Though best known for playing distinctly sunny characters in a trio of long-running and popular television series, Gavin MacLeod was typecast as a heavy for much of his early acting career. Director Blake Edwards first recognized his potential for comedy in 1959’s “Operation Petticoat,” and he later gained notice as Navy seaman “Happy” Haines on “McHale’s Navy” (ABC, 1962-66) and news writer Murray Slaughter on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” (CBS, 1970-77). But it was as Merrill Stubing, captain of “The Love Boat” (ABC, 1977-1986) that ensured MacLeod’s place in pop culture history, though it
