“The Love Boat”'s Fred Grandy Reveals Billy Crystal Auditioned for the Role of Gopher But 'He Really Hated the Script'

"I was the last man standing when it came to casting this part," the actor-turned-politician said on Princess Cruises' 2024 Love Boat Celebration at Sea

• The Love Boat stars Fred Grandy, Bernie Kopell, Ted Lange and Jill Whelan set sail on Princess Cruises' The Love Boat Celebration at Sea that left out of Brooklyn, N.Y., on Aug. 31 and traveled through New England and Canada for seven nights

• Grandy, who played purser Burl "Gopher" Smith, recalled during a Q&A on the Enchanted Princess that he went up against Billy Crystal for the role

• The actor and politician told PEOPLE he doesn't think "there is a group that's as tight knit professionally and personally" as the cast of The Love Boat

Fred Grandy acknowledges he might not have been the first choice to play purser Burl "Gopher" Smith on The Love Boat.

“I was the last man standing when it came to casting this part,” Grandy, 76, said during The Love Boat: Behind the Scenes Stories panel on Princess Cruises’ The Love Boat Celebration at Sea 2024 sailing.

One actor also in the running: Billy Crystal. “Billy wound up doing a show that we wrote called The Kissing Bandit,” Grandy said at the Q&A alongside castmates Bernie Kopell, Ted Lange and Jill Whelan. "A lovely guy, very funny and not so full of himself. But I remember it was somewhat of a lesson in humility when he told me how much he really hated the script.”

Related: Bernie Kopell Was Glad 'My Hairpiece Did Not Fall Off' During Love Scene with Love Boat Guest Star Juliet Prowse

Kopell, 91, took over playing the ship’s doctor from Dick Van Patten, who held the role in the first two pilots for The Love Boat.

“All of a sudden we find out that Dick Van Patten was under contract to ABC. They pulled him out to do Eight Is Enough, and it opened it up for every walk-in actor to audition for the role of the doctor, including me,” Kopell said on board the Enchanted Princess. “I auditioned and this guy auditioned, the other guy auditioned and after a while, my agent called and screamed into the phone, ‘You got the part!’”

The Get Smart star said the role “changed my life," adding, “It was just such a treat and I've been so grateful for that life-changing experience and here I am, still working at the age of 91.”

The Love Boat ran for 10 seasons, and the cast has remained close. Grandy, Lange, 76, and Whelan, 57, costarred in the play I’m Not Rappaport in Michigan earlier this year and they already plan to be aboard the Regal Princess when Princess Cruises’ The Love Boat Celebration at Sea leaves from Galveston, Texas, next November.

“There are casts that are very cohesive and get along, correspond and stuff, but I don't think there is a group that's as tight knit professionally and personally as our group,” Grandy told People during the Love Boat Celebration at Sea sailing that ran from Aug. 31-Sept. 7. “And I'm not sure what the reason for that is, but I'm obviously not going to question it because it's been very successful and lucrative for us.”

Grandy’s time on The Love Boat also helped him find success when he pivoted to politics. “When I announced to Aaron Spelling that I wanted to leave the show and go back to Iowa to run for Congress, his first response was to sue me for anticipatory breach of contract,” Grandy said of the show’s executive producer. “I don't think that's a term that exists in legal jargon, but he had enough power in Beverly Hills to make it up.”

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Spelling, who died in 2006 at 83, didn’t end up suing Grandy, and the actor went on to serve four terms as a Republican congressman for his home state of Iowa.

“The fact that he did not is, I think, because the people back in Iowa who were such huge fans of the show were prepared to take him to court,” Grandy said. “After we settled all of our differences, I went right back into his office and asked him for a political contribution, which he did not give me, but [Love Boat producer] Douglas Cramer did.”

Fans aboard the Enchanted Princess heard from Grandy, Kopell, Lange and Whelan during two panels moderated by author Jim Colucci and had the opportunity to attend a cocktail demonstration hosted by The Love Boat’s bartender Lange, test their knowledge at The Love Boat trivia, sip on specialty Love Boat cocktails and watch episodes of the show at the ship’s outdoor theater. Whelan, Princess Cruises’ Celebrations Ambassador, partook in the Enchanted Princess’s sail away celebration on Aug. 31, the captain's champagne waterfall toast, the vow renewal ceremony onboard and the farewell show on Friday, Sept. 7.

Related: Ted Lange Once Confronted Aaron Spelling About White Cast's Prominence on Love Boat: 'Why Can't I Greet People?'

Passengers who opted for the Love Boat VIP package also got to spend time with the star at a welcome reception in the ship’s adults-only retreat, The Sanctuary, and a cast dinner in the Enchanted Princess’s Amalfi dining room.

Aside from Love Boat festivities, guests enjoyed entertainment such as magic and comedy from Quinn "The Mighty Quinn" Beasley and Eric Buss, DJ sets by DJ Robert Micheal, live music from Arny Galoyo, Jowita, The Pipers Chair and Pinnacle, and a staging of the musical Rock Opera. Passengers had the chance to dine at specialty restaurants like The Catch by Rudi, Crown Grill and 360, which provides an immersive seven-course meal during which Brooke Shields takes diners on a trip through Europe that engages all the senses.

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