Actor best known for "Would ya please pass the jelly?" ad dies
deb...@comcast.net
Merrill. He was a member of SAG, AGMA, AFTRA, and the AEA. He sang and
acted in Broadway musicals with Shirley Jones and Lainie Kazan. He had
roles on "All My Children" and other TV soap operas and on series such
as "In the Heat of the Night."
But to many people, his biggest claim to fame is a 21-year-old
commercial for Polaner All Fruit, where he delivers a line that has
inspired imitations from countless would-be comedians at breakfast
tables across the nation.
In a down-home drawl that shocks his haughty dining companions, he
asks, "Would ya please pass the jelly?"
The commercial still airs on television.
Mr. Byce, 60, of Marietta died Sunday of multiple myeloma at Piedmont
Hospital. The body was cremated. The memorial service was today.
"We would be out at a restaurant and somebody would look at him and
lean over and whisper to the person next to them," said his
stepdaughter, Allyson Cybul of Marietta. "So he would just say, 'Would
ya please . . . ?' in that voice, and they would laugh hysterically.
People were always asking him to do that."
Armed with a master's degree in voice and opera performance from the
New England Conservatory of Music, the Roswell native - born Ervin
Luther Buice - amassed a repertoire of 25 operatic roles that he
performed throughout the United States and Europe. During a busy stage
career in New York, he sang and danced his way through many musicals.
"He didn't wear his credentials on his sleeve and seldom made mention
of them, but he was a very influential person in theater and movies,"
said his friend Larry Adams of Cumming.
"We all want to know someone who knows someone who knows someone, and
Jason was always my claim to fame because he knew everybody - all the
main players in Hollywood and all the prominent actors and producers
and members of the Screen Actors Guild," he said. "But he was the most
faithful and loyal friend, and he never forgot you, no matter what."
In 1991, Mr. Byce returned to Atlanta, continued to act at Marietta's
Theatre in the Square and other local venues, and started coaching
theater students.
"When Jason walked in the room, it was like somebody turned on a
spotlight because he was just so fun to be around," said his wife and
childhood sweetheart, MaryEm Byce. "He had every reason in the world to
have an ego, but he didn't."
Other survivors include his mother, Lela "Bo" Buice of Roswell; two
stepsons, John Burton West of Augusta and Jayson Charles West of
Greensboro, N.C.; and five grandchildren.
Ed Varner
deb...@comcast.net
AKA
<deb...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:1108660138.0...@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> I want more people to know this master thespian has passed on!
>
name when you post.
deb...@comcast.net
jelly" than the name Jason Byce...
R H Draney
>
>I daresay, more people would recognize "Would you please pass the
>jelly" than the name Jason Byce...
A lock for the next Emmy tribute segment...if I'm wrong I'll--I'll clean my
oven!...r