The Love Boat's Fred Grandy Reveals Billy Crystal Auditioned for the Role of Gopher But 'He Really Hated the Script'

Mar. 15, 2025

‘The Love Boat’ actor Fred Grandy (left); Billy Crystal.Photo:Erik Hein /American Broadcasting Companies via Getty; Jim Britt/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

Erik Hein /American Broadcasting Companies via Getty; Jim Britt/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

Fred Grandyacknowledges he might not have been the first choice to play purser Burl “Gopher” Smith onThe Love Boat.

“I was the last man standing when it came to casting this part,” Grandy, 76, said duringTheLove Boat: Behind the Scenes Stories panel onPrincess Cruises’TheLove BoatCelebration at Sea 2024 sailing.

One actor also in the running:Billy Crystal. “Billy wound up doing a show that we wrote calledThe Kissing Bandit,” Grandy said at the Q&A alongside castmatesBernie Kopell,Ted LangeandJill Whelan. “A lovely guy, very funny and not so full of himself. But I remember it was somewhat of a lesson in humility when he told me how much he really hated the script.”

Kopell, 91, took over playing the ship’s doctor from Dick Van Patten, who held the role in the first two pilots forThe Love Boat.

“All of a sudden we find out that Dick Van Patten was under contract to ABC. They pulled him out to doEight Is Enough, and it opened it up for every walk-in actor to audition for the role of the doctor, including me,” Kopell said on board the Enchanted Princess. “I auditioned and this guy auditioned, the other guy auditioned and after a while, my agent called and screamed into the phone, ‘You got the part!’”

TheGet Smartstar said the role “changed my life,” adding, “It was just such a treat and I’ve been so grateful for that life-changing experience and here I am, still working at the age of 91.”

‘The Love Boat’ stars (from left) Bernie Kopell, Jill Whelan, Ted Lange and Fred Grandy on the Enchanted Princess.Princess Cruises

Princess Cruises

The Love Boatran for 10 seasons, and the cast has remained close. Grandy, Lange, 76, and Whelan, 57, costarred in the playI’m Not Rappaportin Michigan earlier this year and they already plan to be aboard the Regal Princess when Princess Cruises’The Love BoatCelebration at Sea leaves from Galveston, Texas, next November.

“There are casts that are very cohesive and get along, correspond and stuff, but I don’t think there is a group that’s as tight knit professionally and personally as our group,” Grandy told People during theLove Boat Celebration at Sea sailing that ran from Aug. 31-Sept. 7. “And I’m not sure what the reason for that is, but I’m obviously not going to question it because it’s been very successful and lucrative for us.”

Grandy’s time onThe Love Boatalso helped him find success when he pivoted to politics. “When I announced toAaron Spellingthat I wanted to leave the show and go back to Iowa to run for Congress, his first response was to sue me for anticipatory breach of contract,” Grandy said of the show’s executive producer. “I don’t think that’s a term that exists in legal jargon, but he had enough power in Beverly Hills to make it up.”

‘The Love Boat’ stars (from left) Jill Whelan, Bernie Kopell and Fred Grandy in 1983.ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!

Spelling, who died in 2006 at 83, didn’t end up suing Grandy, and the actor went on to serve four terms as a Republican congressman for his home state of Iowa.

“The fact that he did not is, I think, because the people back in Iowa who were such huge fans of the show were prepared to take him to court,” Grandy said. “After we settled all of our differences, I went right back into his office and asked him for a political contribution, which he did not give me, but [Love Boatproducer] Douglas Cramer did.”

Fred Grandy and Lauren Tewes on ‘The Love Boat’ in 1983.ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

Passengers who opted for theLove BoatVIP package also got to spend time with the star at a welcome reception in the ship’s adults-only retreat, The Sanctuary, and a cast dinner in the Enchanted Princess’s Amalfi dining room.

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

The Love Boatis streaming on Paramount+.

source: people.com