He was in vaudeville, on Broadway, in movies, and on many a television series in the capacity of a character actor, but Jesse White's most lasting claim to fame comes from his 1967-1988 run as the lonely, sad-faced Maytag repair man.
The idea behind this long series of commercials was to encourage the buying public to believe that this appliance brand was so reliable that repair service would seldom be needed. White, born Jesse Weidenfeld, played his part well.
But for Harvey (1950) and Death of a Salesman (1951), the movies in which White appeared were pretty much B-grade. His TV career was more noteworthy, beginning in the mid-1950s and ending in 1996 (on Seinfeld). Though his parts were small, he appeared on The Jack Benny Show, Bonanza, The Addams Family, The Andy Griffith Show, 77 Sunset Strip, That Girl, Hawaii Five-O, the Jackie Gleason Show, Happy Days, Love Boat and many other shows that live in the memories of older viewers.
White's death came in 1997, from a heart attack.
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