TV SERIES · 1964– · USA
The Munsters
54 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (54)
- #001
The opening title sequence of the first season was an ugly parody of the opening titles of The Donna Reed Show (1958), in which Donna Reed lovingly handed out lunch to departing family members as they left the house one by one. As Lily Munster, Yvonne De Carlo did the same thing.
- #002
Beverley Owen, who played Marilyn Munster in the first 13 episodes, was a natural brunette. She wore a wig, and her hairline was often covered with a headband. Pat Priest, who played Marilyn for the rest of the series, is a natural blonde, so that was her natural hair.
- #003
Whenever he names the country of his birth, Grandpa always says he was born in the Holy Roman Empire. According to Bram Stoker's 1897 book, Dracula was born in the Holy Roman Empire, in present-day Romania.
- #004
Only one Drag-U-La (Grandpa's coffin car) was built for the series. It once hung from the ceiling of Planet Hollywood in Atlantic City. It was restored and is located somewhere near Orlando, FL. Several replicas have been made since.
- #005
Beverley Owen played Marilyn in the first 13 episodes. She was in love with her fiancé in New York and agreed to do the series thinking it would be a flop because of its odd premise. When it became a hit, she cried constantly because she had to be in Los Angeles while her boyfriend, Jon Stone, was in New York. The other cast members asked the producers to release her from her contract so she could marry, and they did. She was replaced by Pat Priest, who resembled Beverly Owen so closely that viewers never noticed the difference. Beverley Owen would divorce Jon Stone eight years later and never appeared on screen again after the first 13 episodes.
- #006
This series and its "rival" series The Addams Family (1964) premiered a week apart in September 1964. At the end of that year's TV season, this series ranked 18th in the Nielsens with a 24.7 rating, while The Addams Family ranked 23rd with a 23.9 rating. At the time, the Nielsens indicated what percentage of American TV households were tuned to any given program. By the end of the following year, both series had been canceled.
- #007
The series' unaired pilot — My Fair Munster: Unaired Pilot (1964) — was in color.
- #008
The Munsters' house later appeared on the set of Desperate Housewives (2004).
- #009
The voice of The Raven, which was not credited in the titles, was provided by Mel Blanc. On rare occasions when Blanc was unavailable, the Raven's voice was provided by Bob Hastings.
- #010
After the pilot episode was shot, CBS executives insisted that the role of Lily Munster be recast. Initially, both Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis were against the idea of the role going to Yvonne De Carlo, believing that because of her past Hollywood presence she would be arrogant, almost like a diva. Later, however, both Gwynne and Lewis agreed that De Carlo was a great comedy actress and easy to work with.
- #011
The original pilot, My Fair Munster: Unaired Pilot (1964), was filmed in part on the set of Psycho (1960).
- #012
During the filming of the second season, Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis were unhappy with the direction of the series. They wanted a more subtle type of comedy added to the scripts.
- #013
As part of his costume, Fred Gwynne wore foam rubber padding under his outer clothing. On set, he drank large amounts of lemonade because of the heavy sweating caused by the padding and the suit. He lost a considerable amount of weight while filming the series.
- #014
Fred Gwynne played dual roles in two episodes: as Herman's twin brother Charlie in Knock Wood, Here Comes Charlie (1964), and as Doctor Frankenstein's rejected creation Johann in A Visit from Johann (1966).
- #015
Grandpa's Drag-U-La racer was used only in the first season's Hot Rod Herman (1965), even though it appeared in the end titles of every second-season episode. It also appeared in the film Munster, Go Home! (1966).
- #016
Initially, Fred Gwynne did his own stunt work on The Munsters, but after he fell on his back (as planned) and knocked off the head of the set, the studio hired Bill Foster (also known as Jeff County) as a stunt double for Fred Gwynne. Fred Gwynne and Bill Foster met at Universal Studios when Bill (a Universal security guard and an accomplished musician) saw Fred trying to play the guitar one day and gave him a few lessons.
- #017
The title of the series is said to have been derived from a combination of the words "fun" and "monsters."
- #018
Contrary to popular belief, The Munsters was not the first couple to share the same bed on television. That distinction belonged to the real-life couple Mary Kay Stearns and John Stearns, who appeared in the late 1940s shows Mary Kay and Johnny (1947).
- #019
Bill Mumy was the first choice for Eddie Munster, but his family did not approve of the heavy makeup that would be used for the character. He eventually guest-starred in Come Back, Little Googie (1965), playing an incorrigible brat in the first season.
- #020
Joan Marshall played Herman's wife Phoebe Munster in the unaired 15-minute pilot My Fair Munster: Unaired Pilot (1964). She closely resembled Carolyn Jones in the role of Morticia Addams in The Addams Family (1964).
- #021
The house that would later become the Munster house first appeared in an episode of Leave It to Beaver (1957). Producers Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher created both series.
- #022
The Munster Koach was actually a combination of two cars that Lily had custom-built as a birthday present for Herman.
- #023
The funeral parlor where Herman worked was called Gateman, Goodbury and Graves, and John Carradine played Mr. Gateman.
- #024
In the first 13 episodes, in which Beverley Owen played Marilyn, Fred Gwynne was billed last in the opening title sequence. When Owen left the series to get married, Pat Priest replaced her and the series had to be re-shot, with Gwynne billed first in the credits. Because there were no further cast changes for the second season, the credits remained in that order for the rest of the series.
- #025
According to Stephen Cox, who wrote a book about the sitcom, Fred Gwynne refused to talk about Herman Munster or the series in general.
- #026
The exterior of the Munster house was first built for the film So Goes My Love (1946).
- #027
Eddie's pet dragon that lived under the stairs was named Spot. The dragon's full body was never built. Only its head could be seen when the stairs opened, often combined with it breathing fire, and sometimes its tail could be seen a few times. In the failed remake/reboot Mockingbird Lane (2012), Spot was shown in full.
- #028
The nickname Lily Munster gave Herman is 'Kitty-cat.'.
- #029
Although Al Lewis's character is often popularly referred to as "Grandpa Munster," this is incorrect; he is Lily's father and his surname is Dracula. Grandpa Munster was referring to Herman's never-seen stepfather. However, Lily's sister's daughter Marilyn was Marilyn Munster, who was probably adopted.
- #030
The nearly blind family doctor Edward Dudley was played by two actors over the course of the series: Paul Lynde in three episodes of the first season and Dom DeLuise in Just Another Pretty Face (1966).
- #031
The Munster Koach and the Dragula car were built by Hollywood car customizer George Barris.
- #032
Eddie's full name was Edward Wolfgang Munster.
- #033
Herman and Lily were married on September 4, 1865.
- #034
Herman's favorite soup was Cream of Vulture.
- #035
In the opening titles, Lily Munster hands Herman an executive briefcase before he leaves for work, though Herman is actually rarely seen with the briefcase and usually carries a blue-collar lunch pail, since his job is gravedigging.
- #036
Although Bud Westmore is credited as makeup artist in every episode of The Munsters, at the time he only ran Universal's makeup department. The actual work, uncredited, was done by Karl Silvera (Herman's makeup and appliances), Perc Westmore (Grandpa), Abe Haberman (Lily) and Michael Westmore (Marilyn and Eddie).
- #037
According to what Lily says in a job interview in Herman's Rival (1964), her maiden name is Dracula.
- #038
Despite the family being green-skinned in publicity photos, in reality all members of the monster family shot their scenes in bright purple makeup. The purple makeup looked better on black-and-white televisions, a fact confirmed in the colorized version of the series.
- #039
Grandpa's pet bat was named Igor.
- #040
Lily Munster was originally named Phoebe in the unaired pilot My Fair Munster: Unaired Pilot (1964).
- #041
Nate Derman was replaced because his portrayal of Eddie was considered 'too aggressive'.
- #042
The Munsters lived at 1313 Mockingbird Lane, Mockingbird Heights.
- #043
There was initially some tension on set. Yvonne De Carlo, a successful film star, was prone to prima donna behavior, keeping everyone waiting until she decided when to leave her dressing room and come to the set. Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis grew tired of this and eventually stood up to De Carlo, after which the actress began to be more cooperative.
- #044
Bonnie Franklin, who appeared as "Janice" in Herman's Sorority Caper (1966), later directed episodes of The Munsters Today (1988).
- #045
Al Lewis made several changes to his makeup during production. After the first few episodes the nature of his character also changed; his inability to appear in daylight limited the scripts, so he was transformed from more or less a vampire into a mad scientist character.
- #046
Eddie's stuffed wolf was named Woof-Woof. In the German-dubbed version of The Munsters, the wolf's name was Wumpy Pumpy.
- #047
Fall Out Boy's 2015 song "Uma Thurman" samples the famous Munsters theme.
- #048
This series and its rival The Addams Family (1964) have probably been subjected to more comparisons than any other two rival series in TV history, likely because of their similarities.
- #049
Butch Patrick's real name before this work was Patrick Lilley. His stage name was created for this series because his real name could be confused with his mother's name, Lily.
- #050
In the episode Herman's Sorority Caper, Grandpa is shown looking at himself in a mirror, even though vampires cannot be seen in mirrors. Grandpa, who is also a mad scientist, apparently developed techniques to minimize his vampire traits.
- #051
Besides being the Munsters' house, the home also appeared in the TV Western series The Virginian (1962). Several shots of the exterior of the house can be seen in the episode titled The Secret of Brynmar Hall (1964).
- #052
According to Herman's driver's license, his date of birth is 21.06.1815, making him 150 years old. Interestingly, June 21 is the summer solstice, or the longest "day" of the year with the most sunlight. Grandpa is a vampire, and vampires traditionally hate sunlight.
- #053
In 2022, Rob Zombie wrote and directed a rebooted "Munsters" film (a PG comedy) featuring Pat Priest and Butch Patrick in small roles.
- #054
When the series aired in Spain, the family name was changed from Munster to Monster, even in the title ("La Familia Monster"). In later years, the films and series produced continued the "Monster" tradition in their Spanish titles.
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