Glimpsed here and there throughout the 1950s in amiable acting supports on film, it was as a TV producer and director that Jerry Paris found his true calling. In front of the camera, however, most fans will remember him quite fondly as the neighborhood dentist to 'Dick Van Dyke' Paris, who died in 1980, the couple had three children.
His son Andrew Paris , is best known for his role as Bud Kirkland in the Police Academy movies.
Father of Julie Paris and Tony Paris.
He directed 5 of the 158 episodes of "The Dick Van Dyke Show" after being hired as an actor to play next-door neighbor Jerry Helper, a dentist. He found he had a real gift for directing and went on to direct "Happy Days" and the pilot for "Laverne & Shirley" .
There is some irony in Jerry Paris directing Henry Winkler as "The Fonz" in "Happy Days" , Winklers character deriving his style from Jerry and other Black Rebels Motorcycle Club members in The Wild One .
So I spent the whole picture crouched over.
[on becoming a film director] At last I can paint the whole canvas.
