Jesse White (actor)

On January 9, 1997, White died from a heart attack following surgery, six days after his 80th birthday. He is interred at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.

White continued appearing in both television and films during his many years as the Maytag repairman. His final film role was a small but pivotal role in the 1993 Joe Dante comedy Matinee starring John Goodman, and his last TV role was in "The Cadillac", an episode of Seinfeld in 1996. Seinfeld co-creator/star Jerry Seinfeld, who co-wrote the episode, had been a fan of White since his appearances on The Ann Sothern Show, and described having him on Seinfeld as a boyhood dream come true.

In the 1960s, White appeared on Tightrope, Oh! Those Bells, The Twilight Zone, The Dick Van Dyke Show; The Donna Reed Show; The Andy Griffith Show, The Roaring 20s, Mickey, The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction,The Munsters, The Addams Family, That Girl, and I Dream of Jeannie. In a memorable cameo, he played a frustrated airport tower controller in Stanley Kramer's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963). In 1966, he accepted the role of Donelli in The Reluctant Astronaut, playing a curmudgeonly janitorial supervisor.

On October 2, 1958, White portrayed the fast-talking, presumably dishonest, used-car salesman San Fernando Harry in the segment "The New Car" of the ABC sitcom The Real McCoys, starring Walter Brennan.

From 1958 to 1965, White made five guest appearances on Perry Mason. In his first appearance, he played murderer Luke Hickey in "The Case of the Married Moonlighter." His second appearance was a bartender Cecil in "The case of the Melancholy Marksman". His third appearance featured him as murder victim Burt Renshaw in "The Case of the Polka Dot Pony." His fourth appearance was Tony Cerro in "The Case of the Gambling Lady". In his final appearance, he played murder victim Max Armstead in "The Case of the Fatal Fortune."

White guest-starred on Four Star Playhouse and NBC's The Bob Cummings Show. He appeared in roles in The Bad Seed (1956); Designing Woman (1957), with Lauren Bacall; CBS's Mr. Adams and Eve (1958), with Ida Lupino and Howard Duff; and Marjorie Morningstar (1958), with Natalie Wood and Gene Kelly.

In 1947, White made his film debut in a small part in Kiss of Death. During the 1950s, he began landing roles on television shows, including appearances in Danny Thomas's Make Room for Daddy and Peter Lawford's Dear Phoebe. In 1954, he landed a semi-regular role as Cagey Calhoun on Private Secretary, starring Ann Sothern. The role led to another semi-regular part as the deceitful Oscar Pudney on CBS's The Ann Sothern Show in 1960. In 1955, he played Colonel Willoughby Oglethorpe on The Lone Ranger (season 4 episode 35).

White was born in Buffalo, New York and was raised in Akron, Ohio to Jewish parents. He made his first amateur appearance in local stage productions at the age of 15. Though aspiring to be an actor, he worked at many different jobs during the 1930s, including selling beauty supplies and lingerie. After moving to Cleveland, Ohio, White began a career in vaudeville and burlesque, traveling widely before landing a role on Broadway. In 1942, White made his Broadway debut in The Moon Is Down, followed by a successful performance in the role of a sanitarium orderly in the popular play Harvey. He later reprised his role in the 1950 film version and the 1972 television movie.

Jesse White (born Jesse Marc Weidenfeld; January 3, 1917 – January 9, 1997) was an American actor, who was best known for his portrayal as "Ol' Lonely" the repairman in Maytag television commercials from 1967 to 1988.

In 1942, White married Celia Cohn (July 17, 1914 – August 5, 2003). The couple had two daughters, Carole Ita White (who later became an actress) and Janet Jonas.