Entertaiment

By Maurine Jensen Proctor with Thomas Baggaley

Gordon Jump, who was best known as the lovable, but slightly addled radio station manager in the hit television series, WKRP in Cincinnati, and as the lonely Maytag repairman, who never got called for repairs, died Monday, Sept. 22. He was 71.

He died in a California hospice of pulmonary fibrosis, a disease which causes scarring to the air sacs in the lungs and leads to cardiac or respiratory failure.

The Latter-day Saints who knew him, recall not just his amiable good-naturedness, which was evident in his many roles, but his unwavering commitment to his faith in a profession that doesn’t always support that.

He was already on his way to a career in entertainment when he landed in California at the Glendale Theater owned by Nathan and Ruth Hale in 1963. A native of Centerville, Ohio, he had gotten his start on the radio station WIBW, Topeka, following his studies at Kansas State University in broadcasting and communications.  While at the station, Jump wore many hats including playing a clown who hosted the local children’s show.

Though he began with roles at small theaters in California, it was at the Hales’ Glendale Theater when he was in a play about Mormons that he began to have questions about religion. The Hales’ son-in-law Alan Dietlein gave him a copy of LeGrand Richards’ A Marvelous Work and a Wonder, and Gordon was converted.

Sandy Dietlein said, “Once he joined the Church, he was truly converted, and that is not an easy thing in the theater business because you are always surrounded by people who have a totally different view of life than you do.”

Amiable and somewhat burly, Gordon was often called in to audition for beer commercials, a temptation for an actor whose job opportunities were slim at first. Ruth Hale told him, “I’ll take you out to a steak dinner if you turn those down.” 

Gordon agreed because, he said, “I can’t teach Sunday School and then have the kids go home and see me in a beer commercial.”  One day, Ruth went over and hung a steak on his doorknob to fulfill her word.

Many Acting Roles

He appeared as a feature actor in a variety of TV shows including

“Alice”; “Amazing Stories”; “Baa Baa Black Sheep”; “The Bionic Woman”; “The Brady Bunch”; “Cade’s County”; “Caroline in the City”; “City of Angels”; “Daniel Boone”

He also played in many series including roles as Edward ‘Ed’ Malone on “Growing Pains” (1986-1991); Amos Ferguson on the TV series “McDuff, the Talking Dog” (1976) and Lucas Underwood on “Sister Kate” (1989-1990).

Yet, it was in “WKRP in Cincinnati” where he won America’s heart.  This was one of the ensemble-style shows of the 80’s, where viewers connected with the entire rag-tag crew of an AM rock ‘n roll radio station in Cincinnati always threatening to come apart at the seams.  Gordon Jump played Arthur Carlson, the sweet-natured station manager, who was the very symbol of a group that couldn’t quite get things together. The series ran from 1978 to 1982.

A reporter for Hollywood.com wrote, “One of WKRP‘s most famous and still talked-about shows is a Thanksgiving episode where Mr. Carlson arranges to have live turkeys dropped from a helicopter as an advertising stunt for the station. The turkeys, of course, plunge to their death to reporter Les Nessman’s (played by Richard Sanders) blow-by-blow account of the event:

“‘It’s a helicopter, and it’s coming this way. It’s flying something behind it, I can’t quite make it out, it’s a large banner and it says, uh – Happy… Thaaanksss… giving! … From … W … K … R… P! … I can’t tell just yet what they are, but – Oh., Johnny, they’re turkeys!! Johnny, can you get this? Oh, they’re plunging to the earth right in front of our eyes! One just went through the windshield of a parked car! Oh, the humanity! The turkeys are hitting the ground like sacks of wet cement! Not since the Hindenburg tragedy has there been anything like this!’

“The miscalculation is hysterically summed up at the end of the episode by Jump‘s immortalized line: ‘As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!'”

During his years on WKRP, Gordon gave frequent firesides around the Church, encouraging members in their faith.

Gordon’s other familiar role as Ol’ Lonely in the Maytag commercials was a convenient break for him.  Not many actors get the chance for the steady employment of an ongoing role in a commercial with a company that would allow him to take any other role he chose.

He liked the role, playing it with just the right plaintive air, but his heart was in theater and film.

ALMA

Independent film maker Robert Starling, said he first came to know Gordon when he was playing in Pioneers in Petticoats, a film produced by BYU.  Later they went on to found a group called ALMA, which stands for Associated Latter-day Media Artists.  Gordon created the name; the concept was that Latter-day Saints in the communications and entertainment industries would have a place to associate and strengthen each other.

The group continued until 1993 and had over 1,000 members with chapters in several states.  Gordon Jump was the president of the Los Angeles chapter. 

“We formed the organization,” said Robert, “because we wanted it to be clear to the entire industry that when you stood for righteousness, you weren’t standing alone.”

He said, “My memories of Gordon Jump will always be of someone with great wit and great dedication to the gospel.”

Gordon Jump is survived by his wife, Betty, four daughters and a son.