Actor The Love Boat, Gavin MacLeod Closes Age

Gavin Macleod (Instagram @itsgavinmacleod)

JAKARTA - Gavin MacLeod, who played the news writer on the classic 1970s US sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show and the hospitable yacht captain on The Love Boat, died Saturday at the age of 90.

His nephew Mark See confirmed his death to Variety. No cause of death was given, he said, but MacLeod's health had declined in recent months.

MacLeod often played villain on TV before playing Murray Slaughter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which aired on CBS from 1970-1977 and is one of the most respected shows of the decade, winning 29 Emmy Awards.

After The Mary Tyler Moore Show, MacLeod took on the lead role of Captain Merrill Stubing on the ABC series The Love Boat, which ran for 10 seasons from 1977-1987.

The series, which guest-starred in every episode as passengers seeking romance aboard a cruise ship, wasn't a critic's favorite - a New York Times reviewer once called it "terrible porridge" - but was often hilarious and popular with viewers.

Rest In Peace my dear friend Gavin Macleod❤️ Thank you for all the special and beautiful heart filled conversations about life. I will always treasure the time I was lucky enough to spend with you. Love you #GavinMacleod pic.twitter.com/4r3AbpCaSX

— Maureen McCormick (@MoMcCormick7) May 29, 2021

"I remember TV critics saying, 'How did you do that?'" MacLeod told Entertainment Weekly in 1997, referring to his jump from The Mary Tyler Moore Show to The Love Boat. "But I loved it. I said, 'It will take people away from the burdens of everyday life. It will give them something to dream about.'"

MacLeod also had a regular role in the Second World War sitcom McHale's Navy from 1962 to 1964 but often played bad guys such as a character named Big Chicken in the Hawaiian crime drama Five-O.

He appeared in supporting roles in several notable films as well including "Kelly's Heroes" (1970), with Clint Eastwood and Telly Savalas, and "Operation Petticoat" (1959) with Cary Grant and Tony Curtis.

He was born Allan See on February 28, 1931, in Mount Kisco, New York. For his show business career, he changed his first name to Gavin because he liked it and his last name to MacLeod in tribute to his college acting teacher.

"I was a young kid with a bald head so I just played the pimp, the pervert, the woman beater and the child molester," MacLeod told People magazine in 1978.

That changed forever after she was cast on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" as a news writer for the fictional Minneapolis TV station, joining a talented cast including Moore, Ed Asner, Ted Knight, Betty White, Valerie Harper and Cloris Leachman.

Some of the character's best moments come when interacting with announcer Knight Ted Baxter and with "Happy Homemaker" Sue Ann Nivens.

In "The Love Boat", he co-starred with Fred Grandy, then US congressman, Bernie Kopell, Ted Lange, Lauren Tewes, and Jill Whelan. As Captain Stubing, he wears a white captain's hat and white captain's outfit, often with unflattering white shorts.

The show was filled with a seemingly endless stream of guests, from some of the most forgotten performers of the day to some of the biggest names from Hollywood's past.

MacLeod battled alcoholism during his career and became a devout Christian, starring in the Christian-themed film "The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry" in 2009.

She has four children from her first marriage, which ended in divorce, and three stepchildren from her second marriage. (Reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by Bill Trott and Daniel Wallis), Reuters quoted Sunday.