Born-Again Christian Gavin Mcleod Stars in New Faith-Based Film

[Brian Damage]

As Murray Slaughter, he wrote for airhead anchor Ted Baxter on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" for seven years. As Merrill Stubing, he captained the "Love Boat" for nearly a decade after that. Today, iconic TV actor Gavin Macleod says "I know who my admiral is," referring to his faith in God.

Macleod, 78, is a born again Christian now piloting a career in the Christian film industry, and starring in the movie "The Secrets of Jonathan Perry," which opens this weekend.

"I've worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood, Cary Grant, Tony Curtis, Gregory Peck, Mary Tyler Moore," he told FOX News in an exclusive interview. "[But] the biggest honor I have ever had was to play the role of Jonathan Sperry in this simple but special film."

PHOTO ESSAY: The cast of "Love Boat" then and now.

The film is about three 12-year old boys who are best buddies in the summer of 1970. One of them mows the lawn for an elderly widower named Jonathan Sperry. The two develop a unique friendship as Sperry employs Biblical teachings to help the boy and his friends deal with a bully, a secret crush, and other life challenges.

"The film is about forgiveness," Macleod says. "Forgiveness is one of the greatest tools God has given us."

The movie was written by twins Dave and Rich Christiano; Rich also produced and directed. They're part of the new breed of grassroots Christian filmmakers that include the Kendrick brothers, makers of the surprise box office hit "Fireproof."

Instead of complaining to Hollywood about the films it produces, Rich Christiano says it's time for Christians to put their money where their mouths are. Sperry has no big-name distributor, so Christiano, who worked with Mcleod on the 2002 film "Time Changer," is marketing directly to churches, a technique also adopted by the Kendrick brothers.

The film has a staggered release starting September 18, showing in 118 theaters. Openings are scheduled through November 2009 with a total of 240 theaters onboard so far. Each one is sponsored by a church or group of church members. They advance $2,000 to get the film into the theater. The church will make their investment back if the film grosses $4,500. The movie's web page www.sperrymovie.com links to a site about sponsorship.

Christiano is betting on success in targeted theaters bringing additional theaters into the fold. Hee says theater owners are already calling him because people who want to see the film are calling them, wondering why the film isn’t showing in their communities.

The key to getting churches on board is having a well-known actor to star. Like Kirk Cameron, who starred in "Fireproof," "Sperry’s" Gavin Macleod is a true believer. Christian audiences know the actor is saying lines he personally believes.

It brings "authenticity and validation" to the film, says Mark Dupre, associate pastor at Christ Community Church in Brockport, New York — one of the churches sponsoring a theater showing. Dupre, who also teaches film at Rochester Institute of Technology, says having a strong Christian like Gavin Macleod play the lead is a built in marketing hook, "the equivalent of having the acting genius of a Meryl Streep in secular movie. Captain Stubing is someone America just loved."

Macleod charts his religious conversion back to September 15, 1984, seven years into the popular TV series "Love Boat." His mother had a serious medical condition and was scheduled for surgery. That morning he woke up and prayed to Jesus to "give my mother more time."

Unknown to Macleod, his then ex-wife Patty, who he hadn’t seen in two years, had gotten involved in a Christian women’s prayer group. She’d been praying that her husband would come back to her. Right after Macleod said the prayer to save his mother, he called Patty and asked "can we see each other?" The two repaired their relationship and were remarried in 1985. Gavin’s mother lived several more years.

From the moment he said his prayer, Mcleod says the change was immediate. "My castmates knew I was different. I was hearing with different ears and seeing with different eyes."

After "Love Boat" ended in 1987, Macleod became the spokesperson for Princess Cruises, a job he still holds today. He’s turned down several TV roles because he’s not interested in doing series work again. His passion now is for his faith and the lives he can touch. "The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry" allows him to be captain of his new calling.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,551891,00.html

[catlover79]

Sounds awesome! I'll keep an eye out for it.

[LittleRickyII]

Gavin McCleod used to be a fixture on Jim Bakker's scandal-plagued PTL club. To each his own, but I preferred him before he got caught up in this evangelical stuff.

[catlover79]

I found another article about the movie. Interesting stuff!!

http://www.modbee.com/life/faithvalu...ry/870732.html


An independent Christian movie, "The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry," opens at Brenden Theatres on Friday, thanks to three businessmen — Andy Fletcher, a Modesto dentist, John Beech, a Turlock chiropractor, and Eric Kjeldgaard, an Oakdale real-estate developer for Opportunity Builders, which builds low-income projects.

"I love movies," Fletcher said. "I found out about this movie on Facebook. When I looked and saw that it was playing in Sacramento (and elsewhere) but not in Modesto, I called to find out what it would take to get the movie here."

He and two friends, who all attend Central Valley Presbyterian Church in Ceres, put up the $2,000 required to bring it to Modesto for a week. Its run will be extended if enough people see it during its weeklong engagement.


The movie stars Gavin MacLeod ("The Love Boat," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show") as the title character, Robert Guillaume ("Benson") as his neighbor and Jansen Panettiere, younger brother of Hayden Panettiere of "Heroes" fame, as a boy who interacts with them.

The simple plot is about three 12-year-old boys who strike up a friendship with Sperry and learn lessons from him about friendship, bullies, the Bible and forgiveness.

The movie overtly discusses belief in Jesus and uses a lot of Christian phrases. "The film is aimed first at a Christian audience and has been well received," said director Rich Christiano.

MacLeod, 78, calls it "the most meaningful project I have ever done."

He spoke with The Bee by phone from his home in Southern California on Friday.


Setting a new course

MacLeod said he became a Christian in 1984, during his "Love Boat" years. Divorced from his second wife, Patti, for about three years, he was in San Diego to see a show with Bernie Kopell (Dr. Adam Bricker on the show) and Kopell's wife. Later that night, "I thought about Patti and wanted to know how she was doing," MacLeod said.

At the same time, he was dealing with the fact that his mother had a brain tumor and needed risky surgery. "I woke up in my bed in Beverly Hills — at that time, I thought a big house would make me happy — and I just prayed to Jesus that if he gave my mom more time, I would turn my life over to him."

He also called his ex-wife.

"She said she was part of a group called LADIES — Life After DIvorce can Eventually be Sane," he said. "It was a support group, with Gene Hackman's ex-wife, Michael Landon's ex-wife, all of them. Jerry Lewis' first wife had taken my ex-wife to a prayer meeting. They started praying for me to come home to her. It's interesting, it was the same night that I was in San Diego and started thinking about her."

She later invited him over. When he arrived, she said, "Your dinner's cold. It's been waiting for three years."

"I was glad to see she had still had her sense of humor," MacLeod said. "She gave me a Bible with my name on it. She said, 'I've started wearing my (wedding) ring again.' She said, 'I always set a place at the table for you.' She told me she had been born again, and I asked her what that meant. That was the beginning of us getting back together. Now, we have a threefold marriage covenant — God, Gavin and Patti. There's no thought of leaving any one of them. We've been blessed by that."

MacLeod wrote a book to help others in their marriages called "Back on Course." He and his wife have had a show by the same name on the Trinity Television Network for more than two decades.

"We're doing God's work. It's amazing what happens when you give your life to Christ."