13 Facts About Jay Thomas

Jay Thomas won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series in 1990 and 1991 for portraying Gold.

Jay Thomas was an annual guest on The Late Show with David Letterman during the Christmas season, where he told a story about how he met Clayton Moore, who portrayed the title character on The Lone Ranger.

Jay Thomas was raised in his Italian American mother's Catholic religion; his father was Protestant.

Jay Thomas was raised in New Orleans, where he attended and graduated from Jesuit High School.

Jay Thomas went on to attend and graduate from Jacksonville University.

Jay Thomas was the quarterback on his high-school football team and quarterbacked in college, a skill he later used on The Late Show with David Letterman.

Jay Thomas made annual Christmas appearances on David Letterman's CBS late night show, beginning in December 1998.

Jay Thomas had been making a promotional appearance at a local Dodge dealership, which had booked a personal appearance by actor Clayton Moore, best known as The Lone Ranger on television and in films; Moore appeared at the event dressed in his Lone Ranger costume.

An angry Jay Thomas chased the Buick down Morehead Street weaving through heavy traffic and forgetting all about Moore still sitting quietly in his back seat.

Jay Thomas finally caught up to the man, blocked his Buick with the Volvo, and confronted him about the broken headlight.

For every year thereafter except 2013, Jay Thomas appeared to repeat the Lone Ranger story, which Letterman called, "The best talk show story, ever", and attempt what Letterman would refer to as the "Late Show Quarterback Challenge".

Jay Thomas missed the 2013 Late Show Christmas episode due to throat surgery; John McEnroe took his place and told the Lone Ranger story, then tried, unsuccessfully, to knock the meatball off the tree by hitting tennis balls at it.

Jay Thomas died of throat cancer on August 24,2017, surrounded by his family in Santa Barbara, California, at the age of 69.