Frederick Hubbard Gwynne was a tall man, measuring 6′5″, but that wasn’t for playing the beloved father of the monster family. Every day of recording Gwynne would put 50 pounds of padding, makeup, and would strap on 4-inch elevator shoes. His face was actually painted a bright red because it captured the most amount of light on black-and-white film. When asked off camera in his later years about Herman, Gwynne was quoted as saying “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.”

Having over 55 TV and movie credits to his name, Gwynne was a celebrated movie and stage actor as well as a father of four and loving husband. Gwynne died of pancreatic cancer in 1993, just 8 days short of his 67th birthday. His grave remains unmarked in Finksburg, MD.

Albert Meister was an American actor whose life was extinguished after a short 82 years. Lewis is best known as his role of Grandpa, where he would be forever type cast. In order to have a more complete life post his monster-job, Lewis opened a restaurant, was a political candidate, and a radio broadcaster. A little known fact about Lewis is that he played the father to Lily, who he was younger than in real life.

One thing for sure is that Lewis had been found contradicting himself many times. Facts that could never be proven include his birth year (1910 or 1923), his questionable Ph.D. from Columbia, his claims to have been in World War II, and whether he was ever a good actor.

Margaret Yvonne Middleton of Vancouver, British Columbia was the female lead of the TV show, which she played rather convincingly (I still have nightmare sexual dreams about her). While on the show, Lily was never looked poorly upon for her choice in following the TV career, though it was a large drop in popularity versus her movie career where she played opposite actors like Burt Lancaster, Clark Gable, and Siney Poitier.

Yvonne was honored with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and will be looked upon with interesting thoughts since she released a book about initimate friends, including Aly Khan, Billy Wilder, Burt Lancaster, Howard Hughes, Robert Stack and Robert Taylor.

Patrick Alan Lilley peaked as Eddie, where he received $600 per episode (while the average adult salary was $46 a week). Of course because most sitcom actors from the 1960’s receive no residuals, Butch would continue to have to work in order to make a living. In order to ride the Eddie into the ground, Butch started a band named Eddie & The Monsters.

Butch would show up on VH1’s list of 100 Greatest Kid Stars, coming in at #45. Then in July 2008 he would be seen on a courtroom TV show because his website was robbed by a friend, which he wound up having to pay $1,400 because of.

Beverly played the role of Marilyn during the first season only (a role she disliked, and only accepted out of contractual obligations to Universal Studios). After thirteen episodes, Owen left the program to get married, and was replaced by Pat Priest. Beginning in 1971 she appeared for two years on Another World, after which she retired from television and chose to perform exclusively in live theatre.

Truth is that there’s not much more information about Owen, as she wasn’t the prettier or more talented of the Marilyn’s and besides off-off-Broadway stuff she probably only did work in high school auditoriums.

The running gag of Marilyn’s character was that this normal, beautiful blonde was keenly aware that she was the “ugly” or “plain” one in the family. Priest continued where Owen left off until the series ended. Priest was by far the most attractive regular on the show and would most likely have been asked to join Baywatch if the Hoff were out of diapers at that time.

After the series ended, Priest appeared on episodes of TV programs such as Bewitched, Perry Mason and Mary Tyler Moore. Though she retired in the 1980’s, she continues to attend “Munster” revivals and conventions.

The Raven was voiced by Mel Blanc and occasionally Bob Hastings. The raven lives in the Munsters’ cuckoo clock and repeats the word “Nevermore”. It is Herman’s target when he’s angered, causing Herman to throw objects at him on occasions. Sometimes, the raven will come out of his clock, but often only for short periods, or to flee when he thinks there is a catastrophe.

I’m not sure what caused Hastings to have to follow up Blanc for this prestigious, faceless job… but it’s always nice to have an understudy.