Ted Lange on The Love Boat's 40 year legacy

"Do the stuff you love now," says actor Ted Lange. With this year marking the 40th anniversary of The Love Boat TV series, Lange admits that time flies and, "you can't realize how quickly it goes." The actor played fun-loving bartender Isaac Washington, aboard the famed ship during the show's decade-long run and is currently in Toronto for the International Boat Show.

Lange says there comes a certain amount of recognition, when you star in an iconic show. But the process of making The Love Boat, is what he values the most. "It was a great experience doing it," says Lange. "I did a couple other shows that were not great experiences," admits the actor and 40 years later, "all of the cast members are still friends."

Yet, during the production of the show, Lange faced discrimination. "They wanted to limit the Black performer, the Black actor," he says. When the captain and doctor were featured in the opening scene, welcoming guests aboard the ship, Lange wondered why the bartender wasn't included. Eventually, the writer titled him head bartender and that's when he became a part of the show's opening.

Now, Lange writes and acts in plays. He directed the first Othello to feature a Black lead and starred in an interracial version of Romeo and Juliet. "There's still problems," he says, even with the increase in Black television and cinema. But Lange believes that by employing more Black directors and actors, new perspectives will come to light.

WEB EXTRA | Watch the opening theme of The Love Boat below.