Gordon Jump

Born Alexander Gordon Jump, Jump was raised in Centerville, a suburb of Dayton, Ohio. He graduated from Centerville High School and enrolled in Otterbein College. After his first year, he transferred to Kansas State University studying broadcasting and communication; he was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity. He got his first television job with WIBW-TV in Topeka. He dabbled in "writing, producing, and directing" while at the station. Jump was the title character in WIBW's "WIB the Clown", an educational children's program. He reported the weather on the channel and was not always able to get his clown makeup off in time.

In September 1961, he returned to Dayton and joined WLWD as the station's director of special broadcast services. He continued as a producer and on-air personality at WLWD, hosting Gordon Jump's Fun Time, a popular show for younger children, and High Time, a variety series, before moving to Los Angeles in 1963 to pursue acting. Later in his life, Jump converted and became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).

Jump's acting career began when he was 32. Jump participated in a theatre production at the Glendale Centre Theatre in Glendale, California, where he was noticed and offered an agent. The theatre was owned by Nathan and Ruth Hale, who were members of the LDS Church. It was there that Jump first learned about the LDS Church.

Jump's first break on television was his guest role as Marcus Clements in CBS's Daniel Boone, where he had eight lines. During the 1960s, he landed minor roles in television on such shows as Get Smart, Lancer, Here Come the Brides, and Green Acres.

In the 1960s, Jump converted to the LDS Church. He acted in several church-produced instructional and educational productions, including When Thou Art Converted (1967), Pioneers In Petticoats (1969), and What About Thad? (1970). In 1967, he played the role of Lehi in the Burbank pageant People of the Book. He appeared as Peter, the apostle, in a 1969 film which was used in some of the church's temple ceremonies. He also acted in The Singles Ward in 2002, a LDS comedy series. He and Robert Starling, an independent filmmaker, began Associated Latter-day Media Artists.

Jump's first recurring role came in 1977, as Chief of Police Tinkler in Soap. In 1978, he landed his signature role of Arthur "Big Guy" Carlson on the situation comedy WKRP in Cincinnati, portraying a bumbling radio station manager. Jump stated that the character of Arthur Carlson was based on a real-world WQXI executive.

After WKRP in Cincinnati was cancelled in 1982, Jump made appearances on many other shows. These appearances include The Love Boat, Night Court, The Golden Girls, Murder, She Wrote, and Who's the Boss? He had a recurring role as Maggie Seaver's father on Growing Pains.

On a two part episode of Diff'rent Strokes titled "The Bicycle Man", he played Mr. Horton, the owner of a bicycle shop who attempts to molest series protagonist Arnold Jackson and his friend, Dudley. While his Los Angeles Times obituary called this role a "daring career turn", Genevieve Koski at the AV Club's roundtable found the laugh track that played during the scene in which the boys see nude photographs "horrifying". Koski's fellow roundtable member Donna Bowman disagreed, stating that the special humanized the situation.

In 1989, Jump took over the Maytag repairman role from Jesse White. In the 1990s, Jump starred in a two-season revival of WKRP in Cincinnati entitled The New WKRP in Cincinnati. He appeared in the ninth and final season of Seinfeld, in which he played George Costanza's boss at a playground equipment company over two episodes. His last movie role was in the 2004 film Changing of the Guard, released after his death.

Jump believed the film and television industry to be "the most powerful tool" that can "communicate" and "give... a positive outlook of life to many people." According to his personal religious faith, he also believed theatre and television had the ability to uplift and edify individuals and felt that God uses a similar medium to guide his children.

When scripts required Jump to act in ways that went against his religious convictions, he said that his acting required the same "honesty and judiciousness" as the rest of his life. He portrayed the fictional character as accurately as possible to deliver an honest representation of the story to his audience. He warned against portraying all theatrical characters like "missionaries", and instead encouraged actors to "stay true to their craft", through which their inner virtue would shine through. Additionally, Jump did not believe in censorship, claiming that "if you teach people correct principles, they can govern themselves", which is a paraphrase of a teaching by Joseph Smith.

When Jump was offered the role of Chief Tinkler in Soap, he and the LDS Church bishop of his church were wary that the content of the program was contrary to his faith. Jump returned to the producers the next day with the intention of refusing the role. The directors heard his concerns and suggested that the underlying messages of the show were more aligned to his beliefs as a Latter-day Saint than he realized; he was encouraged to read the "retribution scenes" in the script. Impressed by the depth of the lessons told through humor, Jump took the role in Soap and recommended that viewers of faith evaluate the lessons taught by the finished artistic product of a film or show rather than evaluate whether an actor would actually do some of the things which they portray on screen.

Jump died on September 22, 2003, from pulmonary fibrosis that led to respiratory failure at his home near Los Angeles. He is interred at the El Toro Memorial Park in Lake Forest, California.

Film

Television