Sherry D. Jackson (born February 15, 1942) is an American retired actress and former child star.
Early life
Jackson was born on February 15, 1942, in Wendell, Idaho.[1] Her mother, Maurita, provided drama, singing, and dancing lessons for Sherry and her two brothers, Curtis L. Jackson, Jr., and Gary L. Jackson,[2] beginning in their formative years.[3] Her father, Curtis L. Jackson, Sr., died when she was 6, and Maurita moved the family from Wendell to Los Angeles, California.[4]
By one account Maurita, who had been told while still in Idaho that her children should be in films, was referred to a theatrical agent by a tour bus driver whom they met in Los Angeles.[4] According to another, she was referred by the friend of an agent who saw Sherry eating ice cream on the Sunset Strip.[5] Apocryphal perhaps, but within the year Sherry had her first screen test, for The Snake Pit with Olivia de Havilland, and by the age of seven appeared in her first feature film, the 1949 musical You're My Everything, which starred Anne Baxter and Dan Dailey.[4]
In 1950, young Sherry became friends with actor Steve Cochran while working with him on The Lion and the Horse. Steve introduced his friend, writer Montgomery Pittman, to Sherry's widowed mother.[6] A romance developed, and Pittman married Maurita Jackson in a small ceremony on June 4, 1952, in Torrance, California, with Sherry as flower girl and younger brother Gary as ring-bearer; Cochran himself was Pittman's best man.[7] In 1955 Cochran hired Pittman to write his next film, Come Next Spring, the first that Cochran produced himself.[8] Sherry played the part of Cochran's mute daughter Annie Ballot,[9] a role Pittman wrote specifically for his step-daughter.[10]
Jackson played the older daughter Terry Williams on The Danny Thomas Show (known as Make Room for Daddy during the first three seasons) from 1953 to 1958. During the course of her five years on the series, she established a strong bond with her on-screen mother, Jean Hagen, but Hagen left the series after the third season in 1956.
Worn out from the relentless pace of the production, Jackson left the program at the beginning of season six, once her five-year contract expired. To allow the writers to finish the character off, actress Penny Parker appeared in the role for fourteen episodes of season seven, in which the character gets married and moves away. Jackson's impact on the Danny Thomas viewing audience was such that, on February 8, 1960, she received a star for "Television" at 6324 Hollywood Blvd. on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[11] Jackson did return as Terry for the premiere episode of the new series Make Room for Granddaddy in 1970.
When Blake Edwards remade the television series Peter Gunn as a feature film entitled Gunn (1967), Jackson was filmed in a nude scene[12] that appeared only in the international version, not the U.S. release.[13] Stills of the nude scene appeared in the August 1967 issue of Playboy magazine, in a pictorial entitled "Make Room For Sherry".[14] The movie has not been released on VHS or DVD.[15]
In 1967, she began a five-year relationship with business executive and horse breeder Fletcher R. Jones. On November 7, 1972, Jones was killed in a plane crash eight miles east of Santa Ynez Airport in Santa Barbara County, California.[18] Five months after Jones's death, Jackson filed a palimony suit against his estate, asking for more than $1 million (equivalent to $6.9 million in 2023), with her attorneys stating that Jones had promised to provide her with at least $25,000 a year for the rest of her life.[19][needs update]
^ ab"Young Actors Play Leads in 'Miracle' at Warner". The Pittsburgh Press. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. September 17, 1952. p. 29. Archived from the original on March 9, 2022. Retrieved February 1, 2015. Sherry [Jackson] is only ten... [She] has been a movie actress for four years. She was discovered by the friend of a Hollywood talent agent, while she was having an ice cream soda.
^"CMBA Blogathon: Come Next Spring (1956)". Jim Lane's Cinemadrome. May 22, 2014. Archived from the original on February 2, 2015. Retrieved February 1, 2015. Matt assures her that he's been sober for three years, then he asks about Annie. "Is she...Did she ever get over...?" "Nope," says Bess, "still mute. Cain't utter a sound."
^ ab"A Happy Family Affair Inspires a Screen Hit". The News and Eastern Townships Advocate. St. Johns, Quebec. September 6, 1956. p. 17. Archived from the original on October 2, 2023. Retrieved February 1, 2015. Her dad, Montgomery Pittman, wrote the screenplay and he built the script around little Sherry. ... [I]t turned out to be one of the most dramatic roles ever offered a youngster and was planned as such. ... [F]or her work in this show [she] received the "Gold Star Award" from Mars, Inc.
^Nott, Robert (2003). He Ran All the Way: The Life of John Garfield. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 263. ISBN9780879109851. Archived from the original on October 2, 2023. Retrieved February 1, 2015. Maurita Pittman always felt that Jack L. Warner experienced an internal struggle regarding the film: 'I don't know why the film was unsuccessful. Warner was really too greedy of a man not to get whatever money he could out of a picture. But he was fervently anti-communist and maybe he realized that Garfield was in trouble, and he didn't put that much publicity into the film.'
