'Eddie Munster' got into showbiz by accident thanks to his sister

Butch Patrick, who played young werewolf Eddie Munster on the 1960s sitcom "The Munsters," says he has now been sober for 14 years after struggling with substance abuse like many former child actors.

Patrick played adorable werekid Eddie in "The Munsters," which began 60 years ago in 1964 and ran until 1966.  "Even though we were in makeup, and we were monsters and this and that, we were actually a real functioning family unit, it was believable. You know, Herman went to work at the parlor and Lily kept the house and Grandpa got up to mischief in the dungeon, but…it was real. It was like real stuff."  "So you had a very much of a moral, don't judge a book by its cover, beauty is in the eye of the beholder thing going on, and then, you know, you got to remember, too, in the ‘60s, you had a lot of social upheaval and there was a lot of stuff going on. So the monsters living on your street could be considered to be like a very soft-handed approach to integration."

His career started by accident when he went with his older sister while she was getting photos taken by a Hollywood photographer who was the "go-to" for child actors at the time. He said the photographer liked his look and took a photo of him that was placed in the window of his office.