Jeremy Russell Gelbwaks (born May 22, 1961, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

) is an American former child actor who starred in the television series ''

The Partridge Family ''The Partridge Family'' is an American musical sitcom starring Shirley Jones and featuring David Cassidy. Jones plays a widowed mother, and Cassidy plays the oldest of her five children, in a family who embarks on a music career. It ran from S ...

'' (1970–71).

Career

Gelbwaks was the first actor to play the role of Chris Partridge. He left the series after the first season, and was replaced by

Brian Forster Brian A. Forster (born April 14, 1960) is an American former child actor and race car driver. He is best known as the second actor to play the role of Chris Partridge in the television series ''The Partridge Family''. Biography Forster joined '' ...

in the summer of 1971. According to his ''Partridge Family'' castmate

David Cassidy David Bruce Cassidy (April 12, 1950 – November 21, 2017) was an American actor, singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He was best known for his role as Keith Partridge, the son of Shirley Partridge (played by his stepmother, Shirley Jones), in t ...

, Gelbwaks "had a personality conflict with every person in the cast, and with the producers". In a 2005 interview with the Television Academy Foundation,

Shirley Jones Shirley Mae Jones (born March 31, 1934) is an American actress and singer. In her six decades in show business, she has starred as wholesome characters in a number of musical films, such as '' Oklahoma!'' (1955), ''Carousel'' (1956), and ''The M ...

mentioned that Gelbwaks "was not happy doing

he show He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

.. his parents wanted him to do it, so we replaced him". He stopped acting when his family moved to Reston, Virginia, a suburb of

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, where they remained for a year and a half before moving again to Connecticut, and later to

Potsdam, New York Potsdam ( moh, Tsi tewate’nehtararénies) is a town in St. Lawrence County, New York, United States. The town population was 14,901 at the 2020 census. The ZIP Code is 13676. When SUNY Potsdam and Clarkson University are in session, the popul ...

. Gelbwaks graduated from Hermon Dekalb Central School (Hermon, NY) in 1978 and was a member of the National Honor Society. His father Norman taught computer science at the State University of New York at Potsdam. Gelbwaks graduated from college in 1982, and became a computer analyst while studying chemistry at

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant uni ...

. He worked in the computer industry until 1999, studied business at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, and became a management consultant. He married Patricia Polander, and moved to

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, where he works as a business and technology planner.

References

External links

* 1961 births Living people Male actors from Los Angeles American male child actors Columbia Business School alumni UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni American male telenovela actors 20th-century American male actors {{US-tv-actor-1960s-stub