Jerry Paris

Birth Name:

William Gerald Paris

Birth Place:

San Francisco, California, United States

Profession

Actor, Director, Producer, Writer

Out of the 158 episodes of "The Dick Van Dyke Show," he directed five, for which he received a Primetime Emmy award in 1964 for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Comedy
After serving in the Navy in World War II, he joined and studied at the Actor's Studio and appeared in two Broadway productions, "Medea," and later "Anna Christie․"
Quote: "(On becoming a film director) "At last I can paint the whole canvas․ How's that for a figure of speech, eh? When I was a character actor, I was painting only one color - blue or green, as it were․ Now I can work on the whole movie․""
After appearing as small roles in movies such as "Outrage" and "The Wild One," he appeared as a recurring character on "The Dick Van Dyke Show․"
Directed "Happy Days," in which The Fonz's style was derived from the members of the Black Rebels Motorcycle Club, in his earlier film "The Wild One․"
In addition to directing for "Happy Days," he directed the pilot episode of "Lavern & Shirley․"
While appearing on "The Dick Van Dyke Show," he directed a few episodes and found an interest in directing

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