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Jay Thomas
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jay Thomas (born Jon (or John) Thomas Terrell on July 12, 1948 in Kermit, Texas) is an American actor and disc jockey. He was raised in New Orleans, where he attended Jesuit High School, New Orleans. He and his wife Sally live in Southern California and are parents to two sons.
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Thomas is perhaps best known for his recurring roles. The first on the sitcom Mork and Mindy, on which he played Remo DaVinci, the Italian deli-owner, from 1979 until 1981. He then played the hockey-player-turned-travelling-ice show-skater second husband, Eddie LeBec, of Carla on Cheers (1987-1989). He also appeared on Murphy Brown as a tabloid talk show host, Jerry Gold, who was also one of Murphy's love interests (1989-1998). Thomas won Emmy Awards in 1990 and 1991 for "Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series" for his portrayal of Jerry Gold on Murphy Brown.
Thomas also starred in the short-lived 1990 show Married People. Thomas played Russell Myers, a writer who worked at home who was married to a high powered lawyer (played by Bess Armstrong). When his wife had a baby, Thomas' character became a househusband.
He later starred in the 1992-1995 sitcom Love & War (with Susan Dey then Annie Potts) and in the short-lived 1996 Ted Danson-Mary Steenburgen sitcom Ink. He also had the bad luck to host Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?, a controversial one-night special on Fox in February 2000 that featured Darva Conger and Rick Rockwell.
Thomas has also knocked the holiday meatball off of the Christmas Tree for The Late Show with David Letterman almost every year since 1998. (Dave knocked it off in 2004 and 2006.)
His many roles include playing the football coach friend of the lead character in Mr. Holland's Opus (1995) and Hal in the Kevin Costner-film Dragonfly (2002). He also appeared as the Easter Bunny in Disney's The Santa Clause 2 and The Santa Clause 3.
Thomas began his career as a disc jockey at WAPE ("The Big Ape") in Jacksonville, Florida in the late 1960s, and then moved on to Charlotte, North Carolina where he was the morning drive DJ at WAYS in the 1970s and 1980s. Thomas then worked as a radio DJ in New York City and resided in Connecticut with his wife, Sally and their 3 sons. Jay was probably best remembered for being the Morning Host on 92.3 WKTU. He would be replaced by Howard Stern when WKTU switched to KROCK. This would become the launching pad for Stern's syndicated network.
After WKTU flipped formats Thomas was hired by then new Rhythmic Top 40 upstart KPWR/Los Angeles in 1986 as their new morning host, which is where he would enjoy a successful run. In 1992 Thomas left KPWR due to the changes in station management and a musical shift towards Hip-Hop, which would have felt out of place for Thomas.
Jay currently hosts The Jay Thomas Show (with the world's ugliest co-host) M-F 3pm - 6pm on SIRIUS Stars 102, a channel on the SIRIUS Satellite Radio service. He resides in Santa Barbara with his family. He owns homes in New Orleans, one of which was destroyed by flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina.
Jay used to invest in retail food chain stores, including Blimpie, but stopped because he didn't make a lot of money. He would buy real estate when he would get a big pay day during his acting career and is now also a Coldwell Banker agent in Santa Barbara, California. His latest venture is a $3.5 million property on Cresta Avenue.