Jack Murdock

Jack Murdock (28 October 1922 – 27 April 2001) was an American actor. He appeared in 50 films between 1973 and 1998. He was born in Urbana, Ohio. Murdock had some television roles in St. Louis, Missouri during the 1960s. One memorable role was as Kronos, the host of the television show Zone 2 on KTVI from August 1965 to August 1966. The show was named Zone 2 because KTVI-TV (the local ABC affiliate at the time and currently a Fox affiliate) broadcast on Channel 2 and probably as a play on The Twilight Zone as it aired low-budget science fiction and horror movies. It aired at 3:30 pm–5:30 pm for the benefit of school-age kids. The movies shown were severely edited to fit into the time slot, to make room for commercials, and to allow for Kronos to introduce each segment. Murdock appeared in Big Top Pee-wee with New York City natives Albert Henderson and David Byrd. He was also familiar to St. Louis television viewers as the personification of "Grandpa Pidgeon" on commercials for the GrandPa's chain (also known as Grandpa Pidgeon's) of 15 discount retail stores in the St. Louis area and nearby Illinois and Missouri locations. He hosted the local KTVI-TV presentation of Adventures of Superman in 1962, appearing as Mr. Willoughby on a program called Treehouse Time. Mr. Willoughby lived in a treehouse and introduced Superman and a cartoon from there. The show was 45 minutes long, leaving 15 minutes for local news at the head of the hour. He died in Burbank, California at age seventy-eight.