Ted Lange
Lange as Isaac Washington, 1977
Born	Theodore William Lange III (1948-01-05)January 5, 1948 (age 77) Oakland, California, U.S.
Education	City College of San Francisco Merritt College (AA) Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Occupations	Actor director screenwriter
Years active	1972–present
Known for	Isaac Washington –The Love Boat
Spouses	Sheryl Thompson ​ ​ (m. 1978; div. 1989)​ Mary Ley ​ (m. 2001)​
Children	2

Theodore William Lange III (/lændʒ/; born January 5, 1948) is an Americanactor,director andscreenwriter best known for his roles asbartender Isaac Washington in the TV seriesThe Love Boat (1977–1986) and Junior inThat's My Mama (1974–75).

Lange was born inOakland, California, in 1948, the son of Geraldine and Theodore William Jr., both working in theatre and television.^[1] Lange graduated fromOakland Technical High School where he was class and student body president. He completed anassociate of arts degree atMerritt Junior College in Oakland before majoring in Drama atSan Francisco City College. At City College, Lange was particularly active on the theatre scene and named Best Actor by the Black Students Association. He also won a scholarship to theUniversity of ColoradoShakespearean Festival in the summer of 1968.^[2] Ted is a directing alum ofThe American Film Institute.^[3]

After college, Lange started in theatre appearing in local Oakland productions and as guest artist in residence at theUniversity of Santa Clara. Later, he joined the New Shakespearan Company, acting in plays at theUniversity of California, Berkeley.^[2]

Lange made his Broadway debut in the musicalHair and was featured in the first national touring of the show.^[4] He also performed in aone-man show,Behind the Mask: An Evening withPaul Laurence Dunbar.^[5]

Lange's first screen appearance was in thedocumentary filmWattstax in 1973.^[6][7] After appearing in the filmBlack Belt Jones in 1974, he portrayed Junior on the seriesThat's My Mama before landing the role of the ship's bartender, Isaac, onThe Love Boat in 1977, oppositeGavin MacLeod. After he left the show in 1987, Lange appeared in various films and in guest roles on227,In the Heat of the Night,Evening Shade,Boy Meets World,The King of Queens,Scrubs,Drake & Josh,Psych,The Cleveland Show, andAre We There Yet?.

In the early 1980s, following a letter of recommendation fromLynn Redgrave (whom he met on an episode ofThe Love Boat), Lange attended a summer school at theRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art to perfect his Shakespeare acting skills.^[8]

In 1977, he co-wrote the screenplay for the dramaPassing Through, starringNathaniel Taylor. During the run ofThe Love Boat, Lange also served as director and screenwriter of several episodes of the series. In 1999, Lange directed two episodes ofLove Boat: The Next Wave, theUPN series based onThe Love Boat. He also directed episodes ofMoesha,Dharma & Greg, andEve. In 2008, he directed the dramaFor Love of Amy.

Lange has also done extensive theater work as playwright and stage director. He has penned 17 plays, includingGeorge Washington's Boy, ahistorical drama about the relationship between the first president and his favorite slave, along with the comedyLemon Meringue Facade.^[5][9]

Lange remained close to Gavin MacLeod, his acting mentor, who was a Palm Springs resident and saw his plays. In a 2014 interview withCBS New York, he said of his long-running friendship with him "Gavin lives in Palm Springs, I'm in LA. So, when I do my plays, he comes down and sees my plays or I'll go see what he's doing!"^[10] Lange also said in a 2017 interview with The Wiseguyz Show: "Oh yeah, sure, Gavin was wonderful. Gavin lives down here in Palm Springs and we're still tight, all of us, Gavin andBernie andJill; we still see each other.Fred lives in a different state, we're still close, we're still good friends."^[11]

Before the American edition ofFHM folded in 2006, Lange wrote a sex andadvice column, titled "Ask Isaac", withadult film actressJenna Jameson.^[12]

In 2006, Lange appeared in the fourth season of theVH1reality showCelebrity Fit Club.^[13] He lost 28 pounds during the show's run.^[14]

Lange married Sheryl Thompson in 1978, and they divorced in 1989. The couple has two children, Theodore William IV and Turner Wallace Lange.^[1] Lange married Mary Ley in 2001.^[15] His mother, Geraldine Lange, was a personal secretary to a San Francisco mayor and was public affairs director ofKBHK-TV in San Francisco in the early 1970s. She also hosted programs on KBHK-TV. She died from COVID-19 on April 10, 2021 at the age of 96.^[16]

For his work theater directing, Lange received the NAACP's Renaissance Man Theatre Award, the Heroes and Legends HAL Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Dramalogue Award. Lange has also been the recipient of the James Cagney Directing Fellow Scholarship Award from theAmerican Film Institute along with the Paul Robeson Award from Oakland's Ensemble Theatre.^[9]

• Ted Lange atIMDb
• Ted Lange at theInternet Broadway Database

• 1948 births
• 21st-century African-American people
• 20th-century African-American people
• African-American male actors
• African-American film directors
• African-American television directors
• Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
• American male television actors
• American male film actors
• American male stage actors
• American television directors
• American male screenwriters
• City College of San Francisco alumni
• Living people
• Male actors from Oakland, California
• Film directors from California
• Participants in American reality television series
• Screenwriters from California
• Oakland Technical High School alumni

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