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Jay Thomas
Jay Thomas
	Thomas at the 1992 Emmy Awards
Born	Jon Thomas Terrell; July 12, 1948; Kermit, Texas, U.S.
Died	August 24, 2017 (aged 69); Santa Barbara, California, U.S.
Occupations	Actor; radio talk show host;
Years active	1979–2017
Spouse	Sally Michelson (m. 1987)
Children	3, including J. T. Harding

Jon "Jay" Thomas Terrell^[1] (July 12, 1948 – August 24, 2017) was an American actor, comedian, and radio personality. He was heard in New York from 1976–1979 on top-40 station 99X, and later on rhythmic CHR station 92KTU, and in Los Angeles beginning in 1986 on KPWR "Power 106", where he hosted the station's top-rated morning show until 1993. His notable television work included his co-starring role as Remo DaVinci on Mork & Mindy (1979–1981), the recurring role of Eddie LeBec, a Boston Bruins goalie on the downside of his career, on Cheers (1987–1989), the lead character of newspaper columnist Jack Stein on Love & War (1992–1995), and a repeat guest role as Jerry Gold, a talk-show host who becomes both an antagonist and love interest of the title character on Murphy Brown. He won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series in 1990 and 1991 for portraying Gold.

In 1997, he starred in the television film Killing Mr. Griffin, based on the eponymous novel. In films, he co-starred in Mr. Holland's Opus (1995) as a high-school coach with a flair for theatrics, and portrayed the Easter Bunny in The Santa Clause 2 (2002) and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006).

He was also an annual guest on the Late Show with David Letterman during the Christmas season, where he told a story about how he met Clayton Moore, who portrayed the title character on The Lone Ranger.^[2] Beginning in 2005, he hosted The Jay Thomas Show on SiriusXM Satellite Radio channel 94 comedy greats Monday through Thursday afternoons and Friday mornings on Howard 101.^[3]

Early life and education

Thomas was born in Kermit, Texas, to Katharine (née Guzzino) and Timothy Harry Terrell.^[4] He was raised in his Italian-American mother's Catholic religion; his father was Protestant.^[5] Thomas was raised in New Orleans,^[6] where he attended and graduated from Jesuit High School.^[7] He went on to attend and graduate from Jacksonville University.^[8] Thomas was the quarterback on his high-school football team and also quarterbacked in college, a skill he later used on The Late Show with David Letterman.

Letterman appearances

Thomas made annual Christmas appearances on David Letterman's CBS late night show, beginning in December 1998. Letterman and one of his other guests that evening, then-New York Jets quarterback Vinny Testaverde, took turns throwing footballs trying to knock a large meatball off the top of a Christmas tree at the other end of the stage. As the two took turns futilely attempting to knock off the meatball, Thomas came back out to join in the festivities, and promptly knocked the meatball from the tree.^[9]

Beginning on a subsequent visit to Letterman's show, Thomas told a story about when he was a young disc jockey (around 1972) at WAYS 610 AM in Charlotte, North Carolina.^[10] Thomas had been making a promotional appearance at a local Dodge dealership, which had also booked a personal appearance by actor Clayton Moore, best known as the Lone Ranger on television and in films; Moore appeared at the event dressed in his Lone Ranger costume.^[9]

According to Thomas, he and his colleague Mike Martin, both clad in the hip fashion of the day (including tight jeans, tie-dyed shirts and their hair, which Martin wore long while Thomas himself sported what he called a "White Man's Afro"), had secretly gotten "herbed up" (smoked marijuana) several times throughout the day behind a dumpster. After the broadcast had ended and the crowd had left, while packing up their equipment, Thomas and Martin discovered that Moore was still there, as the car that was supposed to drive him back to his hotel never arrived; Thomas then offered Moore a ride in his own car, an old, decrepit Volvo, which Moore accepted.

While stuck in traffic, with Moore sitting quietly in the back seat, an impatient, middle-aged man backed his full-sized Buick into the front end of Thomas's compact Volvo, broke a headlight, and then drove off. An angry Thomas chased the Buick down Morehead Street weaving through heavy traffic and forgetting all about Moore still sitting quietly in his back seat. Thomas finally caught up to the man, blocked his Buick with the Volvo, and confronted him about the broken headlight. The indignant driver denied all; when Thomas threatened to call police, the man exclaimed, "Who do you think they'll believe? Me, or you two hippie freaks?" At that moment, Moore, still in costume as the Lone Ranger, stepped out of the Volvo, approached the man and said "They'll believe me, citizen!" The man, incredulous, exclaimed "I didn't know it was you!"^[11]

For every year thereafter except 2013, Thomas appeared to repeat the Lone Ranger story, which Letterman called, "The best talk show story, ever", and once again attempt what Letterman would refer to as the "Late Show Quarterback Challenge". For his final appearance in December 2014, Thomas was again successful in knocking the meatball off the top of the tree. Thomas missed the 2013 Late Show Christmas episode due to throat surgery; John McEnroe took his place and told the Lone Ranger story, then tried, unsuccessfully, to knock the meatball off the tree by hitting tennis balls at it.^[9]

Personal life

Thomas fathered J. T. Harding in an out-of-wedlock relationship, and the child was adopted by another family in Michigan. Thomas and his son spoke about their reunion on the Dr. Phil Show. Harding was the lead singer of the band JTX and is a country-music songwriter.^[12]

Thomas married Sally Michelson in 1987. They had two sons, Samuel and Jacob.^[13]

Death

Jay Thomas died of throat cancer on August 24, 2017, surrounded by his family^[14] in Santa Barbara, California, at the age of 69.^[15]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1979–1981	Mork & Mindy	Remo DaVinci	20 episodes^[1]
1981	The Love Boat	Paul Harris	Episode: "First Voyage, Last Voyage"
1984	Master of the Game	Levy	Television miniseries
1984	C.H.U.D.	Cop in diner
1985	Spenser: For Hire	Tony Broz	Episode: "Discord in a Minor"
1985	The Gig	Rick Valentine
1986	Legal Eagles	Waiter
1986	The Park Is Mine	TV Reporter
1987	Family Ties	Jerry DiNello	Episode: "Super Mom"
1987	A Year in the Life	Scott Spenser	Episode: "What Do People Do All Day?"
1987–1989	Cheers	Eddie LeBec	9 episodes^[1]
1988	Monkey Business	Tedesco
1988	The Adventures of Ragtime	Lester Waylin
1988	Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color	Delivery Man	Episode: "Justin Case"
1989	Almost Grown	Unknown	Episode: "Take It Slow"
1989	The Golden Girls	Sy Ferber	Episode: "High Anxiety"
1989	Freddy's Nightmares	Stan Brooks	Episode: "Dream Come True"
1989–1998	Murphy Brown	Jerry Gold	9 episodes Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series (1990–91) Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series(1989)^[1]
1990	Miracle Landing	Ed Meyer	Television movie
1990	Open House	Evan Gimbel	2 episodes
1990	Where's Rodney?	Lou Barnes	Television movie
1990	Little Vegas	Bobby
1990–1991	Married People	Russell Meyers	18 episodes
1992	Straight Talk	Zim Zimmerman
1992	Batman: The Animated Series	Guard 1	Episode: "The Forgotten"
1992–1995	Love & War	Jack Stein	67 episodes^[1]
1995	Cybill	Jay	Episode: "Zing!"
1995	Bless This House	Ted	Episode: "If It Ain't Broken, Break It"
1995	Mr. Holland's Opus	Coach Bill Meister	^[1]
1996	A Strange Affair	Eric McKeever
1996	Dirty Laundry	Joey Greene
1996–1997	Ink	Jack Stein	3 episodes
1997	Killing Mr. Griffin	John Griffin	Television movie
1997	A Smile Like Yours	Steve Harris
1997	Aaahh!!! Real Monsters	Disembodied Voice	Episode: "Spy vs. Monster"
1997	Working	Mr. Peyser	Episode: "Lost Weekend"
1998	My Date with the President's Daughter	Charles Fletcher	Television movie
1998	The Simple Life	Joel Campbell	Episode: "Sara's Ex"
1998	The Adventures of Ragtime	Lester Waylin
1998	Monkey Business	Tedesco
1998	Last Chance	Artie
1998–1999	Hercules	Ares	6 episodes
1999	Stranger in My House	Ray Young
1999	Katie Joplin	Glen Shotz
1999	Fantasy Island	Carl Harbin	Episode: "The Real Thing"
1999	Dead Man's Gun	Emil Kosar	Episode: "The Good Chef"
1999	The Wild Thornberrys	Bull Seal	Episode: "Tamper Proof Seal"
1999	The Big Tease	Tony Bolero	Uncredited
2000	Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?	Himself	Host, TV special
2000	An American Daughter	Timber Tucker	Television movie
2001	Surfacing: AKA A Letter from My Father	Tom
2001–2002	The Education of Max Bickford	Jerry Zibowski	2 episodes
2002	Ed	Gary Siringo	Episode: "Small Town Guys"
2002	Monday Night Mayhem	Pete Rozelle	Television movie
2002	Dragonfly	Hal
2002	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Joe Sherman	Episode: "Vulnerable"
2002	The Santa Clause 2	Easter Bunny	Cameo^[1]
2003	Run of the House	Bob Melman	Episode: "Twas the Night Before Homecoming"
2004	Teacher's Pet	Barry Anger	Voice
2004	Joan of Arcadia	Obnoxious Investor at Spa	Episode: "Recreation"
2006	The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause	Easter Bunny	^[1]
2007, 2010	American Dad!	Brett Morris	2 episodes
2008	Boston Legal	Ian Hoberman	Episode: "Happy Trails"
2009	The Pool Boys	Marty
2009	Labor Pains	Garth
2010	Cold Case	Lance Katrola	Episode: "One Fall"
2010	Sex Tax: Based on a True Story	Charles Taylor
2010	Mysteries at the Museum	Narrator	12 episodes
2011	Snatched	Roger Byamm
2011	Horrorween	Two Headed Monster
2011	Retired at 35	Mr. Jenkins	Episode: "Workin' Man"
2011	Hung	Sandee's father	Episode: "The Whole Beefalo"
2012	Shake It Up	Dan Gold	Episode: "Copy Kat It Up"
2013	The Haunting of…	Himself	Episode: "Jay Thomas"
2013	Life Tracker	Attorney General
2013	Underdogs	Mike Mayhew
2013	The Trials of Cate McCall	Loncraine
2013–2017	Ray Donovan	Marty Grossman	5 episodes (his final role)
2015	NCIS: New Orleans	Marc Maslow	Episode: "Confluence"
2015	Bones	Lenny Jay	Episode: "The Promise in the Palace"