Gavin MacLeod dies: The Love Boat and The Mary Tyler Moore Show star was 90

The Hollywood Reporter

MacLeod was a major presence on network television for 16 straight seasons, playing wisecracking news writer Murray Slaughter on CBS' The Mary Tyler Moore Show from 1970 through 1977 and Captain Merrill Stubing on ABC's The Love Boat from 1977 through 1986. He earned two Golden Globe nominations for Mary Tyler Moore and three Globe nominations for The Love Boat. Although he starred on the 1962-1964 ABC comedy McHale's Navy as Seaman Joseph “Happy” Haines, he became famous thanks to Mary Tyler Moore. When he auditioned for the show, “they wanted to see me for Lou Grant. Great part, but I wouldn’t believe myself being (Mary’s) boss … but I liked this guy Murray Slaughter,” MacLeod recalled in a 2003 interview with the Archive of American Television. After his audition, MacLeod remembered walking past a nervous Ed Asner, who did play Lou Grant. "My heart is broken. Gavin was my brother, my partner in crime (and food) and my comic conspirator," Asner tweeted Saturday. "I will see you in a bit Gavin. Tell the gang I will see them in a bit.  Betty! It’s just you and me now." A month after Mary Tyler Moore ended in 1977, MacLeod took a call from his agent. "Aaron Spelling wants you to do this thing called The Love Boat. I think it sucks, but do you want to read it?" MacLeod recalled his agent saying. "I said sure. I thought, ‘This thing could go; this is a very commercial kind of thing.’ Aaron said that they’re going to have (in each episode) one poignant story, one broad comedy story and one sophisticated story, with big stars. I said wow. And the captain? I said double wow.” So MacLeod agreed to play Capt. Stubing even though he had never been on a cruise ship before.