Gerald Rubenstein (November 12, 1932 – November 9, 2021), known professionally as Jerry Douglas, was an American television and film actor. For 25 years Douglas reigned as patriarch

John Abbott Sir John Joseph Caldwell Abbott (March 12, 1821 – October 30, 1893) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the third prime minister of Canada from 1891 to 1892. He held office as the leader of the Conservative Party. Abbo ...

in the fictional Genoa City on the daytime television serial ''

The Young and the Restless ''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City, ...

''. In 2006, his character was killed off, but his character later made special appearances.

Early life

Douglas was born as Gerald Rubenstein in Chelsea, Massachusetts, on November 12, 1932, to Russian Jewish immigrants, Rose (Silbert) and William Rubenstein, a junk seller and later mattress manufacturer. His brother was record producer Alan Douglas. He attended

Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , ...

and law school in Boston before he dropped out, began auditioning for acting roles and moved to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. There he met his first wife,

Arlene Martel Arlene Martel (born Arline Greta Sax; April 14, 1936 – August 12, 2014) was an American actress. Before 1964, she was frequently billed as Arline Sax or Arlene Sax. Casting directors, among other Hollywood insiders, called Martel the Chamel ...

, who had a young son by the name of Adam Palmer. They went on to have two children of their own, Avra and Jod.

Later career

In March 2006, after 25 years on the show, Douglas departed ''The Young and The Restless'' in a storyline-dictated exit revolving around his character's involvement in the Tom Fisher murder case. Douglas claimed that former headwriter of ''The Young and The Restless''

Lynn Marie Latham Lynn Marie Latham is an American television writer, producer, and showrunner. Her initial foray into writing for television was as a story editor for the series '' Berrenger's'' in 1985. That same year, Latham became a writer for the nighttime ser ...

killed his character off because she could not understand why a man would run a cosmetics company. He continued to recur on the show for the next few months and was put back on

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tr ...

with the show in June to play his now-deceased character's ghost. He left the show for good on August 18, but continued to make appearances once in a while. In March 2008 he began appearing as a new character Alistair Wallingford, a drunken hack actor involved in a

gaslighting Gaslighting is a colloquialism, loosely defined as manipulating someone so as to make them question their own reality. The term derives from the title of the 1944 American film '' Gaslight'', which was based on the 1938 British theatre play '' G ...

plot, but was written out a few months later. In 2007, Douglas released a CD, ''The Best Is Yet to Come'', a collection of jazz standards, and has performed around the United States and Canada.

Personal life and death

Settling in the San Fernando Valley, Douglas sold insurance by day and took acting classes at night. Although he still struggled, he received encouragement after appearing in the play ''John Brown's Body''. For several years, Douglas appeared on such TV shows as '' Mission: Impossible'' and ''

The Feather and Father Gang ''The Feather and Father Gang'' is a 1976–1977 American crime-drama television series starring Stefanie Powers and Harold Gould, which centers on an attorney who enlists her con-man father and his team of bunco artists to help her solve crime ...

'', often portraying villains. At the same time, Martel decided to move herself and their two children, Avra and Jod, to Carmel. They eventually divorced. He remarried to Kymberly Bankier, whom he met at a

Muscular Dystrophy Association The Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) is an American 501(c)(3) umbrella organization that works to support people with neuromuscular diseases. Founded in 1950 by Paul Cohen, who lived with muscular dystrophy, it works to combat neuromuscular d ...

event. They were married from April 6, 1985, until his death in 2021, and have a son, Hunter. Douglas died after a brief illness in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, on November 9, 2021, three days before his 89th birthday.

Filmography

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Douglas, Jerry 1932 births 2021 deaths 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors American male soap opera actors American male film actors American male television actors Brandeis University alumni Burials at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery Jewish American male actors Male actors from Massachusetts People from Chelsea, Massachusetts People from Greater Los Angeles