Publicity still of John Wayne and Sherry Jackson in Trouble Along the Way. Photos provided by Sherry Jackson.
Make Room for Daddy publicity still of Danny Thomas, Jean Hagen, Rusty Hammer and Sherry Jackson.
Screen shot of Star Trek episode, What Are Little Girls Made Of, with Sherry Jackson, William Shatner and Michael Strong.
Sidelined with severe illness for several years, Sherry Jackson is finally recovering from a prolonged period of convalescence.
“I nearly died from pneumonia,” said Jackson from her home in Los Angeles. “I was in hospital for two months, then bedridden for another four. I lost my voice, dropped 30 pounds, and had to use a wheelchair then a walker. I’m still not ready to run a marathon, but much improved.”
A popular guest at film and TV conventions, illness forced her to withdraw from last year’s major Creation Entertainment’s Star Trek convention in Las Vegas. She has just been added to the guest line-up for this year’s event in August.
Originally from Idaho, her family moved to California where little Sherry auditioned for “The Snake Pit,” to play the young Olivia de Havilland character.
“But I came down with Chicken Pox and was so disappointed,” she recalled. She eventually made her big screen debut with a small role in “You’re My Everything,” released in 1949.
Over the next 4 years, Sherry appeared in numerous films (see www.sherryjackson.net) including four Ma and Pa Kettle comedy features.
“I was one of the Kettles’ 15 kids, so it was a little chaotic on the set,” said Jackson, who mostly remembers comedic actress Marjorie Main (Ma) and her extreme obsession.
“She was terrified of germs and you couldn’t touch her without washing your hands. Nor could you sneeze on the set. One little boy did, and was fired from the movie. My mother was freaking out in case I did!”
Jackson’s first big film role came in the John Wayne sports comedy “Trouble Along the Way” (1953).
“I adored John Wayne,” said Jackson, who remembers him coming to her rescue during the screen test. “I was around 10 and they wanted to make me look older, so Michael Curtiz (director) came over and said ‘I want to cut your pigtails off.’ I had tears in my eyes and Duke – Mr. Wayne as I called him – patted me on the shoulder and said he wouldn’t let them be cut.”
After receiving excellent reviews playing John Wayne’s daughter, Jackson was cast as Danny Thomas’s daughter in the 1953 TV series, “Make Room For Daddy.” More film and television work followed, 1966 being a premium year with guest starring roles in three classic 60s series, “Batman,” “Lost in Space,” and “Star Trek.”
In the popular Trek episode, “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” Jackson is remembered for her convincing role of Andrea the android, not to mention a rather revealing costume.
“I took the role very seriously, and gave much thought to what an android might think and feel,” she said. “I was only 24 and at the peak of my attractiveness. The outfit also helped make the episode memorable!”
In “Gunn,” a 1967 movie version of the popular “Peter Gunn” TV mystery series, Blake Edwards cast Jackson wearing mostly a bed sheet or bath towel to seduce Craig Steven’s Gunn character. Offers of more steamy roles quickly followed, with Jackson retiring several years later at 40.
“I probably retired too young and should have just taken a break, but was getting typecast as the sexy femme fatale figure,” she said.
Her fans, however, never complained about those roles.
Nick Thomas teaches at Auburn University at Montgomery, Ala., and has written features, columns, and interviews for over 600 magazines and newspapers. See www.tinseltowntalks.com.
