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Gwynne was born in New York City, the son of Dorothy (née Ficken) and Frederick Walker Gwynne, a partner in the securities firm, Gwynne Brothers.His paternal grandfather was an Episcopal minister born in Camus, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, UK and his maternal grandfather was an immigrant from London, England, UK. Gwynne attended the Groton School and went on to graduate from Harvard University in 1951. At Harvard he was a member of the Fly Club, sang with the a cappella group the Harvard Krokodiloes, was a cartoonist for the Harvard Lampoon (eventually becoming its president), and acted in the Hasty Pudding Theatricals shows. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Navy and studied art on the G.I. Bill.
Career
Gwynne joined the Brattle Theatre Repertory Company after graduation[3], then moved to New York City. To support himself, Gwynne worked as a copywriter for J. Walter Thompson, resigning in 1952 upon being cast in his first Broadway role, a gangster in a comedy called Mrs. McThing, which starred Helen Hayes.
In 1955, Gwynne made a memorable appearance on The Phil Silvers Show in the episode entitled "The Eating Contest," as the character Private Honigan, whose depressive eating binges are exploited by Sgt. Bilko, who seeks prize money by entering Honigan in an eating contest. Gwynne`s second appearance on The Phil Silvers Show (in the episode "For The Birds" in 1956) and many other shows led writer-producer Nat Hiken to cast him in the sitcom Car 54, Where Are You? as Patrolman Francis Muldoon, opposite Joe E. Ross. During the two-season run of the program he met longtime friend and later co-star, Al Lewis. Gwynne was 6 ft 5 in tall, an attribute that contributed to his being cast as Herman Munster, a goofy parody of Frankenstein`s monster, in the sitcom The Munsters. For his role he had to wear 40 or 50 lb of padding, makeup, and 4-inch elevator shoes. His face was painted a bright violet because it captured the most light on the black-and-white film. Gwynne was known for his sense of humor and retained fond recollections of Herman, claiming in later life, "... I might as well tell you the truth. I love old Herman Munster. Much as I try not to, I can`t stop liking that fellow."[3] After his experience in The Munsters, however, he found himself identified with the character, which led to difficulty in being cast in different kinds of roles. For example, in 1969, he was cast as Jonathan Brewster, a Frankenstein monster-like character, in a television production of Arsenic and Old Lace.
He displayed his singing voice in a Hallmark Hall of Fame made-for-television production, The Littlest Angel (1969) and went on to perform in a variety of roles on stage and screen. In 1974, he appeared in the role of Big Daddy in the Broadway revival of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. In 1975 he played the Stage Manager in Our Town at the American Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford, Connecticut. He returned to Broadway in 1976 as Colonel J. C. Kinkaid in two parts of A Texas Trilogy. In 1984, he tried out for the part of Henry on the show Punky Brewster. He is said to have withdrawn from the audition in frustration when the auditioner identified him as Herman Munster rather than by his real name. The role of Henry subsequently went to George Gaynes.
His performance as Jud Crandall in Pet Sematary was based on author Stephen King himself, who is also quite tall — only an inch shorter than the actor — and uses a similarly
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[On his most famous role, 1979]: Funny thing, yesterday morning I found my youngest son and daughter watching the rerun of an old ("The Munsters" (1964)) episode and I said, "My God, THAT`S not still on, is it?" Well, even so, I was very lucky and it was great fun to be as much of a household product as something like Rinso. I almost wish I could do it all over again.
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