Let me tell you a story about a young boy named Butch Patrick, who played Eddie, the boy werewolf on the classic TV show, The Munsters. It was quite the adventure for Butch back in the day. “I remember this one time we were doing an exterior shot in the Munster Koach,” Butch recalls in a candid conversation with Closer. He tells the tale of a practical joke pulled by the legendary Fred Gwynne, who played Herman Munster. “We get into the car, Fred takes off, and instead of turning around like we usually do, he drives right out the front gate of Universal Studios and onto the streets of Hollywood! We ended up at the Hollywood Bowl. Can you imagine the look on people's faces as they saw us driving by in full makeup? It was absolutely priceless!”
For Butch, who is now 71, those days filming The Munsters were more than just a job—it was a magical time in his life. The show aired from 1964 to 1966 and quickly became a favorite among audiences who couldn’t get enough of the quirky family of monsters. Butch, who now runs the fan site munsters.com, reminisces about how the show was written with such wit and charm. “It was so well-crafted, there wasn’t a weak link in the chain,” he says. One of the things Butch loved most was how Universal shot the show using the same lighting techniques and shadowing as their iconic horror films, which gave it “the look and feel of a monster movie instead of a sitcom. It was truly unique.”
Every day on set began early for young Butch, usually around 7 or 8 a.m. The transformation process to get him into character as Eddie the werewolf was no small feat—it took an hour just for makeup alone! Fred Gwynne, playing Frankenstein’s monster, needed two hours for his elaborate effects. Butch would then spend three hours in school, an hour for lunch, another hour for recreation, and finally three more hours filming. “Summer breaks were a blessing because they gave me more time to be onscreen,” he fondly remembers.
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Learning From the Best: Butch Patrick’s Co-Stars
Butch’s time on The Munsters wasn’t just about acting—it was also about learning from some of the best in the business. After The Munsters, Butch went on to star in Lidsville, which you can now enjoy on the New Sid & Marty Krofft Channel (via Cineverse). Butch says he learned so much from watching his co-stars. “Fred Gwynne was not only highly educated but also had an incredible sense of humor,” Butch explains. “He was a serious man, but also a brilliant artist and musician. Al Lewis, who played Grandpa, was the quintessential carnival-vaudeville-circus type. These two were best friends and had already worked together on Car 54, Where Are You?. They were a comedy duo out of New York before joining The Munsters, and it showed in their chemistry.”
Completing the memorable cast were Pat Priest, who took over from Beverley Owen as Marilyn after 13 episodes (the "normal" family member, according to Butch), and the incomparable Yvonne De Carlo as Lily Munster. “Yvonne was Hollywood royalty,” Butch says with admiration. “She brought an incredible energy to the set. Back then, film stars didn’t typically transition to television, but she did, and it elevated the entire production.”
The show’s production team spared no expense when it came to authenticity. “We used a lot of original props from Universal’s archives,” Butch shares. “The sets were filled with pieces straight out of the classic Frankenstein movie, including a dungeon and laboratory that looked absolutely authentic. We even brought out the Creature From the Black Lagoon costume for Uncle Gil and the Wolf Man for Uncle Lester. We tapped into the rich history of Universal’s monster movies, and it added so much to the show.”
The Munsters was a perfect blend of the quirky and the conventional, placing a monster family in a Leave It to Beaver-style sitcom. “We mixed these two worlds, and it worked beautifully,” Butch explains. “People in the ’60s were looking for pure entertainment, not social commentary. They wanted to unwind after a long day at work by watching shows like The Flintstones, The Munsters, talking horses, Martians, or genies. It was a time when comedy reigned supreme.”
