1. Fredrick Lawrence Grandy was born on June 29,1948 and is an American actor who played "Gopher" 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.
23 Facts About Fred Grandy
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Fred Grandy was born in Sioux City, Iowa, the youngest of three sons of William Fred Grandy, who worked in his father's insurance business, and his wife, Bonnie.
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When Fred Grandy was eleven, his father died of a heart attack.
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Fred Grandy's mother died of an aneurysm a year later.
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The young Fred Grandy was then raised by Margaret Avery, his mother's best friend.
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Fred Grandy attended public schools until ninth grade, after which he attended high school at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire, as his father and brothers had done.
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Fred Grandy holds a master of fine arts degree from the Washington Shakespeare Theatre and George Washington University, graduating at age 50.
8.
Fred Grandy played purser Burl "Gopher" Smith on the American television series The Love Boat.
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In 1982, while visiting Turkey to film scenes for the show, Fred Grandy suffered severe burns when a balloon filled with hydrogen exploded.
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Fred Grandy acted in the 1973 made-for-TV movie The Girl Most Likely to.
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Fred Grandy starred in the Saturday morning TV series Monster Squad as Walt, a criminology student working as a night watchman at "Fred's Wax Museum".
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Fred Grandy appeared in a number of episodes of the TV game show Match Game from 1979 to 1981.
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Fred Grandy usually sat in the male guest-star seat in the top row left.
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In May 2013, Fred Grandy returned to the stage, starring in a production of Sleuth at the Surflight Theatre in Beach Haven, New Jersey.
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In 2014 Fred Grandy had a recurring role as Dr William Ledreau on Season 3 of The Mindy Project for which his son, Charlie Fred Grandy, is a writer.
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Fred Grandy has had recurring roles in two TV series, Knight Squad and Sprung.
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In 1994, Fred Grandy declined to run for another Congressional term and instead entered the Republican primary race for governor of Iowa against incumbent Terry Branstad, but lost the election by nearly four percentage points.
18.
Fred Grandy served as president and CEO of Goodwill Industries International from 1995 to 2000.
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Fred Grandy later became a political commentator for National Public Radio and served as a visiting professor teaching a course on nonprofit organizations at the School of Public Affairs at the University of Maryland, College Park.
20.
On March 3,2011, Fred Grandy resigned from the program allegedly over a dispute about his and his wife's statements about Islamic extremism or low listenership.
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Fred Grandy was the host of a show on Retirement Living TV called Daily Cafe.
22.
Fred Grandy married Jan Gough in 1969, a student at Radcliffe.
23.
On March 28,1987, Fred Grandy married novelist Catherine Mann, whom he had met when she interviewed him as one of the first reporters for Entertainment Tonight.