Gordon Jump, His Story On WKRP

TLDR: Gordon Jump spent WKRP in Cincinnati as the lovable, bumbling boss everyone remembers fondly. A few years after the show ended, he took a role so far from that image that a stranger once stopped him in public just to say thank you for it.

Born Alexander Gordon Jump in Dayton, Ohio, he studied broadcasting and communication at Kansas State University before moving to California in 1963 to build a career as a character actor.

He briefly worked as a host at a Hamburger Hamlet restaurant in the mid-1960s until residual income from an old AT&T commercial finally freed him from needing outside work at all.

When WKRP was casting the role of station manager Arthur “Big Guy” Carlson, Jump wasn’t the first choice.

Original pick Roddy McDowall turned out to be unavailable, and producer Jay Sandrich called Jump instead, giving him the role that would define his career, whose own domineering mother actually owned the radio station he supposedly ran.

He Became an Even Bigger Fixture Selling Washing Machines

In 1989, Jump took over as the third actor to play the “Lonely Maytag Repairman,” known as Ol’ Lonely, succeeding Jesse White in the appliance company’s national commercials.

He held the role for 14 years, appearing in more than 77 commercials and print ads, and Maytag customers would genuinely stop him in public to ask for appliance advice.

He retired from the role in July 2003, just months before he died.

Maytag’s own president said at the time that “in reality, Gordon was anything but lonely, everywhere he went, people gravitated to him.”

He Took On One of Television’s Most Difficult Roles

In 1983, Jump appeared in a two-part Diff’rent Strokes episode titled “The Bicycle Man,” playing Mr. Horton, a pedophile bicycle shop owner who attempts to groom and abuse Arnold and his friend Dudley.

It’s remembered today as one of the most notorious “Very Special Episodes” in television history, precisely because it refused to soften what it was depicting.

The role’s impact turned out to be real, not just critical. A woman once approached Jump in a crowd asking for a hug, telling him his performance had given her the courage to talk to others about abuse she’d suffered as a child herself.

You can read more about the rest of that show’s cast in our full guide to Diff’rent Strokes. Jump’s willingness to take that role at all speaks to a range that his warmer, bumbling WKRP persona never really got to show off.

His Faith Shaped Which Roles He Took

After moving to Los Angeles, Jump converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a decision that genuinely shaped his career choices.

He appeared in numerous LDS church-produced educational films over the decades, including When Thou Art Converted and Families Are Forever, and remained a self-described lifelong conservative Republican.

He also had a recurring role on Growing Pains as Ed Malone, father of Joanna Kerns’s character Maggie Seaver, and made appearances on Get Smart and Married… with Children.

He Died From a Lung Disease in 2003

Gordon Jump died on September 22, 2003, at his home south of Los Angeles, at age 71. His cause of death was pulmonary fibrosis, a progressive disease that scars lung tissue and gradually makes breathing more difficult, according to his stepson Chris McKeever.

You can read more about the rest of the WKRP in Cincinnati cast in our full guide to the show.

Gordon Jump, Frequently Asked Questions

Was Gordon Jump the Maytag Repairman?

Yes, he took over as the third actor to play the Lonely Maytag Repairman, Ol’ Lonely, in the appliance company’s commercials starting in 1989, a role he held for 14 years until shortly before his death in 2003.

What dark role did Gordon Jump play outside of WKRP?

He played a pedophile bicycle shop owner in the notorious 1983 two-part Diff’rent Strokes episode The Bicycle Man, a stark contrast to his warmer WKRP character.