For Pat Priest, working on 'The Munsters' was Sometimes Difficult Due to Yvonne De Carlo & Others

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Overview

In the 1960s, the TV landscape was filled with science fiction/action adventure shows such as The Twilight Zone, Star Trek, Lost in Space, My Favorite Martian, and other more light-hearted fantasy fare like Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, and two "monster" comedies: The Addams Family, and The Munsters.

A Closer Look

The Munsters, in particular, was a stand-out. The show, which originally aired from 1964 to 1966), featured a former movie star named Yvonne De Carlo, who starred alongside Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis (formerly of TV's Car 54, Where Are You?), and Butch Patrick, one decade before he landed on Saturday morning in Sid and Marty Kroft's high-concept Lindsville series).

On The Munsters, they played an odd-ball family of supernaturals, whose one non-supernatural member, Marilyn Munster, was played by two different actresses: Beverly Owen and Pat Priest. A third actress, Debbie Watson, would later play the part in a movie adaptation of the series.

Owen had left The Original Series on her own accord. Priest was then brought on to replace her. A similar transition transpired when Dick Sargent replaced Dick York as Elizabeth Montgomery's mortal husband Darrin in Bewitched (on which Priest had made three guest appearances).

The Big Screen Switch

As Pat Priest once recalled, Debbie Watson was cast to replace her when The Munsters went to the big screen.

That transpired in 1966, when Universal Pictures, the show's proprietor, opted to release a movie titled Munster, Go Home!

Priest was "devastated" not to be in the movie. She noted, “We were on the set filming the end of the season and the producers sent one of their guys down to tell me. I was 29 and my contract was up for renewal, so I think they wanted a younger actress and didn’t want to pay me more.”

Priest said Gwynne (who played Herman Munster, the Frankenstein-like role) and Lewis (Grandpa, the Dracula-type part) “went to bat for me” but to no avail. “That’s just the way it goes in this business,” she said.

De Carlo Difficulties

Some tension on The Munsters' set was also ignited by Yvonne De Carlo (who played Lily Munster, Grandpa's vampire-like daughter).

As Pat Priest observed, Decarlo "was a major movie star from the 40s and 50s. My first day on the set the two of us were in a scene together and the director asked me to move forward into the light. Yvonne turned to me and said, ‘Let’s get something straight right now young lady, don’t you ever upstage me.’ Man, I jumped back and didn’t care if I spent the rest of the series in the dark! However, we eventually got along well and often had lunch together. But Fred and Al would always tease her about being a diva."

Conclusion

Despite the few rough spots that Pat Priest experienced while working on The Munsters, and though her role as Marylin received less screen time than other cast members, the actress remained unrattled and upbeat.

“Occasionally, there was a show built around me, but I usually didn’t have a lot of lines and I just accepted that,” she said. “On a positive note, I could learn my three or four lines on the freeway on my way to the studio!”