Dr. Jekyll, Not Mr. Hyde

The real Fred Gwynne was known to his friends as many things-none of which was slow-witted or boring.

Biddle describes Gwynne as a jokester who could keep crowds of people rolling their seats.

"At Groton," Biddle says. "Freddy was going to make money being funny."

"He had a really simple joke that used to make us laugh hysterically: What did the big rose say to the little rose? Hiya bud. It happened to hit us as hilariously funny one day, and Freddy got detention for disturbing the dining room," he says.

Biddle also says Gwynne was extremely creative.

"He once tried to invent a fin that would help people swim underwater," Biddle says. "It didn't work, but that shows his zany side."

His extracurriculars left Gwynne little time for his studies while at Harvard.

"I would suspect that Freddy's marks at Harvard weren't terrific," Biddle says. "We would just say that if you rubbed your shoulders on the walls at Harvard, you'd get an education."

Social life and extracurricular activities brought Gwynne to Harvard and fostered his career.

But the role that made him famous was a monster devoid of social skills or talent.