Jay Hammer (born November 16, 1944) is an American actor best known for his long run as Fletcher Reade on CBS Daytime's Guiding Light from March 1984 until March 1998. He returned briefly in the Spring of 1999, and again made an appearance as the show ended in 2009.
Other roles include The Blue Knight, Kojak, Mannix, Sons and Daughters, Emergency!, and Adam-12. His theater credits include off-Broadway productions of Passing Through From Exotic Places and Serenading Louie. An earlier soap opera role was that of ranch forehand Max Dekker on Texas.
Hammer had a notable credit role as Allan Willis during the 1978–1979 season of The Jeffersons. Allan was the son of mixed-race couple Tom and Helen Willis (Franklin Cover and Roxie Roker).
Hammer was married for a time to former Guiding Light head writer Pam Long, and they had two children together. Hammer himself wrote for Guiding Light using the name Charles Jay Hammer. He graduated from the University of the Pacific.
Famous quotes containing the words jay and/or hammer:
“With a binding like you’ve got, people are gonna want to know what’s in the book.”
—Alan Jay Lerner (1918–1986)
“Long lion days
Start with white haze.
By midday you meet
A hammer of heat....”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)