The Short, But Spectacular Career of Freddie Prinze

Freddie Prinze remains best remembered for the classic sitcom Chico and the Man. It seems likely that he would be remembered much more had his life been longer. He was extraordinarily talented, and one can only guess at what he may have achieved beyond his hit show.

Freddie Prinze was born Frederick Karl Pruetzel on June 22 1954 in New York City. His father was a German immigrant who had migrated to the United States in 1934. His mother was Puerto Rican. As a child he had difficulty gaining and retaining weight, so his mother enrolled him in ballet classes. He attended  the High School of Performing Arts where he continued to study ballet and take drama classes. It was while he was attending the High School of Performing Arts that he discovered his talent for stand-up comedy. He dropped out of school in his senior year to become a stand-up comedian.

Freddie Prinze worked at various comedy clubs around New York City, among them Catch a Rising Star and The Improv. It was during this period that he adopted "Freddie Prinze" as his stage name. It was in December 1973 that his star really began to rise, with appearances on The Tonight Starring Johnny Carson, Jack Paar Tonite, and The Merv Griffin Show. In June 1974 he appeared on The Midnight Special.

It was in 1974 that he was cast as Chico Rodriguez on the situation comedy Chico and the Man. The show starred Freddie Prinze as Chico, a young Mexican who went to work for elderly garage owner Ed Brown (Jack Albertson), referred to by Chico as "the Man." Ed Brown's garage was located in a Chicano neighbourhood in East Los Angeles, making it the very first show in the United States to set in a Mexican American community. Following the top-rated Sanford and Son on Friday night, Chico and the Man proved to be a hit, ranking no. 3 in the Nielsen ratings during its first season. The show continued to do well in its second and third seasons as well.

While Freddie Prinze was appearing on Chico and the Man, he continued to appear on variety shows on talk shows as well. He appeared on such shows and television specials as Tonight Starring Johnny Carson, The Mike Douglas Show, The Dean Martin Comedy World, The Flip Wilson Special, The Smothers Brothers Show, Cher, American Bandstand, Sammy and Company, The Rich Little Show, Dinah!, Tony Orlando and Dawn, Van Dyke and Company, and various Dean Martin Roasts. He also appeared on the game shows The $25,000 Pyramid and The Hollywood Squares. In 1976 he appeared in the TV movie The Million Dollar Rip-Off, playing an electronics expert named Muff Kovak who masterminds a transit heist. It was also at this time that his comedy album, Looking Good, was released.

Sadly, Freddie Prinze had coped with depression his entire life. His depression would intensify after his wife filed for divorce. On January 29 1977 he talked on the phone with his wife. His manager, Marvin "Dusty" Snyder, visited him later and it was during that visit that Mr. Prinze pointed a gun to his own head and shot himself. At the time Freddie Prinze's death was ruled a suicide, although in a lawsuit against the Crown Life Insurance Company by his mother, wife, and son, his death was ruled as being accidental and medication induced. There was later  $1 million settlement out of court against his psychiatrist and doctor to end a malpractice suit alleging that they allowed Freddie Prinze to buy a gun and overprescribed him the sedative Quaalude.

Freddie Prinze was in many ways a pioneer in American television. While today we might debate a Puerto Rican playing a Mexican on a sitcom, at the time Chico and the Man was the only regularly scheduled show on which Latinos appeared and possibly the first since the cancellation of the classic Western The High Chaparral in 1971. What is more, he was great as the character. NBC appreciated him enough that they signed him to a five year contract at $6 million. Had Freddie Prinze not died so young, it seems fairly certain that his career may have well reached even greater heights.