Gavin MacLeod captains a memoir

This post has been corrected. Please see note at bottom for details.

Gavin MacLeod was a fixture on television for years. From 1970 to 1977, he played sweet-natured news writer Murray Slaughter on CBS’ “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.� No sooner did “MTM� close up shop than he moved over to ABC to appear as Captain Stubing on “The Love Boat,� which cruised until 1986. To this day, MacLeod travels the seven seas as an ambassador for Princess Cruise Lines.

The 82-year-old actor has had a diverse career: appearing on Broadway, guest-starring in countless series including “My Favorite Martian� and “Peter Gunn,� and working with such directors as Blake Edwards (“Operation Petticoat�) and Robert Wise (“I Want to Live,� “The Sand Pebbles�) and with such actors as Steve McQueen, Barbara Stanwyck, Peter Sellers and Clint Eastwood.

But his life hasn’t always been a pleasure cruise. MacLeod grew up poor during the Depression in upstate New York -- his father, who had drinking problems, died when he was 13 -- and he also battled alcoholism, quitting cold turkey in 1974.

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After his divorce from his first wife, MacLeod married actress-dancer Patti Steele. Though they briefly divorced, they remarried and have been born-again Christians for three decades.

MacLeod’s earnest memoir, “This Is Your Captain Speaking: My Fantastic Voyage Through Hollywood, Faith & Life,� which he wrote with Mark Dagostino, has just been published. He’ll be doing a book signing Nov. 22 at Barnes & Noble in Manhattan Beach.

The actor, who has survived two heart attacks and a quintuple bypass, was in fine fettle during a recent phone interview from his home in Palm Springs.

I was surprised to learn that you were originally in the running to play Archie Bunker in “All in the Family.� In fact, it was down to you and Carroll O’Connor.

I didn’t feel right for the part. I don’t like bigotry in any way, shape or form. Norman Lear’s assistant called and said, “Gavin, we made a decision. We are going to go with Carroll.� I was so happy. I knew someday my time would come.

And it quickly did when you got the role of Murray in “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.� I have to admit, I think Murray was my favorite character on the series, because he wore his heart on his sleeve.

People really identified with Murray. He was Everyman. I love Murray Slaughter to this day. I just kvell a little bit that I had the opportunity to play him. I think “Mary Tyler Moore� did more for women’s lib than any show on television.

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“The Love Boat� was an even bigger success. The series was on ....

Nine years. And then we came back for a two-hour special.

Wasn’t Andy Warhol a guest star on “The Love Boat�?

Andy Warhol: I had a whole lunch hour with him. He was a very shy, kind of quiet person. In that episode, the guests were Warhol, Hulk Hogan and the Temptations.

“The Mary Tyler Moore Show� won numerous Emmys and was a critical favorite, but “The Love Boat� was more of a popular hit.

The critics hated it. They called it mindless TV, but we became goodwill ambassadors. We were on in 90 countries and, as a result, it gave new birth to the cruise industry, where I have been working since 1986.

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You were bald by the time you got to New York in the 1950s. Was it difficult to get roles being follicly challenged at such a young age?

When you are starting out and want to get a job and they see a young kid come in [for an audition] with a bald head....

Your career began to gather some heat after you saved enough money to buy a secondhand hairpiece.

I got my first Broadway show because of it. I continued to wear that for years. I wore it for one episode of “McHale’s Navy,� but it was so dry it looked like a rat. We threw it on the ground and shot it.

You came out to Los Angeles in the late 1950s because you got a role in the pilot of “The Hal March Show.� But March had you fired because he wanted his friend to play the part. But as soon as you were fired, writer-director Blake Edwards came to your rescue, casting you as a heavy in the pilot episode of his seminal detective series, “Peter Gunn.�

If he hadn’t existed, I don’t know where I would be. I got fired. I was so depressed. I was ready to go back to New York. I thought it was all over. Then my agent called and said, “Do you know Blake Edwards? He wants to see you at 4 p.m for a new pilot called ‘Peter Gunn.’ � I said, “Should I bring my hair?� I kept my hair in a box. So I went over with my hair in the box.

We just hit it off. He always trusted his instinct about casting. Then I did “Operation Petticoat� [with him], and to work with Cary Grant -- come on -- and get paid for it? We did “High Time� with Bing Crosby, which was one of Frank Sinatra’s favorite movies, and “The Party.�

You and your wife, Patti, have been a major presence on the religious Trinity Broadcasting Network over the years, and you starred in the Christian-themed 2008 feature “The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry.�

If it wasn’t for the Lord I wouldn’t be alive.

[For the Record, 7 p.m. Nov. 10: An earlier version of this post said Gavin MacLeod had guest-starred on “My Favorite Martin� instead of “My Favorite Martian.�]

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