Jerry Douglas (actor)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jerry Douglas (b. November 12, 1932, Chelsea, Massachusetts) is an American television actor.
For the last two decades, Jerry Douglas has reigned in fictional Genoa City as patriarch John Abbott on the daytime television serial The Young and the Restless.
Born Gerald Rubenstein and raised in Chelsea, Massachusetts, Douglas went to Brandeis University to earn a degree in economics. Eight months into law school in Manhattan, he gave up the books and started auditioning. However, his lack of training frustrated him, and he eventually moved then-wife, actress Arlene Martel, and their daughter Avra Douglas to California.
Settling in the San Fernando Valley, Douglas sold insurance by day and took acting classes at night. Although he still struggled, he received encouragement after appearing in the play, John Brown's Body. A critic said he was terrific, which inspired him to hire an agent.
For several years, Douglas appeared on TV shows like Mission: Impossible, often playing the villain. At the same time, his wife decided to move herself and their children (son Jodaman Douglas was born after migrating to California) up to Carmel.
In an attempt to save his marriage to Arlene, Douglas quit acting and followed her. Despite this, the couple eventually divorced and Douglas returned to Los Angeles to continue his career. Soon after, he found himself embroiled in a custody battle for his children, which he won.
Today Douglas is remarried, to Kymberly Bankier, whom he met at a Muscular Dystrophy Association event. Although she is over 20 years younger than he, they've been happily married since April 6, 1985 and have a young son, Hunter, together.
In March 2006, after 25 years on the show, Douglas departed The Young and The Restless in a storyline-dictated exit revolving around his character's involvement in the Tom Fisher murder case. His cast members recently celebrated his upcoming exit on set. To viewers' surprise, he continued to recur on the show for the next few months and was put back on contract with the show in June. He left the show for good on August 18.
