They Really Do Come In Threes

Gordon Jump, of TV's WKRP In Cincinnati and the famous series of Maytag commercials, has gone to that great repair shop in the sky.

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

Jump's AP obituary delicately omits the beloved actor's most notorious turn: a very special Diff'rent Strokes in which he tries to molest Arnold.

Thanks to Josh Ozersky for this heavy news.

Comments

[Jim Walsh]

Big Guy, we hardly knew ye. R.I.P.

[Franklin Harris]

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

[notJoe]

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

*Funniest* *television* *line* *ever*

[Rob]

The first image of the Big Guy that popped into my mind when I heard that he had died, was his facial expression in the WKRP episode where finds out that the "foot powder" he just sprinkled into his socks is actually cocaine... they just don't make television like that anymore.

[Chad P.]

My favorite Big Guy moment from WKRP was when the station was being visited by some Japanese radio executives and the temp agency used by the station sent over a Spanish translator who knew no Japanese.

The Big Guy volunteers to step in, saying "I remember some Japanese from the war." He speaks a few sentences to the Japanese execs, who promptly kneel down on the floor with their hands behind their heads.

[Scott]

I have no idea what sort of person Gordon Jump was...but I know what sort of person The Big Guy was...a decent and kind man...someone that I will miss...

[Anonymous]

I always "enjoyed" the episode where he was the creepy child molester-lite guy on Diff'rent Strokes.

[nm156]

Oh God I've lost all feeling in my feet! Enjoy your peace Big Guy.

[James Merritt]

Little known facts: Turkeys CAN fly (domestic birds' crucial wing-tendons are severed early in life as a way to keep 'em in captivity).

Cocaine is technically an anaesthetic (think lidoCAINE, novoCAINE, and even michaelCAINE :-), although whatever "numbness" cocaine produces is actually experienced by partying humans as stimulation.

WKRP was my favorite late-70s TV show, not the least reason for which was Gordon J.'s character of Arthur C. Did anyone ever figure out the words to the closing theme-song? I can't believe that Jump knew, because he seems like too nice a guy to have taken that secret with him...

You know, I watched all the faces pass by during the Emmy "in memoriam" segment the other night, having no idea that Jump would soon be entitled to a spot in that parade; even then, it seemed that 2003 had been an especially bad year of loss for the entertainment community. Today's news just cements that opinion. Thanks for making me laugh, Big Guy.