Gordon Jump of 'WKRP' and Maytag Ad Dies

By LYNN ELBER
(AP) Actor Gordon Jump is shown in this 1981 handout photo, location unknown. Jump, who played a...
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LOS ANGELES (AP) - Gordon Jump, who played a befuddled radio station manager on the sitcom "WKRP in Cincinnati" and made his mark in commercials as the lonely Maytag repairman, died Monday. He was 71.

Jump suffered from pulmonary fibrosis, said his cousin, Katherine Jump Wagner. The illness causes scarring of the air sacs of the lungs, leading to heart or respiratory failure.

Wagner, of Arcanum, Ohio, said she learned of her cousin's death from her father, also named Gordon Jump. Her cousin was under hospice care at his home southeast of Los Angeles, she said.

Jump played Arthur Carlson in "WKRP in Cincinnati," which aired on CBS from 1978-82 and featured Gary Sandy, Loni Anderson, Tim Reid, Howard Hesseman and Richard Sanders as the ragtag station's crew.

A native of Dayton, Ohio, Jump began his career working at radio and TV stations in the Midwest. He worked behind the microphone and the camera, including jobs as a producer for Kansas and Ohio stations.

Jump portrayed the Maytag repairman "Ol' Lonely," a well-recognized advertising symbol, from 1989 until he retired from the role in July and another actor took over.

"Gordon was an incredibly talented actor and a remarkable human being," said Ralph Hake, chairman and chief executive officer of Maytag Corp.

Jump came to appreciate the attention he got for the ad campaign and the steady work it provided, Wagner said. But his heart was elsewhere professionally.

"What he loved more than anything was doing theater. He was a marvelous actor," she said, recalling a visit to Florida to watch him perform in "Norman, Is That You?"

Jump began his Hollywood career after moving to Los Angeles in 1963, appearing on series including "Daniel Boone,""Get Smart" and "The Partridge Family."

His dramatic roles included a part in the TV movie "Ruby and Oswald," about the assassination of President Kennedy, and "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes."

Jump is survived by his wife, four daughters and a son, Maytag said in a statement. He also had a brother, Wagner said.

 

WKRP is one of my favourite shows of all time. He was brilliant in it!
It was nice to see him have a good gig with Maytag too.
Poor guy.
Thanks for the laffs. RIP!

 

I happened to catch an ep of WKRP this weekend on a late night sat station. It was the episode where a football player spreads the rumor that Les is "gay", and he runs out on the ledge of a building.

What struck me most about this episode (no kidding) was how well Gordon Jump played the part of Arthur Carlson. His body and voice inflections were spot on. It is something I never noticed when I first watched the series.

It's odd that I would have though that then.........................

 

Gordon also played agent 33 in Get Smart..........but he was a lot thinner then!!

A marvelous actor.

Rest in Peace, funnyman.

 

Was he the one who was always hiding in a tiny place?

R.I.P. Gordon.

 

Sorry to hear about this. He was an awfully funny guy.

Milton Bradley actually put out a board game in the late '70s/early '80s called "The Big Guy", based on Jump's 'KRP character. Never played it, but I vividly remember seeing it at the local toy store and thinking it was a cool idea.

"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."

 

33

 

Thanks Mikey.

I'm trying to remember Gordon Jump's role in Get Smart (I haven't seen the show in 20 years). Gordon was perfect for shows like that

 

Re: 33

Was that the same Hank Ketchum who created the "Dennis the Menace" comic strip?

 

You know what...it was DAVE Ketchum, I believe as Agent 13.

 

I dont think Gordon Jump was on Get Smart. The Chief looked a lot like him, but that wasnt him.

 

Yes, he WAS on Get Smart. He didnt play the Chief, that was Ed Platt. Gordon played Agent 33 the first couple of seasons.

 

Yes! The infamous turkey episode! One of the best half-hours of television EVER!

R.I.P. Big Guy

 

Re: 33

Internet Movie Database and www.tvtome.com list Gordon Jump as having appeared in only 3 episodes of Get Smart. In Season 2, he played a character named Hobson in the 4th and 6th episodes, "The Only Way To Die" and "Casablanca". In the third season Jump played, "Man in cab" in episode 5, "Maxwell Smart, Private Eye". Was this Hobson character, Agent 33?

Gordon Jump appeared in a lot of episodic television in the 1960s and 70s before landing his role on WKRP. And this continued without skipping a beat after WKRP finished. In fact if you read this list, it looks like old Gordo was a busy actor. What TV show wasn't he in?

Daniel Boone, Green Acres (3 times),
"T.H.E. CAT" (Robert Loggia drama in 1966), Here Comes The Bride,
The Outsider, The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family,
Mannix, Love, American Style, Cade's County,
Mary Tyler Moore, The New Dick Van Dyke Show, Harry O,
Kojak, Starsky And Hutch, That's My Mama,
Streets Of San Fransisco, Rockford Files, Switch,
McMillan And Wife, The Bionic Woman, Alice,
Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, City Of Angels,
Ba Ba Black Sheep, Lou Grant (re-occuring role as National Editor),
Good Times, Incredible Hulk, Love Boat, Different Strokes,
Perry Mason (1980s version), Soap, Sybill,
McDuff The Talking Dog, Simon And Simon, Night Court,
Golden Girls, Amazing Stories, Murder, She Wrote,
Baywatch, Caroline In The City, Married With Children,
Seinfeld, and Mike Hammer.

Did I miss anything?

 

Very sad news indeed.
The Maytag TV ads recently have introduced a younger repair man character. The actors played nicely off of each other while they were together.
Anyone remember the veteran actor who played the original Maytag repair man? Jump took over the roll after that actor died, IIRC.

Dan C

 

Dan, the actor in question was Jesse White, born, Jesse Marc Weidenfeld. From IMDB. "Jesse played the ever idle "Maytag Repairman" from 1968 until 1989, when he went on to become a consultant for the "Maytag" company..." White died in January, 1997 from a heart attack.

 

That's interesting, thanks. For some reason I thought he died much earlier.

Dan C

 

RIP
Big Guy

 

The Turkey episode on WKRP is a sitcom classic. The revived series was almost as good as the original, the best episode being when mr Carlson became a chicken.