Fred Grandy

Fredrick Lawrence Grandy (born June 29, 1948) is an American actor who played Burl "Gopher" Smith on the TV series The Love Boat and who later became a member of the United States House of Representatives from the state of Iowa. Grandy was most recently the host of The Grandy Group, a morning drive time radio talk show on 630 WMAL in Washington, D.C.

Early life, family and education Grandy was born in Sioux City, Iowa, the youngest of three sons of William Grandy, who worked in his father's insurance business, and his wife, Bonnie. When Grandy was eleven, his father died of a heart attack. His mother died of an aneurysm a year later.

The young Grandy was then raised by Margaret Avery, his mother's best friend (a widow who later married his father's doctor).

Grandy holds a master of fine arts (MFA) degree from the Washington Shakespeare Theatre and George Washington University, graduating at age 50.

Career Acting Grandy played purser Burl "Gopher" Smith on the American television series The Love Boat. The series aired for nine seasons (1977–1986). He wrote several vignettes for the show.

In 1982, while visiting Turkey to film scenes for the show, Grandy suffered severe burns when a balloon filled with hydrogen exploded.

Before gaining prominence on The Love Boat, Grandy had guest roles on many shows, including Love, American Style (1969); The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970); Maude (1973); Phyllis (1975); and Welcome Back, Kotter (1975). Grandy also acted in the 1973 made-for-TV movie The Girl Most Likely to..., as Ted Gates.

He starred in the Saturday morning TV series Monster Squad (1976) as Walt, a criminology student working as a night watchman at "Fred's Wax Museum". He also appeared in a number of episodes of the TV game show Match Game from 1979 to 1981. He usually sat in the male guest-star seat in the top row left. He later appeared in a week's worth of episodes on its sequel, the Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour.

In May 2013, Grandy returned to the stage, starring in a production of Sleuth at the Surflight Theatre in Beach Haven, New Jersey. In 2014 Grandy had a recurring role as Dr. William Ledreau on Season 3 of The Mindy Project for which his son, Charlie Grandy, is a writer. He has also had recurring roles in two TV series, Knight Squad and Sprung. He performed around the country in regional theatre productions of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, On Golden Pond, I'm Not Rappaport, and Give 'em Hell, Harry!.

Politics Grandy's political interests preceded his acting career. Between 1970 and 1971, he served as a speechwriter for Wiley Mayne, the Republican congressman from his home district.

With Mayne's successor, Democrat Berkley Bedell, deciding not to run in 1986, Grandy, a Republican, campaigned for the open Iowa United States House of Representatives seat, beating Clayton Hodgson by two percentage points (51.0% to 49.0%).

Although Grandy tried to distance himself from his acting career (at the time), he said to People magazine, "if there were no Gopher, there would be no Fred Grandy for Congress."

Grandy was also the host of a show on Retirement Living TV called Daily Café (with MSNBC anchor Alex Witt). Since then he has been a Senior Fellow for National Security Affairs at the Washington-based Center for Security Policy, a far-right, anti-Muslim, Washington, D.C.–based think tank, developing and managing projects on domestic terrorism and counterintelligence.

Personal life Grandy has been married twice. In 1969 he married Jan Gough, a student at Radcliffe. They had a son, Charlie Grandy, and a daughter before divorcing in 1983. On March 28, 1987, Grandy married novelist Catherine Mann, whom he had met when she interviewed him as one of the first reporters for Entertainment Tonight. They have one daughter (born 1988). In 1993, Grandy and his wife sporadically toured Iowa with a stage production of the play Love Letters for charity (especially children's charities).

Filmography Year Film Role Notes 1973 Love, American Style Larry Segment: "Love and the See-Through Mind" 1973 The Girl Most Likely to... Dr. Ted Gates TV movie 1973–74 Maude Chris 7 episodes 1975 The Mary Tyler Moore Show Rev. J.W. Dannenbrink Episode: "You Can't Lose 'em All" 1975 Death Race 2000 Herman "the German" Boch Feature film 1975 Phyllis The Newlyweds – Young Man Episode: "Phyllis' Garage Sale" 1975–76 Doc Chuck Bogert 2 episodes 1976–77 Monster Squad Walter 13 episodes 1977 Quincy, M.E. Milt Jordan Episode: "...The Thigh Bone's Connected to the Knee Bone..." 1977 Welcome Back, Kotter Andy Episode: "Radio Free Freddie" 1977 Fernwood 2 Night Dr. Alexander Beach Episode: "Barbershop Trio" 1977–86 The Love Boat Burl "Gopher" Smith 246 episodes 1977 The Lincoln Conspiracy David Herold Feature film 1978 Fantasy Island Bernie Parker Episode: "The Appointment/Mr. Tattoo" 1979 Fantasy Island Jerry Burton Episode: "The Comic/The Golden Hour" 1979 Blind Ambition Donald Segretti TV miniseries 1979 Charlie's Angels Burl "Gopher" Smith Episode: "Love Boat Angels" 1979 Fantasy Island Bernie Drexel Episode: "The Pug/Class of '69" 1983 Matt Houston Ted Baer Episode: "The Showgirl Murders" 1984 Cagney & Lacey Richard White Episode: "Matinee" 2003 Law & Order Neil Skinner Episode: "B*tch" 2014–17 The Mindy Project Dr. William Ledreau 9 episodes 2017 General Hospital Father Corey 2 episodes 2017 Great News Fred Episode: "Award Show" 2018–19 Knight Squad Wizard Hogancross 5 episodes 2019 Play the Flute Pastor Lawrence 2021 Side Hustle Mr. Grieves Episode: "The Kid-Ding Dongs" 2022 Sprung Horace Tackleberry