7 Things You Didn’t Know About ‘Mr. Belvedere’ — Trivia Is Served!
Decades after Gwen Davenport introduced the character in her 1947 novel Belvedere — and after several film adaptations and attempted TV adaptations — the butler Lynn Aloysius Belvedere finally arrived on the airwaves in ABC’s Mr. Belvedere on March 15, 1985.
Mr. Belvedere starred British actor Christopher Hewett as the buttoned-up title character. MLB catcher-turned-sportscaster Bob Uecker, meanwhile, played the Pittsburgh sportswriter and family man who hired him to help his family, played by Ilene Graff, Rob Stone, Tracy Wells, and Brice Beckham.
Even if you watched all six seasons and 117 episodes of Mr. Belvedere — some of which only aired in syndication — we wonder if you knew the following facts about the sitcom.
1 There were at least three other attempts to make a Mr. Belvedere TV show
Mr. Belvedere came after three failed pilots based on the character — one produced in 1956 and starring Reginald Gardiner, a 1959 pilot with Hans Conried, and a 1965 effort with Victor Buono — according to The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows.
2 The theme song was written for another TV show
Judy Hart-Angelo and Gary Portnoy, who also wrote “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” from Cheers, came up with “According to Our New Arrival” for the failed pilot Help, according to TVLine. Help‘s premise was eventually reworked into the syndicated series Marblehead Manor, another butler.
3 Christopher Hewett’s imposing stature helped land him the part
20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved. Courtesy: Everett Collection
The British actor “was perfect for the role because he could be imposing,” Uecker told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in 2014. “Actually, when they auditioned for the role, there was another guy in the running. But he was a smaller guy and didn’t look like someone who could tell me what to do. Christopher was big and imposing and somebody [George] might pay attention to.”
4 Bob Uecker continued calling Milwaukee Brewers games while filming the show
When Mr. Belvedere got going, then-Brewers owner Bud Selig allowed Uecker to miss around 14 games each baseball season to film the sitcom. “I would go in and do two shows to get a couple in the can before the [TV] season started,” Uecker told the Journal Sentinel. “Friday nights, they would fly me to where the Brewers were playing. … And when they played in Anaheim, I would take a helicopter from the studio to the stadium.”
5 Hewett suffered an NSFW injury, delaying filming for a week
20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved. Courtesy: Everett Collection
A widespread rumor about Hewett accidentally sitting on his testicles is actually fact, Maclean’s reports. “Mr. Belvedere did sit on his own balls,” executive producer Jeff Stein told the magazine in 2009. “He fell backwards riding in a convertible in the Hollywood Christmas Parade. We had to shut down for a week while he healed. Pat Rickey, our producer, prefaced this revelation with the statement, ‘Now, you can’t tell anybody this…’”
6 The guest cast roster included many established and rising stars
Television actors Jason Bateman, Tony Danza, Seth Green, Doris Roberts, Jaleel White, Willie Garson, Jane Leeves, and Mr. T all had parts on Mr. Belvedere. Other famous guest stars included singers Robert Goulet and Fergie, as well as baseball stars Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, and Reggie Jackson.
7 Hewett reprised the role in his final screen appearance.
TriStar Television/Courtesy: Everett Collection
Before his 2001 death, Hewett guest-starred as himself in a 1997 episode of the Fox sitcom Ned and Stacey, another show produced by Mr. Belvedere EP Tony Sheehan. The joke of that episode, “Saved by the Belvedere,” was that Hewett believed he actually was the fictional butler.
“Tony told me the other [younger] writers on staff were huge fans, and they all hatched this plot together,” Stein told Maclean’s,“A very funny episode, too, I thought.”
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