Jerry Walter
Jerome Walter was born on March 28, 1925 in Chicago, Illinois to Russian Jewish immigrants, his father, Isidor Walter (a doctor), and his mother, Cipre Pauline Walter (née Ginsburg) a social worker.
Walter's early exposure to performing came in the late 1930s when his mother took him to a local radio station. That introduction, in the heart of the Golden Age of Radio, launched his career...most notably as Jack Armstrong in Jack Armstrong: The All-American Boy as well as many others.
Walter was trained at the Goodman Theater (in Chicago's North Loop) and attended Northwestern University where he majored in drama and English literature. Walter also trained at the Conservatory of Music and the San Francisco conservatory of Music.
By the mid 1950s he was writing music for a TV Western pilot (with Jim Wood and Lou Gottlieb - which didn't meet the deadline), and forming the Gateway Singers/Gateway Trio (though not with Wood and Gottlieb). They toured all over the country and produced several albums under the Capitol, Decca, Warner Bros. and MGM labels before breaking up on July 8, 1961. The group did go on though, with different members, as The Gateway Trio and they played up until December of 1965. Member Betty Mann and Walter moved to Palo Alto where they continued to play as Betty and Jer where they produced, wrote and performed in educational films and Bay Area radio commercials.
Walter died on February 10, 1979 of a heart attack at his home in Sausalito, his ashes were scattered near Mile Rock under the Golden Gate Bridge. He was survived by his former wife, Norma Jean Ross and their three children, Mark, Rebecca, and David.
Film
The Promise~1978 - Cal
Invasion of the Body Snatchers~1978 - Chef/Restaurant Owner
Star Wars~1977 - uncredited Stormtrooper voice
The Enforcer~1976 - Krause
Nightmare in Blood~1975 - Malakai
TV
Streets of San Francisco~1975-1976 -
Ray Andrich in Till Death Do Us Part
Kilgoe in Underground
Mr. Davis in The Cat's Paw
in No Badge for Benjy
in Bitter Wine
Radio
Candy Matson aka YUkon 28209~1949-1951 - voice of Montgomery the Mole - Candy's informant in:
Candy's Last Case (#92)
The Gang's All Here (#91)
Sea Cliff Mystery (#77)
Moon of Madness (#76)
Crime on the Waterfront (#75)
The Devil in the Deep Freeze
Pat Novak for Hire~1947 -
Johnny Brown Gambling Ring 8/3/47
Island Venture~1945-1946 - Gil Berry - ex-Navy pilot turned South Pacific air Freight owner
Mademoiselle~1944 (CBS) - Returning Soldier
Jack Armstrong, The All-American Boy~1940/1941 - voice of Jack Armstrong (89 episodes)
Darrow of the Diamond X~1950 -
Ma Perkins~ -
The Guiding Light~ -
Chicago Theater of the Air~ -
Music
Gateway Trio - Co-founding member
Travis Edmonson with the Gateway Singers: Puttin' on the Style~1950's - vocals and banjo
Albums
Puttin' on the Style
At the Hungry I
In Hi Fi
Wagons West
Down in the Valley
Miscellany
Was active in the NAACP (San Francisco)
One time organizer for the ILWU
Past President of the San Francisco chapter of AFTRA - two terms (longer than any other)
Served with the US Army (released in 1955)
Was a choir boy with the Paulist Choir in Chicago
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