The Love Boat star Ted Lange has some fond recollections of the time Gene Kelly guested on the present — though he was warned to not go close to the Hollywood legend in any respect.

Lange — who performed bartender Isaac Washington on the cruise ship-set romantic comedy collection from 1977 to 1986 — mentioned he had a shocking first encounter with Kelly after they filmed a 1984 episode of the collection collectively, he informed Still Here Hollywood podcast host Steve Kmetko in a reposted clip (beneath).

"[The producers said], 'Don't speak to Gene. He's a grumpy man, so simply depart him alone. Whenever you do your scenes, positive, however don't speak to Gene,'" Lange recalled. "All of us mentioned, 'Okay, yeah, positive.'"

Within the episode, Kelly performed a retired spy, and in between their scenes collectively, Lange determined to not heed the warning.

"He was studying {a magazine}," Lange mentioned. "He wore contacts and glasses. So he's sitting there, and he's studying, and I mentioned, 'Screw this, I'm gonna go speak to Gene Kelly.' So I am going, he's sitting in a single chair, I sit throughout from him, I am going, 'Hello.'"

At this, Lange mentioned Kelly appeared up at him, however fairly rapidly went again to his journal. However, Lange persevered.

"I mentioned, 'Can I ask you a query?' You possibly can see him go, 'What?' I mentioned, 'What was it like dancing with the Nicholas brothers?' Now, to your viewers that don't know who they’re, they're two Black faucet dancers out of the Cotton Membership again [in the] Harlem Renaissance," Lange mentioned, referring to Fayard and Harold Nicholas. "And Gene put them in his motion pictures. Oh my god, they have been unimaginable dancers."

"So he [went] like this," Lange mentioned, decreasing his glasses to imitate Kelly's actions. "'You wish to know in regards to the Nicholas brothers?' And I mentioned, 'Yeah.' So he informed me this excellent story in regards to the Nicholas brothers. After which, they name us on the set, we go on the set, we do a scene collectively. Then we're finished, and we return to the bus. He says, 'Hey, you wish to have a drink with me on the lodge?'"

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Lange was thrilled by this, and he mentioned, "After we completed our day's work, I attached with him, sat down within the lodge, and he was fantastic — it was completely completely different."

Ultimately, he mentioned he considers Kelly to be considered one of his favourite visitor stars on the present, which famously employed many company over time — everybody from Hollywood legends (suppose Ginger Rogers, Olivia de Havilland, and Joan Fontaine) to up-and-coming expertise (together with Tom Hanks, Kathy Bates, Jamie Lee Curtis, Heather Locklear, and Billy Crystal).

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