

To the end of his life, he took his membership in his faith seriously, including its health codes. Ruth was instrumental in getting Jump to give up smoking, and she also admonished him to turn down offers to do beer commercials. He played a Mormon bishop in "You Make the Difference", a thoughtful husband in Marriage: What Kind for You? (1967), and even the Apostle Peter in Mormon Temple Film (1969). Through his association with the Hale clan, he became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which led to appearances in educational and religious short films produced and directed by Judge Whitaker at Brigham Young University in the 1960s.
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He soon started appearing in numerous TV series, including Daniel Boone (1964), Get Smart (1965), and Green Acres (1965). Jump always credited Ruth Hale for the real start of his career as an actor, and it has been said that Jump remained most passionate about acting in live theater.


Others developing their acting talents with the Hales included Mike Farrell and Connie Stevens. The Hales preferred the stage to film, and they abandoned Hollywood film hopes when their theater was successful.

Moving to Los Angeles in 1963, he quickly became involved in stage productions with Nathan Hale and Ruth Hale, a couple who had opened a small theater in Glendale, California, several years earlier, in order to make ends meet. This is ironic, since in the first part of his working life he was found either behind a microphone or camera in stints with radio and TV stations in the Midwest, including producing jobs at stations in Kansas and Ohio. He also had a brother, Wagner said.The burly character actor Gordon Jump will probably be best remembered for the role of the radio station manager Arthur Carlson in the TV sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati (1978). Kennedy, and Conquest of the Planet of the Apes.Jump is survived by his wife, Betty daughters, Cindy, Kiva, Maggi Jo and Laura and one son, Chris, Maytag said in a statement.
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He 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 John F. He worked behind the microphone and the camera, including jobs as a producer for Kansas and Ohio stations. A native of Dayton, Ohio, Jump began his career working at radio and TV stations in the Midwest. He was a marvelous actor," she said, recalling a visit to Florida to watch him perform in Norman, Is That You?Jump played Arthur Carlson in WKRP in Cincinnati, which aired on CBS from 1978-82 and featured Gary Sandy, Loni Anderson, Tim Reid and Howard Hesseman as the ragtag station's crew. "What he loved more than anything was doing theater. But his heart was elsewhere professionally. We will miss him dearly." Jump came to appreciate the attention he got for the ad campaign and the steady work it provided, Wagner said. "It was natural for him to project an image of warmth, caring, dependability, respect and humor, because that's exactly the kind of person he was. "Gordon was an incredibly talented actor and a remarkable human being," said Ralph Hake, chairman and chief executive officer of Maytag Corp. From 1967-88, Jesse White played the repairman who never gets a service call because of Maytag's reliability. Jump portrayed the Maytag repairman "Ol' Lonely," a well-recognized advertising symbol, from 1989 until he retired from the role in July and actor Hardy Rawls took over. The upscale community is southeast of Los Angeles in Orange County. Her cousin was under hospice care and is believed to have died at his home in Coto de Caza, she said. Wagner of Arcanum, Ohio, said she learned of her cousin's death from her father, also named Gordon Jump. The illness involves scarring of the air sacs of the lungs, leading to heart or respiratory failure. Jump suffered from a condition called pulmonary fibrosis, said his cousin, Katherine Jump Wagner. 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.
