Jerry Paris

William Gerald "Jerry" Paris (July 25, 1925 – March 31, 1986) was an American actor and director best known for playing Jerry Helper, the dentist and next-door neighbor of Rob and Laura Petrie, on The Dick Van Dyke Show. 2Early life Paris was born in San Francisco, California. His name, as frequently reported was, indeed, Paris and not Grossman. Grossman was his stepfather's surname, and Jerry never took that name. After serving in the United States Navy during World War II, he attended New York University and the Actors Studio in New York City. After graduating, Paris moved to Los Angeles, he attended UCLA and studied acting at the Actors Lab in Hollywood. 2Career Paris had roles in major 1950s films such as The Caine Mutiny, The Wild One and Marty. He also played Martin "Marty" Flaherty, one of Eliot Ness's men in a recurring role in the first season of ABC-TV's The Untouchables, besides making guest appearances on other television series. After having directed some episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show in which he played the recurring character of next-door neighbor and dentist Jerry Helper, Paris won an Emmy Award in the 1963-64 season for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy for that classic series. He later devoted himself to directing both in film and television, including The Partridge Family and Here's Lucy (including the famous third season opener featuring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton), but he worked most notably on the 50s nostalgia television series Happy Days, for which he directed 234 of the show's 255 episode