At the start of the series, Jim is introduced as a neurologist[REF] and the chief of staff at Llanview Hospital in fictional Llanview, Pennsylvania.
Actor Nat Polen played the role for 12 years,[REF][REF][REF][REF] working and taping episodes for the show until days before his death from undisclosed pancreatic cancer May 3, 1981, aged 66 [REF].