JESSE WHITE (ACTOR)

'Jesse White', born Jesse Weidenfeld (January 4, 1917 – January 9, 1997), was an American character actor who played many roles in television, film and on stage. He was also recognizable from television commercials as the Maytag repairman, a role he played from 1967 to 1988.
White's typical character was a kind of hotheaded, fast-talking, cut-to-the-chase kind of guy.
White's first credited film role was as a mental hospital orderly in the 1950 Jimmy Stewart comedy ''Harvey''.
He had a funny role (even including some singing) as King Ferdinand of Spain in Stan Freberg's classic comedy album from 1961, ''The United States of America: Vol. I''. He also participated in Freberg's long-awaited follow-up, ''Vol. II'', in 1996.
Another good example of White's work was in an episode of ''The Twilight Zone'' called "Cavender Is Coming". In another ''Twilight Zone'' episode, "Once Upon a Time", he appeared with Buster Keaton as a repairman fixing a time machine intended to send Keaton's character back to the silent era.
White began his stint as the "lonely" Maytag Repairman in 1967, which eventually became pretty much his full-time job for the next 21 years, after which Gordon Jump assumed the role.
He was married to Celia Cohn, and had a daughter, actress Carole Ita White.
He died following surgery in 1997, 5 days after his 80th birthday.

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★ A writeup about the Maytag Repairman, with photo