Ted Lange Once Confronted Aaron Spelling About White Cast's Prominence onLove Boat: 'Why Can't I Greet People?'

Mar. 15, 2025

‘The Love Boat’ star Ted Lange (left) and executive producer Aaron Spelling.Photo:Leon Bennett/Getty; SGranitz/WireImage

Leon Bennett/Getty; SGranitz/WireImage

Ted Lange served up drinks and a smile behind the bar onThe Love Boat, but behind the scenes, he wanted the show to serve up equal representation, too.

While speaking onThe Love BoatLegacy: Original Cast Reflections panel onPrincess Cruises’Love BoatCelebration sailing alongside costars Fred Grandy, Bernie Kopell andJill Whelan, Lange recalled sitting down with the show’s executive producerAaron Spellingand asking why his character Issac couldn’t be more front and center with the guests.

For the 100 guests who opted for theLove BoatVIP Package, the itinerary — which features stops in Boston, Eastport, Maine, Nova Scotia and Canada’s New Brunswick — also included an exclusive welcome reception with the stars and a cast dinner.

Ted Lange as Isaac Washington on ‘The Love Boat’.Afro American Newspapers/Gado/Getty

Afro American Newspapers/Gado/Getty

During that same meeting, Lange claimed that castmate Gavin MacLeod, who played the boat’s captain anddied in 2021 at age 90, asked for a deeper story arc.

“Gavin says, ‘I’m servicing guest stars and I don’t have a story. I would like to have a story instead of helping Ginger Rogers find Fred Astaire. I want to do something,’” Lange said. “And so they said, ‘Well, we’ll figure out a way that we can do a personal story.’ And I think that’s when you happened, because it then elevated Gavin’s position as a character, as a single father. And that wasn’t prevalent at the time that we were doing our show.”

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Lange also remembered how the show’s makeup artist “accidentally” trimmed his signature mustache — which he grew to look older after playing a teenager onThat’s My Mama— at the request of producer Doug Cramer.

“They wanted me to cut my mustache to here,” Lange said, gesturing to his face. “And I remember we had a makeup guy named Larry Darr. We called him Cowboy. He wore a big cowboy hat. He was a cowboy. And so I’m sitting in the makeup chair and he says, ‘Ted, your mustache is a little uneven. Want me to even it up?’ So I go, ‘Oh yeah, sure Larry.’ And he goes, ‘Whoops.’ And I go, ‘Hey man, what are you doing?’ He says, ‘Well, now I got to cut here to even it up over here.’ And I said, “Okay, what’s going on?’ He says, ‘What do you mean?’”

‘The Love Boat’ casting, including Gavin MacLeod (center) and Ted Lange (far right).Afro American Newspapers/Gado/Getty

Eventually, Darr admitted, “‘Well, Doug Cramer wanted to shorten the mustache,’” Lange said. “And this is the third year. They hadn’t noticed for three years! … So that’s how that happened, is that Doug Cramer asked Larry Darr to … rather than just say, ‘Hey, Ted, can we talk to you? We’d like to…’ I would’ve said, ‘Yeah, sure.’”

Princess’s nextLove BoatCelebration at Sea themed cruise will sail from Galveston, Texas on Regal Princess from Nov. 16-23, 2025 and make stops throughout Mexico at Cozumel, Costa Maya and Roatan.

source: people.com