Jerry Paris


William Gerald Paris was an American actor and director best known for playing Jerry Helper, the dentist and next-door neighbor of Rob and Laura Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show, and for directing the majority of the episodes of the sitcom Happy Days.

Early life

Paris was born on July 25, 1925, in San Francisco, California. His parents were Samuel Aaron Paris and Esther Mohl. His mother subsequently married Milton Grossman when Paris was a small child, but Paris never legally adopted his stepfather's surname.
After serving in the United States Navy during World War II, he attended New York University and the Actors Studio in New York City. After graduating, Paris moved to Los Angeles, where he attended UCLA and studied acting at the Actors Lab in Hollywood.

Career

Paris had roles in films such as The Caine Mutiny, The Wild One and Marty. He also played Martin "Marty" Flaherty, one of Eliot Ness's men, in a recurring role in the first season of ABC-TV's The Untouchables, as well as making guest appearances on other television series.
From 1961 to 1966, Paris played the recurring character of dentist Jerry Helper, next-door neighbor and friend of Rob and Laura Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show, appearing in 39 of 158 episodes. In 1963, Carl Reiner, the show’s creator and producer, gave Paris his first chance to direct one of the episodes. He soon became one of the show’s regular directors and won a Primetime Emmy Award in 1964 for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy for the series. Paris subsequently devoted himself to directing in both film and television, including The Partridge Family, Here's Lucy, and Happy Days, for which he directed 237 of the show's 255 episodes. Imitating Alfred Hitchcock, he appeared uncredited in at least one episode of every season.
Paris also directed episodes of Laverne & Shirley, The Odd Couple, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Ted Knight Show, and Blansky's Beauties. He returned to directing feature films in 1985's Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment and 1986's Police Academy 3: Back in Training. In all, he is credited with directing episodes of 57 TV titles and acting in 105 titles.

Personal life and death

Paris married Ruth Lincoln Benjamin in Santa Barbara, California, on December 19, 1954. They had three children, Tony, Julie and Andy. They remained married until her death on August 13, 1980, in Los Angeles, California, at age 51.
On March 18, 1986, Paris was hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where doctors discovered 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 age 60. A private memorial was held at Paris's home in Pacific Palisades on April 2.

Filmography

Actor

Director