Celebrity Biographies
Jerry Douglas
He was not known in Spain, but it is to his credit that for thirty years he played a character, the patriarch John Abbott, in “The Young and the Restless”, a daytime drama that is broadcast on CBS in the United States. Actor Jerry Douglas, who has also appeared in a number of feature films, passed away on November 9, 2021, in Los Angeles, at the age of 88.
Born on November 12, 1932, in Chelsea (Massachussetts), Gerald Rubenstein –his full name– won a scholarship thanks to his football skills to Brandeis University, where he graduated in Economics. He then studied acting with Utan Hagen, a New York teacher, and Jeff Corey , another prestigious coach, from New York. He made his film debut with a small role in 1961’s Blast of Silence .
After appearing as a supporting role in Bonanza and other iconic shows of the 1960s, Jerry Douglas starred in features like Harlow, the Platinum Blonde and Gunn . But success did not come to him until in 1982 when he was offered to play the aforementioned John Abbott, millionaire and president of the Jabot Cosmetics company, in The Young and the Restless.At first, he had few appearances, as a father who advised his children when they got into trouble, but later his romantic plot with Dina, the wife with whom he was separating, became important, although he later fell in love with her again. The character died in 2006, when the actor decided to separate, but he returned sporadically, in the form of a ghost, to continue advising his offspring. The last appearance of him dates from 2016.
While filming The Young and the Restless , Jerry Douglas hardly took any other jobs. He can be seen in a sequence in Oliver Stone ‘s JFK: Cold Case . Divorced from the also actress Arlene Martel, with whom he had had two children, he joined Kym Douglas, mother of his another offspring of his, who has accompanied him until her death.