WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE CAST OF THE MUNSTERS?

PEOPLE

 

Inside The Munsters Cast's Lives After the Show Ended

It's been 60 years since we hung out with a family of ghouls at 1313 Mockingbird Lane — here's what the cast has been up to since 'The Munsters' cancellation in 1966

By John Russell and Emily Krauser  Published on May 13, 2026 07:00AM EDT

 

Revisiting The Munsters elicits anything but the reaction "darn, darn, darn, darn!"

 

The CBS sitcom lasted only two seasons, but it quickly became a classic. Premiering on Sept. 24, 1964 — less than a week after The Addams Family debuted on ABC — The Munsters focused on a family of ghouls and their "normie" niece living at 1313 Mockingbird Lane in Mockingbird Heights, a stand-in for a classic American suburb.

 

Starring Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster and Yvonne De Carlo as Lily Munster, the show was a campy mashup of classic Universal Pictures monsters and wholesome family-focused sitcoms.

 

Despite its brief run, The Munsters spawned numerous spinoffs and reboots, including the 1966 film Munster, Go Home! — which came quickly after the initial series' end — the 1973 animated special The Mini-Munsters, the 1981 TV movie revival The Munsters' Revenge, the syndicated revival series The Munsters Today, which aired from 1988 to 1991, and the 1995 CBS TV movie Here Come the Munsters.

 

The pilot for a planned reboot, Mockingbird Lane, aired as a Halloween special on NBC in 2012, and in 2022, director Rob Zombie’s The Munsters presented an origin story for the show’s characters.

 

Sixty years after The Munsters' 1966 finale, find out what happened to the beloved sitcom's cast.

 

01

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Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster

 

At a towering 6' 5", Gwynne was a perfect fit for Herman Munster, the hulking Frankenstein’s monster-esque patriarch of the Munster clan.

 

Having already appeared in numerous TV series in the 1950s, Gwynne had his first starring role as Officer Francis Muldoon in NBC’s cop sitcom Car 54, Where Are You? from 1961 to 1963. After starring in The Munsters from 1964 to 1966, he reprised the role of Herman in Munster, Go Home! (1966).

 

In the decades that followed, Gwynne continued to make numerous appearances in series and TV movies, including 1981’s The Munsters’ Revenge, while also appearing in films like Fatal Attraction (1987), Pet Sematary (1989) and My Cousin Vinny (1992). The latter was his final on-screen role.

 

Gwynne married his first wife, Jean Reynard, in 1952. The couple had five children before divorcing in 1980. He later married Deborah Flater in 1988.

 

The actor died in 1993 of complications from pancreatic cancer. He was 66.

 

02

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Yvonne De Carlo as Lily Munster

 

Prior to taking on the role of vampire bride/homemaker Lily Munster, De Carlo appeared in more than 50 movies in the 1940s and 1950s, including starring opposite Charlton Heston as Moses’ wife in Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments (1956).

 

But, as pop culture historian Geoffrey Mark told Woman’s World in 2024, De Carlo was often “hired to smolder like a prop rather than [portray] a fully-developed character,” and many of her films were “popular in the moment, but nobody remembers them today.”

 

With The Munsters, however, De Carlo reached a new level of campy cultural cache, reprising the role of Lily in Munster, Go Home! and The Munsters’ Revenge.

 

Following the show’s cancellation in 1966, she went on to appear in another 27 films, primarily B-movies and horror flicks, playing on her Munsters notoriety. She also found success on the stage, most notably originating the role of Carlotta Campion in the 1971 Broadway production of Stephen Sondheim’s Follies, and made appearances in shows like Fantasy Island, Murder, She Wrote, Dream On and Tales from the Crypt.

 

She married stuntman Robert Morgan in 1955. In addition to Morgan’s daughter from a previous marriage, the couple had two sons before divorcing in 1973.

 

De Carlo died of heart failure in 2007 at age 84.

 

03

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Al Lewis as Grandpa Munster

 

Al Lewis’ zany Count Sam Dracula, a.k.a. Grandpa Munster, may have been hundreds of years old, but the actor himself was only 41 when he took on the role — notably, a year younger than on-screen daughter De Carlo.

 

Lewis got his start performing in Vaudeville and on Broadway in the 1950s, before moving into television, most notably starring alongside Gwynne in Car 54, Where Are You? before they reunited for The Munsters.

 

Along with most of the original cast, Lewis appeared as his Munsters character in Munster, Go Home! and The Munsters’ Revenge, and he had a cameo in Here Come the Munsters. He also reprised the role in a 1991 episode of ABC’s Hi Honey, I’m Home, and he hosted the TBS TV horror-block Super Scary Saturday as Grandpa Munster from 1987 to 1989.

 

Lewis had no qualms getting typecast, saying in a 1997 interview, per NPR, "Why would I mind? It pays my mortgage."

 

Beyond The Munsters, Lewis' notable film appearances included Sydney Pollack’s They Shoot Horses, Don’t They (1969) and Married to the Mob (1988). He also reprised his Car 54 role in the 1994 film based on the show. On TV, he guest-starred in shows like Lost in Space, Green Acres, Love American Style and Taxi.

 

A lifelong left-wing activist, Lewis ran for New York governor as a member of the Green Party in 1998. His bid to be listed on the ballot as “Grandpa Al Lewis” failed, as did his campaign. He did, however, succeed in securing enough votes to place his party on the New York ballot for the next four years. In 2000, he campaigned for the Green Party nomination for one of New York’s two U.S. Senate seats, coming in second.

 

The actor also ran a restaurant in N.Y.C.'s Greenwich Village called Grandpa's, where he could often be spotted taking photos and signing autographs.

 

Lewis was married to Marge Domowitz, with whom he shared three sons, from 1956 until 1977. He later married actress Karen Ingenthron-Lewis in 1984, and they remained together until his death in 2006 at age 82. Lewis was also a grandfather of four.

 

04

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Butch Patrick as Eddie Munster

 

While the role of Eddie Munster was originally played by child actor Happy Derman in the unaired pilot for The Munsters, then-11-year-old Butch Patrick was ultimately cast as the pint-size werewolf in the series. He remained on the show for both seasons.

 

Patrick reprised the role of Eddie in Munster, Go Home!, but he did not appear in the 1981 TV movie.

 

After the series ended, Patrick continued to work in television, with roles on shows like Daniel Boone, I Dream of Jeannie and The Monkees. In 1971, he starred on the short-lived Saturday morning kids’ show Lidsville, from H.R. Pufnstuf creators Sid and Marty Krofft. He also nabbed the starring role in the 1970 film adaptation of The Phantom Tollbooth.

 

Patrick quit acting in 1975 to work for his father, then returned to the screen with a role in the 1991 horror flick Scary Movie. In 1995, he had a cameo in the remake Here Come the Munsters and appeared in a cameo as himself in 2003’s Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star.

 

He’s taken on a number of small roles in the years since, including voicing the Tin Can Man in Rob Zombie’s The Munsters.

 

In September 2016, at age 63, Patrick tied the knot with Leila Murray in Macon, Mo.

 

05

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Beverley Owen as Marilyn Munster

 

The first of the two original Marilyn Munsters, Beverley Owen came to the series with roles in shows like As the World Turns and Wagon Train, as well as the 1964 film Bullets for a Badman, under her belt.

 

As Marilyn, the daughter of Lily Munster’s sister, she played the only “normal” member of the family — though her spooky relatives considered her odd. After only 13 episodes, Owen left The Munsters midway through its first season.

 

That same year, she married writer, director and producer Jon Stone, who went on to become an original member of the Sesame Street team. The couple had two daughters before divorcing in 1974.

 

Owen briefly returned to the small screen in 1972, playing Dr. Paula McCrea on Another World. She went on to earn a master’s degree in early American history.

 

Owen died from ovarian cancer in February 2019. She was 81. Patrick marked her passing in a Facebook post, writing, “Beautiful Beverly Owen has left us. What a sweet soul. I had the biggest crush on her. RIP Bev and thanks for your 13 memorable Marilyn Munster episodes.”

 

06

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Pat Priest as Marilyn Munster

 

Hot on the heels of small guest roles in shows like Perry Mason and My Favorite Martian, Pat Priest was tapped to replace Owen as Marilyn midway through The Munsters’ first season. She continued to play the character until the show’s 1966 cancellation.

 

Post-Munsters, Priest booked guest roles on series like The Lucy Show, Mannix, Mission: Impossible, Bewitched and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. She also starred alongside Elvis Presley in 1967’s Easy Come, Easy Go and Bruce Dern in 1971’s The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant.

 

After retiring from acting in the 1980s, Priest started a new career restoring and selling homes, and she also co-ran an antiques business with her sister, per Remind. She did, however, return for a cameo in Here Come the Munsters and provided the voice for an airline announcer in the 2022 film The Munsters. She also still occasionally joins Patrick at fan conventions.

 

Priest was married to Pierce Jensen Jr. from 1955 to 1967. In 1981, she married her second husband, Frederick Hansing. The couple raised their two sons in Idaho. In 2021, she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and has since been declared in remission.