John Paragon
John Dixon Paragon (December 9, 1954 – April 3, 2021) was an American actor, writer, and director. He is known for his work on the television series Pee-wee's Playhouse, where he portrayed Jambi the Genie, and provided the voice for Pterri the Pterodactyl. He also served as a writer and director on a number of episodes.
Contents
- 1 Early life
- 2 Career
- 3 Death
- 4 Filmography
- 4.1 Films
- 4.2 Television
- 5 References
- 6 External links
Early life
Paragon was born on December 9, 1954, in Anchorage, Alaska but grew up and attended schools in Fort Collins, Colorado. He graduated from Fort Collins High School.
Career
Paragon got his start in the Los Angeles-based improvisation group The Groundlings alongside Paul Reubens and Phil Hartman.
He played Jambi the Genie on the children's TV show Pee-wee's Playhouse. In addition to writing many of its regular-season episodes, he co-wrote (with Reubens) the Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special in 1988, for which they were nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Writing in a Children's Special.
His other roles include Cedric, one half of the couple Bob and Cedric on the television series Seinfeld; the *le character in the children's movie The Frog Prince; the sex shop salesman in Eating Raoul; and the owner of a strip-o-gram business in the 1986 film Echo Park.
He collaborated with fellow Groundling C*andra Peterson on numerous Elvira projects, including the recurring role of The Breather, an annoying caller, for her first television series on KHJ-TV-Los Angeles.
He also made multiple appearances at Knott's Scary Farm with Elvira at the Good Time Theater. One of the show's highlights was when he walked amongst the audience as Ramone Azteca.
Paragon worked with Walt Disney Imagineering on ways to incorporate improvisational performance into attractions at Disney parks. In this capacity, he performed as the keeper of Lucky the Dinosaur during test runs of the animatronic figure.
He returned to his performance as Jambi the Genie in the Broadway outing of the Pee-wee Herman stage show that began performances at the Stephen Sondheim Theater on October 26, 2010.
Death
Paragon died on April 3, 2021 at his home in Palm Springs, California, at the age of 66. His cause of death was heart disease and chronic alcoholism. News of his death was not made public until June 18 of that year. He was cremated and his ashes are currently in the possession of C*andra Peterson who plans to submit them to Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
Filmography
Films
Also production consultant direct-to-video ThrillerVideo (1985).
Television
References
External links
- John Paragon at IMDb
- John Paragon at AllMovie