Ted Lange

Theodore William Lange III was born on January 5, 1948, in Oakland, California, to Geraldine and Theodore William Jr., both of whom worked in theatre and television. He graduated from Oakland Technical High School, where he served as both class and student body president. Lange earned an associate of arts degree from Merritt Junior College in Oakland before studying Drama at San Francisco City College, where he was named Best Actor by the Black Students Association. In the summer of 1968, he received a scholarship to the University of Colorado Shakespearean Festival. He later became a directing alumnus of the American Film Institute, where he was the recipient of the James Cagney Directing Fellow Scholarship Award.

Lange began his professional stage career in local Oakland productions and as a guest artist in residence at the University of Santa Clara. He subsequently joined the New Shakespearean Company, performing at the University of California, Berkeley. His Broadway career spanned 1968 to 1970, with credits including the musical Hair, in which he also appeared in the first national touring production. He additionally performed in a one-man show, Behind the Mask: An Evening with Paul Laurence Dunbar. In the early 1980s, following a letter of recommendation from Lynn Redgrave, whom he had met during an episode of The Love Boat, Lange attended a summer program at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art to develop his Shakespeare acting skills.

His first screen appearance came in the 1973 documentary Wattstax, followed by a role in the 1974 film Black Belt Jones. That same year, he began portraying Junior on the television series That's My Mama, a role he held through 1975. In 1977, Lange took on the role of bartender Isaac Washington on The Love Boat, opposite Gavin MacLeod, a part he continued until 1986. Following his departure from the series, he appeared in guest roles on television programs including 227, In the Heat of the Night, Evening Shade, Boy Meets World, The King of Queens, Scrubs, Drake & Josh, Psych, The Cleveland Show, and Are We There Yet?

Lange also pursued work as a writer and director across both film and television. In 1977, he co-wrote the screenplay for the drama Passing Through, starring Nathaniel Taylor. During the run of The Love Boat, he directed and wrote multiple episodes of the series. In 1999, he directed two episodes of Love Boat: The Next Wave on UPN, and he has directed episodes of Moesha, Dharma & Greg, and Eve. In 2008, he directed the drama For Love of Amy. As a playwright, Lange has written 17 plays, among them George Washington's Boy, a historical drama examining the relationship between the first president and his favorite slave, and the comedy Lemon Meringue Facade. Before the American edition of FHM ceased publication in 2006, he co-wrote a sex and advice column titled "Ask Isaac" with adult film actress Jenna Jameson. That same year, he appeared in the fourth season of the VH1 reality program Celebrity Fit Club, during which he lost 28 pounds.

Lange's theatre work has been recognized with several honors, including the NAACP's Renaissance Man Theatre Award, the Heroes and Legends HAL Lifetime Achievement Award, the Dramalogue Award, and the Paul Robeson Award from Oakland's Ensemble Theatre. In his personal life, Lange married Sheryl Thompson in 1978; the couple divorced in 1989 and have two children, Theodore William IV and Turner Wallace Lange. He married Mary Ley in 2001. His mother, Geraldine Lange, served as a personal secretary to a San Francisco mayor and was public affairs director and program host at KBHK-TV in San Francisco in the early 1970s. She died on April 10, 2021, at the age of 96, from COVID-19.