Before He Became a ‘Munster’, THIS Actor Served With the US Navy During World War II

Some people might know him as Judge Chamberlain Haller on My Cousin Vinny. Others recognize him as Jud Crandall from 1988’s supernatural horror film Pet Sematary.

However, a lot of us were first introduced to him when he played Herman Munster.

I am speaking, of course, about Fred Gwynne. Lantern-jawed and Harvard-educated, Gwynne wasn’t only an actor. He was also an artist, author, and radioman on submarine chaser USS Manville (PC-581) during World War II.

From the Navy to Harvard

Before he first donned green makeup and foam rubber padding, Gwynne had a fairly normal—if somewhat itinerant—childhood. The son of a New York stockbroker and a somewhat famous comic artist, Gwynne spent his childhood in Florida, Colorado, and South Carolina. However, once war broke out in Europe, Gwynne was quick to join the fray. He enlisted in the US Navy, where he became a radioman on submarine chaser USS Manville and served from 1944 to 1948.

Once the war ended, Gwynne was quick to return to his true passion—art. His mother’s artistic talent must have been genetic because Gwynne studied at both the New York Phoenix School of Design and Harvard, where he was both a cartoonist and actor.

Gwynne was briefly an advertising copywriter for the J. Walter Thompson agency before he made his Broadway debut in 1952’s Mrs. McThing with none other than Helen Hayes. His next onstage role was that of a police officer in Irma La Douce, a romantic comedy that made its way to the big screen in 1963. Interestingly, this role helped him land a part in the sitcom Car 54, Where Are You? as Francis Muldoon. Al Lewis, perhaps best known for playing Grandpa on The Munsters, also starred in the same sitcom.

Sadly, Gwynne fell victim to typecasting after he portrayed Herman Munster on the popular sitcom. And though many actors (such as Tina Louise, who played Ginger on Gilligan’s Island) despise the role that defined them, fans of The Munsters will be happy to learn that wasn’t the case with Gwynne: “And I might as well tell you the truth. I love old Herman Munster. Much as I try not to, I can’t stop liking that fellow.”