Frederick Hubbard Gwynne (July 10, 1926 – July 2, 1993) was an American actor, artist, and author, who is widely known for his roles in the 1960s television sitcoms Car 54, Where Are You? (as Francis Muldoon) and The Munsters (as Herman Munster), as well as his later film roles in The Cotton Club (1984), Pet Sematary (1989), and My Cousin Vinny (1992).
Early life
thumb|upright|Gwynne's mother, Dorothy Goddard (née Ficken) Gwynne, in 1917
Gwynne was born on July 10, 1926, in New York City, the son of Frederick Walker Gwynne, a partner in the securities firm Gwynne Brothers, and his wife Dorothy Goddard (née Ficken) Gwynne, who, before her marriage, was a successful illustrator, known for the "first cereal mascot", the "Sunny Jim" advertising character for the breakfast cereal, Force, for the advertising agent Earnest Elmo Calkins. He had at least two siblings, Dorothy Gwynne and Bowers Gwynne, both of whom died young. His paternal grandfather, Walker Gwynne, was an Anglican priest, born c. 1846 in Camus, County Tyrone, Ireland, who married American Helen Lea Bowers. His maternal grandfather, H. Edwards Ficken, was a British immigrant who married the American Josephine (or Josephina) Preston Hubbard. Although Gwynne partially grew up in Tuxedo Park, New York,
Following his father's death, his mother sent him to boarding school at Groton School, where he graduated in 1944 and may have set the school record for disciplinary black marks. He was president of the drama club and made his first stage appearance in a school production of Henry V. Forty years later, he used his drawing skills to pen the school's official campus map.
After the war, Gwynne attended art school at the Phoenix School of Design (now affiliated with the Pratt Institute) in New York, with "the dream of doing Saturday Evening Post covers." and acted for the Hasty Pudding Theatricals. He was affiliated with Adams House.
In the 1940s, Gwynne was a summertime swimming instructor at the Duxbury Yacht Club pool in Duxbury, Massachusetts.
Career
Gwynne joined the Brattle Theatre Repertory Company after his 1951 graduation, then moved to New York City. To support himself, Gwynne worked as a copywriter for the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency, resigning in 1952 upon being cast in his first Broadway role, a gangster in a comedy called Mrs. McThing starring Helen Hayes. Gwynne preferred theater to film and television, and maintained that if the United States had a national theater mounting year-round productions, he would rather work there.
From 1975 to 1982, Gwynne appeared in 83 episodes in different roles on the popular radio drama series, the CBS Radio Mystery Theater, produced and directed by Himan Brown. He returned to Broadway in 1976 as Colonel J.C. Kinkaid in two parts of A Texas Trilogy. In 1984, Gwynne auditioned for the part of Henry on the sitcom Punky Brewster, then withdrew in frustration when a director identified him as Herman Munster rather than by his real name.
Gwynne's performance as Jud Crandall in Pet Sematary was based on author Stephen King, who is only an inch shorter than the actor, and uses a similarly thick Maine dialect. The character's likeness and accent, as played by Gwynne, have been used in a number of episodes of the animated show South Park, beginning in 2001 and as recently as 2019. Gwynne also had roles in the movies Simon, On the Waterfront, So Fine, Disorganized Crime, The Cotton Club, Captains Courageous, The Secret of My Success, Water, Ironweed, Fatal Attraction, and The Boy Who Could Fly. Despite his misgiving about having been typecast, he agreed to reprise the role of Herman Munster for the 1981 TV reunion movie The Munsters' Revenge. Gwynne performed the role of Judge Chamberlain Haller in his final film, the 1992 comedy My Cousin Vinny.
As painter and illustrator
In addition to his acting career, Gwynne sang professionally, painted, and wrote and illustrated children's books, including Best in Show (later titled It's Easy to See Why), A Chocolate Moose for Dinner, The King Who Rained, Pondlarker, The Battle of the Frogs and Mice, and A Little Pigeon Toad. Many of these efforts were based on children's frequent misperceptions of things they hear from adults, such as the "chocolate moose for dinner", illustrated as a moose seated at the dinner table. The other books on this theme were The King Who Rained, A Little Pigeon Toad (in which a child's mother thus describes her father), and The Sixteen Hand Horse. a granddaughter of New York City mayor William Jay Gaynor. Before divorcing in 1980, the couple had five children.
In 1988, Gwynne married his second wife, Deborah Flater. They remained married until his death in 1993. He is buried in an unmarked grave at Sandy Mount United Methodist Church Cemetery in Finksburg, Maryland.
Filmography
Film
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
|-
| 1954 || On the Waterfront || Mladen "Slim" Sekulovich || Uncredited
|-
| 1966 || Munster, Go Home! || Herman Munster ||
|-
| 1979 || La Luna || Douglas Winter ||
|-
| 1980 || Simon || Major General Korey ||
|-
| 1981 || So Fine || Chairman Lincoln ||
|-
| 1984 || The Cotton Club || George "Big Frenchy" DeMange ||
|-
| 1985 || Water || Spender ||
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1986 || Off Beat || Police Commissioner ||
|-
| The Boy Who Could Fly || Uncle Hugo ||
|-
| The Christmas Star || Officer Waters ||
|-
| rowspan="4" | 1987 ||The Secret of My Success || Donald Davenport ||
|-
|Fatal Attraction || Arthur ||
|-
| Ironweed || Oscar Reo ||
|-
| Jake's M.O. || Jake Tekulve ||
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1989 || Disorganized Crime || Max Green ||
|-
| Pet Sematary || Jud Crandall ||
|-Dream a little Dream (1989) Coleman
| 1991 || Shadows and Fog || Hacker's Follower ||
|-
| 1992 || My Cousin Vinny || Judge Chamberlain Haller ||Final film role
|}
Television
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
|-
| 1952 || The Repertory Theatre || Performer || Episode: "A Man's Game"
|-
| 1953 || You Are There || Davy Crockett || rowspan="2" | 2 episodes
|-
| 1955–1956 || The Phil Silvers Show || Corporal Ed Honnegan
|-
| 1956 || Studio One in Hollywood || Little Dude || Episode: "The Landady's Daughter"
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1957 || The Kaiser Aluminum Hour || "Egghead" || Episode: "A Man's Game"
|-
| Suspicion || Hughie || Episode: "Hand in Glove"
|-
| Kraft Theatre || Performer || 2 episodes
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1958 || The Steve Allen Show || Comedian || Episode: #3.23
|-
| The Investigator || Performer || Episode: #1.07
|-
| DuPont Show of the Month || E.J. Loffgrin || 2 episodes
|-
| 1961 || The Play of the Week || Performer || Episode: "The Old Foolishness"
|-
| 1961–1963 || Car 54, Where Are You? || Officer Francis Muldoon || 60 episodes
|-
| 1962 || The DuPont Show of the Week || William Magee || Episode: "Seven Keys to Baldgate"
|-
| 1963 || The United States Steel Hour || Willie Botsford || Episode: "Don't Shake the Family Tree"
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1964 || Brenner || Francis X. Fish || Episode: "Charlie Paradise: The Tragic Flute"
|-
| My Son, the Witch Doctor || Performer || TV film
|-
| 1964–1966 || The Munsters || rowspan="3" | Herman Munster || Main role; 70 episodes
|-
| 1965 || The Red Skelton Show || Episode: "Ta-Ra-Ra-Bum-Today"
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1966 || The Danny Kaye Show || Episode: "Fred Gwynne"
|-
| New York Television Theatre || The Professor || Episode: "The Lesson"
|-
| 1967 || NET Playhouse || Officer Avonzino || Episode: "Infancy and Childhood"
|-
| 1968 || Mad Mad Scientist || Warren Springer || rowspan="5" | TV film
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1969 || Arsenic and Old Lace || Jonathan Brewster
|-
| Anderson and Company || Marshall Anderson
|-
| The Littlest Angel || Guardian Angel
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1971 || Dames at Sea || Hennesey
|-
| Great Performances || Pike || Episode: "Paradise Lost"
|-
| The Police || Sergeant || rowspan="2" | TV film
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1972 || Harvey || Cab Driver
|-
| Norman Corwin Presents || Performer || Episode: "Aunt Dorothy's Playroom"
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1976 || Bound for Freedom || Waldruss || TV film
|-
| Captains and the Kings || Performer || Miniseries
|-
| 1977 || Captains Courageous || Jack "Long Jack" || rowspan="4" | TV film
|-
| 1979 || Sanctuary of Fear || Judge Potter
|-
| 1980 || A Day with Conrad Green || Conrad Green
|-
| 1981 || The Munsters' Revenge || Herman Munster
|-
| 1982–1987 || American Playhouse || Charles Dickens || 2 episodes
|-
| 1982 || The Mysterious Stranger || Balthasar Hoffman || TV film
|-
| 1985 || Kane & Abel || Davis LeRoy || 2 episodes
|-
| 1986 || Vanishing Act || Father Macklin || rowspan="3" | TV film
|-
| 1987 || Murder by the Book || Victor Greville
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1990 || Murder in Black and White || Brannigan
|-
| Earthday Birthday || Fred The Moose || rowspan="2" | Voice, TV film
|-
| 1992 || Lincoln || Edwin Stanton
|}
Theatre
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 1952–1953
| Mrs. McThing
| Stinker
| rowspan="7" |
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1953
| Love's Labour's Lost
| Dull
|-
| The Frogs of Spring
| Luther Raubel
|-
| 1960–1961
| Irma La Douce
| Polyte-Le-Mou
|-
| 1963–1964
| Here's Love
| Marvin Shellhammer
|-
| 1972
| The Lincoln Mask
| Abraham Lincoln
|-
| 1974–1975
| Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
| Big Daddy
|-
| 1975
| Our Town
| Stage Manager
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1976
| A Texas Trilogy: The Last Meeting of the Knights of the White Magnolia
| rowspan="2" | Colonel J.C. Kinkaid
| rowspan="5" |