his makeup could be applied. It, along with his heavy costume, weighed on him a lot. The show’s writers had mercy on him, though. In one of the series’ best episodes, Just Another Pretty Face, Grandpa is working on a machine to bring about world peace. Herman goes down to the dungeon to check it out. But he’s struck by a bolt of lightning, turning him into a regular human being. Grandpa, Lily, Marilyn, and Eddie are all shocked by Herman’s new look. Gwynne reacts to situations in Herman-like ways. You get a chance to see how much Gwynne put into his facial and physical comedy.
One thing that The Munsters had going for it, too, was its writers. Many of them came from a sitcom-writing background, so they knew how to pace jokes and comeback one-liners very, very well.
This show was so popular that Universal Pictures had the TV cast do a movie, Munster, Go Home, in color in 1966. All of the TV episodes were filmed in black and white. Debbie Watson played Marilyn in this movie, not Priest. Yet it was not enough to keep the show on CBS. After two seasons, The Munsters was done. CBS put the sitcom up against ABC’s Batman, which was dominating the Nielsen ratings at the time. Years later, Patrick blamed Batman for his show’s ouster. Once it entered syndication, though, a whole new audience found The Munsters.
‘The Munsters’ Cast Still Found Work
NEW YORK – 1987: Actor Al Lewis poses for a portrait in his restaurant, “Grampa’s Bella Gente” on Bleeker St. in New York City, New York. (Photo by Catherine McGann/Getty Images)(Photo by Catherine McGann/Getty Images).
Gwynne popped up in movies like The Cotton Club, Pet Sematary, On the Waterfront, and My Cousin Vinny. He had an incredible voice and sang on Broadway. Gwynne also was an accomplished children’s book author. While he didn’t mind playing Herman, Gwynne strove to showcase his many other talents.
Lewis was a true character in real life. He put on the Grandpa outfit, makeup and all, when hosting Super Scary Saturday in the late 1980s on WTBS. Lewis also was a frequent guest on The Howard Stern Show. He was quite vocal about politics in his hometown of New York City. Patrick has appeared at numerous Comic-Con events or fan conventions over the years. He’s been quite open and forthright about his time on The Munsters.
Priest and Patrick are the lone original cast members still alive. The show’s popularity remains strong to this very day. Rob Zombie put his own spin on The Munsters in a 2022 movie. Some fans might have loved it, while others still hold strong to the original sitcom’s stars and storylines.
For a freaky kind of show, The Munsters has made millions of people laugh for more than five decades. It shows no signs of slowing down.
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