I Married a Munster ― My Life With Grandpa Al Lewis, a Memoir

Karen Lewis's memoir, I Married a Munster, is the hilarious, colorful love story of her marriage to America's Icon, Al Lewis, "Grandpa" in the famously long-lived sitcom, THE MUNSTERS. Part Romantic Comedy and part Drama, Karen provides a rollicking yet intimate look at this outwardly mismatched - she's from Berkeley/he's from Brooklyn - couple's search for connection and honesty. The author provides juicy inside peeks into Al's theatrical past, acting on stage, in film and television performances, and similarly, the fabulous evening they spent having dinner with Fred Gwynne and his wife, when Grandpa and Herman Munster dish the dirt on Mockingbird Lane. Rich in theater anecdotes and stories from Al's life, it's wrapped in Karen's Aha! Moments as the scope of their life together widens. The landscape widens, too, as the couple travels around the planet where Al Lewis is regaled as "Grandpa" in languages galore. They made film festival trips to Cuba where we find out that Castro knew Al from New York. Their journey reveals many surprising sides of Al, like the political one: He ran for governor of New York for the Green Party. This book reveals that a certain old baggy pants Brooklyn comic taught Black History to the Black Panthers! They produced their own public affairs talk show on WBAI-NYC one of the many eye-openers for the average Grandpa Munster fan. Storytelling at its best, the deeper message is an urgent wake up call to use ones lifetime wisely and to engage humanity with empathy and compassion. Chapter Highlights: Al's run for Governor; Karen's debut on the Howard Stern Show; Debbie Harry at the Married to the Mob wrap party; Prisoner's Rights Advocacy; Alternative Medicine; Radio hosting; Dinner with Fred Gwynne; Meeting Fidel Castro; Filming My Grandpa is a Vampire in New Zealand; Tenants' Rights; Race Awareness with Dick Gregory; and more. Important themes emerge such as Politics, theater, acting, sociology, popular psychology and philosophy, medicine, education, feminism, sports, music, and ultimately, love.

Karen Lewis, author of I MARRIED A MUNSTER! My Life with "Grandpa" Al Lewis, a Memoir, is a veteran actress with many stage credits. Cast in a dinner theater production of Neil Simon's California Suite starring Al Lewis, most famous for his hilarious, curmudgeonly role, "Grandpa Munster," in the TV Comedy series The Munsters, changed her life forever. Writer, actor, teacher, and activist, Karen has a BA in Dramatic Art from UC Berkeley and an MA in Theater History from Hunter College.