TLDR: Years before he ever became the Maytag Repairman, Gordon Jump spent decades acting in religious educational films for a church he’d converted to almost by accident. He took the faith seriously enough to give up smoking, turn down beer commercials, and once play the Apostle Peter.
Before WKRP in Cincinnati made him famous, Gordon Jump was already a working television actor, picking up guest spots on Daniel Boone, Get Smart, and Green Acres through the 1960s.
It was through his friendship with the Hale family, a well-known Utah acting dynasty connected to Salt Lake City’s Hale Centre Theatre, that Jump was introduced to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and eventually converted.
That conversion opened an entirely separate acting career most WKRP fans never knew existed. Jump began appearing in short educational and religious films produced by the church’s own motion picture studio at Brigham Young University, work that continued on and off for the rest of his life.
He Played Everything From a Bishop to an Apostle
Jump’s film credits for the church studio ran remarkably wide. He played a Mormon bishop in You Make the Difference, a thoughtful husband weighing his options in 1968’s Marriage: What Kind for You?, and the Apostle Peter himself in a 1969 dramatization of events from the New Testament, a considerably heavier role than anything WKRP ever asked of him.
He kept returning to the studio’s projects for decades afterward, with additional roles in When Thou Art Converted in 1967, What About Thad? in 1969, The Guilty in 1978, and Families Are Forever in 1982, a span covering more than fifteen years of his career running quietly alongside his mainstream television work.
His Wife Kept Him Honest About the Faith’s Health Code
Jump’s wife Ruth was reportedly instrumental in getting him to quit smoking after his conversion, part of the church’s health code that discourages tobacco and alcohol.
She also pushed him to turn down offers to appear in beer commercials, a real conflict for a working television actor whose livelihood depended on exactly that kind of advertising work.
By all accounts, Jump held to that guidance for the rest of his life, taking his membership seriously right up to his death in 2003.
It’s a detail that sits oddly next to his other famous ad campaign, playing the Maytag Repairman for fourteen years without any apparent conflict with his own faith’s restrictions.
The Studio Behind These Films Had Its Own Unlikely Story
The films Jump appeared in weren’t a small, informal operation. They came out of a real, institutionally significant studio founded by a former Disney animator who left California specifically to build it from scratch.
You can read that studio’s own unlikely origin story in our piece on Judge Whitaker. You can also read more about the rest of Jump’s better-known career, including his death in 2003, in our dedicated piece on Gordon Jump.
Gordon Jump’s Faith and Films, Frequently Asked Questions
Why did Gordon Jump convert to the LDS Church?
He was introduced to the faith through his friendship with the Hale family, a well-known Utah acting dynasty connected to Salt Lake City’s Hale Centre Theatre, and converted sometime after that introduction.
What role did Gordon Jump play in LDS church films?
He appeared in several church-produced educational films over the decades, including playing a bishop, a husband in Marriage: What Kind for You?, and the Apostle Peter in a 1969 dramatization, along with roles in When Thou Art Converted, What About Thad?, The Guilty, and Families Are Forever.
Did Gordon Jump’s faith affect his acting career?
Yes, his wife Ruth reportedly encouraged him to quit smoking and turn down beer commercials in keeping with the church’s health code, restrictions he maintained for the rest of his life.
