Lily Munster is a vampire. That much we know. Her father, granted, is also a vampire. This makes their lineage pretty easy to track — Transilvania, Romania, although the place is referred to a little differently in the show.
Whenever Grandpa talks about the good old days (which is quite often), he refers to his birthplace as the Holy Roman Empire. You know, the same Holy Roman Empire where Dracula was born.
Gwynne Wanted to Do His Own Stunts
When Fred Gwynne started working on "The Munsters," he did his own stunts. For a while, it worked well, and then one stunt ended in his headpiece breaking off after he fell on his back.
The studio then got a professional stuntman named Bill Foster to do anything similar in the future. Interestingly, the two met when Bill, who was a Universal Studios security guard at the time, saw Fred trying to play the guitar. Foster, who was also a musician, then offered to give him some lessons.
Al Lewis: Political Activist by Day, Vampire by Night
After engaging in the restaurant business, which turned out to be a big success, by the way, Al Lewis would eventually enter into the world of politics. In 1998, Lewis ran for Governor of New York under the Green Party versus George Pataki, who was the incumbent Governor of New York during the time. The American actor-turned-politician ended up with a total of 52,000 votes, which amounted to roughly 1% of the total votes of that election.
Even though Al Lewis lost in the electoral campaign, the event did not prevent the famed actor from pushing his political views. Following his defeat in the elections, Lewis would continue his work as a strong advocate for prison reform, the legalization of marijuana in the United States, and putting a stop to police brutality.
The Munster's #1 Fans
One of the show’s biggest fans, Charles and Sandra McKee from Waxahachie, Texas, was so drawn into "The Munsters" that when it was time to build their dream home, they decided to create an exact replica of the Munster family’s original mansion.
The house they built was nearly a spot-on clone of the Munster mansion and even mimicked its crooked weathervane and a grand staircase that opened up. And every time Halloween arrived, the McKee couple would hold a big party that was intended for charity. If Charles and Sandra McKee doesn’t take the #1 spot of "The Munsters" list of biggest fans, we have the right to know who was chosen over them and why.
Happy Birthday, Herman!
Herman Munster's driver's license shows that he was born on July 21, 1815, which would have made him about 150 years old at the time when the first episode was aired.
Those of you who are interested in astronomy might also recognize this date as the summer solstice. For those of you who aren't so interested in astronomy — the summer solstice is the day with the longest daylight time of the year. Pretty ironic, considering Herman married a vampire who doesn't do well with sunlight!