Jesse White (actor)

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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.

His typical character was kind of a wise-cracking, fast-talking, cut-to-the-chase kind of guy.

White's first credited film role was the 1950 film Harvey, starring Jimmy Stewart.

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 his work was in an episode of The Twilight Zone called "Cavender Is Coming". In an earlier episode of The Twilight Zone, "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.

He began his stint as the "lonely" Maytag Repairman in 1967, which eventually became pretty much his full-time job for the next 21 years, upon which the 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.