SHOCK!
CHILLER

HARVEY BRUNSWICK - "GREGORY GRAVE"

Harvey Brunswick was born on 31 July 1923 in Boston, Suffolk Country, Massachusetts, USA and passed away on 27 February 2013 in Overland Park, Johnson County, Kanaz, USA. Brunswick had been a staff sergeant in the US Army Air Force during WWII, serving as an aircraft radio and navigation systems technician in Iwo Jima and the Phillipines. While stationed in Kansas City to attend an Air Force radio school, he met his future wife, Marian Klein, at a USO dance. After the war, he began his career as a radio and television entertainer and personality. He was an announcer, actor, writer and director. He worked at KMBC Channel 9 of Kansas City for many years. He is especially remembered for creating the radio show 'The King of Hearts' and the television show "Shock!" (later name changed to Chiller!) with himself playing the character Gregory Grave. His many other talents and interests included music, painting, pottery, languages, photography, travel and finance. He was a talented, creative, energetic, artistic and considerate person with a wonderful sense of humor and a beautiful voice. Brunswick had two children, Sheila Ann Huffines and Don Brunswick; son in-law David Huffines. He also has two sisters-in-law, Dorothy Levine and Connie Brunswick. Portrait of "Gregory Grave" by Dave Dunlap.

Portrait of "Gregory Grave" by Bradley Beard.
"Gregory Grave" - biography (taken from Bradley Beard's Facebook page)

"Good evening, fright fiends." Today I present Gregory Grave, host of Shock Theatre on KMBC-TV Channel 9 in Kansas City, MO. Shock Theatre began on September 20, 1958 and ran for approximately four years, the show's title changed to Chiller sometime in the early 1960's. Gregory was played by station director and staff announcer Harvey Brunswick. Grave's fans fondly remember his "Boo Shoes"; after announcing the movie, he would lean back in his chair and place his feet on his desk to reveal the word "Boo" on the bottom of his shoes. Gregory's sidekick was a talking skull named Cranston Cranium; they were joined by Herman the Horrible, a dummy that wore a horrible mask, and Cynthia Strangler, a mannequin dresses in ragged clothing. Brunswick once recounted in an interview that once during filming, a flash pot malfunctioned filled the studio with smoke and the camera couldn't see him. There are no known clips from the show:

LINKS