Television’s Love Boat captain Gavin MacLeod dies at the age of 90
- The actor achieved stardom as Murray Slaughter, the sardonic TV news writer on The Mary Tyler Moore Show
- MacLeod’s health had been poor recently but no cause of death was given, Variety magazine reported
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 Captain Stubing on The Love Boat, has died. He was 90.
MacLeod died early on Saturday, his nephew, Mark See, told Variety magazine. MacLeod’s health had been poor recently but no cause of death was given, the trade publication reported.
Known to sitcom fans for his bald head and wide smile, MacLeod worked in near anonymity for more than a decade, appearing on dozens of TV shows and in several films before landing his Mary Tyler Moore role in 1970.
He had originally auditioned for Moore’s TV boss, Lou Grant, a part that went to Ed Asner. Realising he was not 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 dim-witted anchorman Ted Baxter.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show was a hit from the start and remains a classic of situation comedies. It was still top-rated when Moore, who played news producer Mary Richards, decided to end it after seven seasons.