Biography

Born as Bobby Wayne Pearson in Seminole, Oklahoma, on August 18, 1930, singer and comedian Jesse Pearson broke into films in 1963 with a hit, but his success was too ephemeral. After recording two singles on Decca Records that had little airplay, Pearson joined the national company of the stage musical "Bye Bye Birdie", and took the role of American rock idol Conrad Birdie who is drafted by the Army at the peak of his popularity, echoing Elvis Presley's story. After a year travelling with the show all over the United States, producer Fred Kohlmar liked Jesse's performance enough to have him repeat the Birdie part in the 1963 film version. This was followed by another funny role as Corporal Silas Geary in George Marshall's comedy western "Advance to the Rear" (1964), but as he had no more film offers, Pearson turned to television, appearing in shows such as "The Great Adventure", "McHale's Navy", "The Beverly Hillbillies", "Death Valley Days", "The Andy Griffith Show" and "Bonanza".

Between acting jobs Pearson worked as composer Rod McKuen's assistant. When the musician was casting a voice for his album "The Sea" (1967), he felt the actor's presence and intimate vocal quality was just what the project needed, and it became the first in a string of albums narrated by Jesse Pearson. After he won a Gold Record for the million-selling "The Sea", Pearson recorded three more albums for McKuen: "Home to the Sea" (1968), and two recordings based on poems by Walt Whitman, "The Body Electric" and "The Body Electric-2", released in the early 1970s. Billed as Jess Pearson, he also narrated the tribute album to songwriter-singer Woody Guthrie "We Ain't Down Yet" and Bolivian composer Jaime Mendoza-Nava's religious LPs "And Jesus Said..." and "Meditation in Psalms", all in 1976. Pearson also recorded the album "The Glory of Love" for RCA Victor, which remains unreleased to this day.

Back to motion pictures in 1978, Pearson narrated the Viking saga "The Norseman", starring Lee Majors and Cornel Wilde and, as the decade allowed movies with more explicit sexual representation in cinemas, he wrote and directed the adult film "The Legend of Lady Blue" (1978) and wrote "Pro-Ball Cheerleader" (1979), under the name A. Fabritzi. But by then he was diagnosed with cancer, and moved to Monroe, Louisiana with his partner, to be close to his mother. Jesse Pearson died on December 5, 1979.
- IMDb mini biography by: Edgar Soberón Torchia

Unknown to the public he won the title role as Presley-like singing idol Conrad Birdie in the popular musical film Bye Bye Birdie (1963). He was quite familiar with the role having taken over the part of Birdie from Broadway's Dick Gautier in the national road company. The reviews on him as the movie Birdie were decidedly mixed; as such, his film career ended almost as quickly as it began.

Jesse Pearson was the narrator of Rod McKuen's The Sea LP as recorded by the San Sebastian Strings in 1966.

Wrote and directed the adult movies The Legend of Lady Blue (1978) and _Pro-Ball Cheerleader (1979)_.