Sorry to hear of the passing yesterday of Jerry Van Dyke. He was a funny man who deserved to be thought of as a lot more than You-Know-Who's brother. That's usually a problem when someone gets into the business via a more famous relative. They get an access and opportunity that they might otherwise have never had but with it comes an expectation.
I once heard Rob Reiner talk at some length about the blessings/curse (it was hard to separate them) of him breaking into the business. No doubt he got acting auditions he would not have gotten had his name been Rob Schwartz…but with them came expectations that he had the exact same skill set as his father. He had much to offer but not always to producers who expected him to be Carl 2.0. Jerry was not Dick and the more people came to realize this, the more successful he was.
Jerry was born on July 27, 1931 in Danville, Illinois, which is where he and his brother Dick grew up. (Dick was born December 13, 1925 in West Plains, Missouri…so Dick was a little over five and a half years older.) Jerry began entertaining in nightclubs right out of high school and then in Special Services in the Air Force. He became a local star on TV in Terre Haute, Indiana and went national with two two-part guest appearances playing Dick's younger brother Stacey on The Dick Van Dyke Show. The first two were in March-April of 1962 and the second two aired in January of 1965.
In-between the two, he'd been a regular (briefly) on The Judy Garland Show and he'd hosted a game show (briefly) called Picture This, both for CBS. He reportedly turned down the role of Gilligan on Gilligan's Island and the position of replacing Don Knotts on The Andy Griffith Show. He did accept the leads in two short-run situation comedies — My Mother, The Car (1965) and Accidental Family (1967) and a supporting role on another that lasted one season, Headmaster (1970). It wasn't until 1989 that he landed a regular role on a hit when he played the eternally-confused Luther Van Dam on the nine-season sitcom, Coach.
He was pretty busy before that and after though with guest shots on other shows and in movies, TV commercials, stage plays and tours with his comedy act. I saw him perform live once in Las Vegas at (I think) the old Marina Hotel. He charged onto the stage with his banjo and entertained the hell out of an audience that was still chuckling when they left. I remember thinking his performing style couldn't have been less like his older brother's. He was brash, loud and fast-paced…but it sure got the job done.
The other time I saw him perform was in April of 2011. He and Dick did a short run (five performances) of The Sunshine Boys at a small theater Dick helps support in Malibu. Jerry was pretty damned good as Willie Clark, as I wrote about here.
I did not know Jerry well…mostly as a fellow dining companion when Show Biz Folks convened in some deli. He seemed to jump from cranky to friendly and back again with enormous speed, often in a voice that could have drowned out Joanne Worley screaming. He seemed like the kind of guy who never had an opinion he did not express with 100% confidence but I still liked him on-screen and off. I tried to tell him that but I'm not sure he heard me.