Sammy Jackson

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Sammy Jackson (1937 - April 24, 1995) was an American actor known particularly for his roles reflecting rural life and a Country music disc jockey.

Biography and persona

Born in Henderson, North Carolina, Jackson wished to be an actor and moved to California working as a shipping clerk but was contracted to Warner Brothers where he appeared saying one line in the Andy Griffith film No Time for Sergeants. He soon appeared in the syndicated American Civil War drama Gray Ghost and on the Warner Brothers Television series 77 Sunset Strip starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., and opposite James Garner in Maverick (TV series).^[1]

When Jackson read that Warner Brothers was going to produce a 1964 ABC television sitcom, No Time for Sergeants, he wrote directly to Jack Warner saying that he was the best choice for the role and asked Warner to examine a certain Maverick episode as proof. Ten days later Jackson was told to come to the studio to test for the role.^[2]. Jackson won the role over several actors including the better known Will Hutchins, a Warner Brothers Television contract star who formerly played the sympathetic Sugarfoot and also had been on No Time for Sergeants film.^[3]

Unlike Jim Nabors's Gomer Pyle, Jackson's Stockdale was no idiot; rather he had an unlimited amount of common sense. In one episode, Stockdale's knowledge of farming leads him to give a better analysis of an aerial photograph that Air Force Intelligence. During another episode the Air Force attempts to demonstrate the efficiency of its survival training by pitting an Air Force survival trained group against an untrained group including Stockdae. Stockdale takes charge and gives his party a more comfortable time than the others where they thrive whilst the trained group merely and barely survives. Stockdale accepts kitchen details as challenges rather than punishments and impresses the mess sergeant by how well he cleans the mess. Jackson's Stockdale demonstrates another more appealing quality over Gomer Pyle when he takes punches to his stomach from a bully with a smile and a good natured lecture to the aggressive airman ^[4] until Stockdale ends his lecture by knocking the bully through a window.

The series had an unusual episode Two Aces in a Hole reflecting 1964's films of Dr Strangelove and Fail Safe displaying nuclear destruction wrought by the US Air Force combined with the black comedy hypnosis of The Manchurian Candidate. Stockdale and his friend Ben witness a stage hypnotist's show and are accidentally hypnotized to respond to code words that will turn them into bomber pilots or revert them to their own selves. Under the effects of hypnosis the two airmen appropriate an aircraft and attempt to nuke the now-friendly Germans.

The series was produced by George Burns's production company and shown in the UK on ITV from 1965 to 1969.^[5]It also preceded Burns' own Wendy and Me sitcom, with Connie Stevens, which aired on the Monday night ABC schedule.

Jackson also appeared in None But the Brave for Frank Sinatra as a Marine who makes friends with an enemy soldier by swapping his cigarettes for the Japanese's soldiers' fish catch.

In 1966 Jackson starred in an unsold television pilot in the title role of Lil Abner.^[6]

With film roles for "hillbillies" drying up, Jackson began working on-air in radio in 1968 while also acting in a number of motion pictures and doing guest roles in television series. Television writer Larry Brody recalled meeting Jackson and writing a television pilot for him. ^[7]

In the 1980s, Jackson worked for a radio station in Las Vegas and briefly played non-country music on KMPC, Los Angeles. In 1992, he appeared in the pilot film, "Casino."

Jackson died of heart failure.

Filmography

• None But the Brave (1965)
• The Night of the Grizzly (1966)
• The Fastest Guitar Alive (1967)
• The Boatniks (1970)
• Norwood (movie) (1970)
• The Million Dollar Duck (1971)

External links

Sammy Jackson at IMDB http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0414024/

References