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| Mr. Whittendale (Jack Fletcher) and George from the episode "Florence's Union" in Season 4. | ||||
| Personal Information | ||||
| Gender: | Male | |||
| Occupation/ Career: |
Investment Banker, half/owner of Whittendale Enterprises, as well as the Whittendale Bldg. | |||
| Character description: |
Wealthy owner of the Whittendale Bldg, whom George tries to impress; constantly butts heads with Louise and Helen, who are part of the Tenants' Committee | |||
| Spouse(s): | Lucille Whittendale | |||
| Related to: | R.S. Whittendale (brother) | |||
| Character information | ||||
| Appeared on: | The Jeffersons | |||
| Character played by: | Jack Fletcher in 6 episodes from Seasons 4-11 Ivor Francis in "Dog Gone" (Season 8) | |||
H.L. Whittendale is a recurring character who initailly appears in the Season 4 episode of The Jeffersons titled "Florence's Union". The part of Whittendale is played in six episodes by Jack Fletcher; he is also played by Ivor Francis in the Season 8 episode titled "Dog Gone".
About Mr. Whittendale []
In "George and Whitty", when the lease on the Jeffersons' apartment is set to expire, Mr. Whittendale, the building's owner, who George tries hard to impress all the time, is thinking about renting the apartment to close friends of his, The Foxes. When the Jeffersons run into his lawyer brother, R.S. Whittendale, they after mistaking him for his brother, finds out from him, after he reviews their lease, that the often duplicitous H.L. had no legal right to refuse to renew their lease.
Another instance of his duplicitous nature is in the Season 11 episode "Blood and Money" when George agrees to donate blood for The Help Center drive, but then pays Ralph to donate in his name. Later Whittendale, also wishing to get out of donating, shows up claiming that because of George his wife was able to have a transfusion. He is willing to give George whatever he wants, so they could "wash each others backs" and resist their wives insistances that they donate, as George asks for a Rolls Royce.
Whittendale can be quite inflexible when dealing with employees, as evidenced in his first series appearance in the Season 4 episode "Florence's Union" as he refuses to negotiate the salaries of the maids who work in the building, and even tries to prohibit his own maid Millie from joining the union, and even manages to offend George, as they get off on the wrong foot in finally meeting each other, when he says to Louise, whom he tells to stay out of the arguement, "you people never know when to keep your mouths shut!"
In "Dog Gone", George agrees to watch over the Whittendale's pet dog, "Poopsy", who is often vicious to everyone except for Lucille. When the dog accidentally leaps to his death over the patio balcony while going after a ball when he was playing "fetch" with George, George has the painful task of explaining his death to Whittendale, who then takes George in the kitchen to explain that he hated the dog to George, who is trying hard to possibly get in on some big business deals with him. Whittendale then explains that his wife has controlling interest in Whittendale Enterprises, and that she could fire him, and that he changed his name to Whittendale when they were married, in also saying that "49% of me likes you...but 51% of me hates you...Have a good day!"