Jerry Paris (July 25, 1925 - March 31, 1986) was an American Actor, Director and Producer, who directed the episode of Happy Days, My Favorite Orkan that the character of Mork first appeared in.
Biography[]
Born William Gerald Paris in San Francisco, California, USA on July 25, 1925. His father was a Russian immigrant; his mother, the former Esther Mohr, remarried when Jerry was a small child. Jerry's new stepfather, Milton Grossman, eventually adopted the boy and Jerry thereafter used the name William Gerald Grossman while growing up. He reverted back to his real name when he became an actor. He graduated from both New York University and UCLA, and studied at the Actor's Studio after serving in the Navy during WWII.
He married Ruth Benjamin (19 December 1954) and they had three children actors Julie Paris, and Andrew Paris and producer Tony Paris, before her death (13 August 1980).
On March 18, 1986, Paris was hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where doctors discovered he had a brain tumor. He underwent two surgeries but doctors were unable to remove the tumor. Paris remained hospitalized until his death on March 31 at the age of 60. A private memorial was held at Paris' home in Pacific Palisades on April 2.
Career[]
Starting off onstage in such plays as "The Front Page". He appeared dramatically on Broadway twice, making his debut in "Medea" (1947) in the bit part as a soldier, and later appearing in a 1952 revival of "Anna Christie", which starred Celeste Holm.
He turned to films in 1949 with unbilled bits but slowly progressed to a higher acting tier in such durable films as Outrage (1950), The Wild One (1953), The Caine Mutiny (1954), Marty (1955), The Naked and the Dead (1958) and The Great Impostor (1960). Hyperactive in nature, the tall, dark-haired actor was often cast as the genial or helpful pal of the star. He never found that one film role that might have moved him beyond the secondary character ranks. TV, however, would become a more accepting medium. After appearing as a regular in the series The Untouchables (1959) in 1959, Jerry found himself in classic company on The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961) in 1961 as next-door-neighbor Jerry Helper, husband of Ann Morgan Guilbert's Millie, best pals to Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore's Rob and Laura Petrie. .
It was comic actor and "Dick Van Dyke Show" creator / producer Carl Reiner who gave Jerry his first chance to direct on one of the show's episodes. By the mid-60s, Jerry was a regular director on the show and won an Emmy for his efforts during the 1963-1964 season. Highly encouraged (he also won a Directors Guild Award down the road), he decided to abandon acting and concentrate solely on behind-the-camera work. Working on such movies as Viva Max (1969) and Star Spangled Girl (1971), he eventually returned to familiar territory (TV sitcoms) and found his niche helming several popular shows. Most notably on Happy Days (1974), where he directed 237 of the show's 255 episodes. Imitating Hitchcock, he appeared uncredited in at least one episode of every season. Paris also directed episodes of The Partridge Family and Here's Lucy (including the famous third season opener featuring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton), The Ted Knight Show and his old co-star in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, as well a number of other Garry Marshall productions, Laverne & Shirley as well as episodes of The Odd Couple, and Blansky's Beauties.
Mork & Mindy[]
Though Jerry Paris never had any direct hand in the show itself, he was actually instrumental in helping the show to fruition in a couple of ways. Most notably, he directed both episodes that Robin Williams appeared in as Mork (My Favorite Orkan / Mork Returns) and was instrumental in helping to bring the character of Mork to the screen on Happy Days.
Stuck with how to make the idea of an 'alien' work on a 50's themed sitcom about family, it was Paris who drew on a classic episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show, 'It May Look Like A Walnut' (1963) an Invasion of the Body Snatchers inspired episode featuring an Alien who was slowly replacing everyone that Dick Van Dyke knew with Doppelgangers....until it was all revealed to be a TV inspired nightmare. To make sense of events Paris suggested to the writer Joe Glauberg, that it all be a dream of Richie Cunningham's.
Of course when Robin Williams' performance in the episode caused a sensation, and a decision was made to spin the character off into his own show, extra scenes had to be filmed for My Favorite Orkan to indicate that Mork was real all along and about to be sent to 1978 for his next mission.
Less well known however is that Jerry Paris was the director of Sister Terri, the pilot for Pam Dawber's posited show that that though never got off the ground was what brought her to the attention of Marcy Carsey and Garry Marshall and the reason for her casting as Mindy opposite Robin.