September 22, 2003
RAGTAG TO MAYTAG AND BEYOND:
Gordon Jump of 'WKRP' and Maytag Ad Dies (LYNN ELBER, 9/23/03, 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. He was 71. [...]Jump played Arthur Carlson in "WKRP in Cincinnati,'' which aired on CBS from 1978-82 and featured Gary Sandy, Loni Anderson, Tim Reid, Howard Hesseman and Richard Sanders as the ragtag station's crew.
Mr. Jump was a capable and immensely likable character actor, never really a star, but he did get to deliver perhaps the best line in the funniest episode ever of a sitcom: "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." Posted by Orrin Judd at September 22, 2003 10:40 PM
Comments
...which was actually based on a real incident done by a Georgia radio station as a promotinal stunt.
Sad to hear about his death. He did one of the best jobs of playing a befuddled innocent in TV history.
Posted by: John at September 22, 2003 11:27 PMThat is one of my fav eps.
Posted by: Sandy P. at September 22, 2003 11:35 PMPossibly the funniest half-hour of my life was watching that episode.
Posted by: Jeff Guinn at September 23, 2003 7:25 AMand then Les Nessman cries: "Oh, the humanity!"
Posted by: Foos at September 23, 2003 7:21 PMMy favorite line from TV, too, though I don't know many to choose from. I only saw the last few seconds of that episode.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at September 24, 2003 9:50 PM