Fred Grandy said he regrets not standing up for his co-star Lauren Tewes, who was fired from the show in 1984 for using drugs while battling addiction. The series aired from 1977 to 1987.
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“My only regret about that is that I never really spoke out to defend her and support her the way we should have,” Fred Grandy said Monday (27) on the documentary series TV We Love.
“So there’s a certain regret in that, at least on my part,” he lamented.
Lauren Tewes played cruise director Julie McCoy from the premiere of “The Love Boat” in 1977. Fred Grandy portrayed Burl “Gopher” Smith, the ship’s purser, during the show’s first nine seasons.
He noted that the problems began when production started traveling around the world.
The actor recalled that “there was a disco on every ship, and they were usually packed at night. There was also a casino.”
“Let’s face it: this is an environment where many people use controlled substances in one way or another,” Fred Grandy admitted.
Things weren’t going so well for his colleague, as she was trying to fight her addiction.
“It was a different time,” Tewes said. “I was a woman, so I was blacklisted because of that,” the actress told TV Guide magazine after admitting she had used drugs to “be part of the group.”
Photos: Wikimedia Commons. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
