Beginning a career in radio in Illinois in the late '30s, Jackson moved to Hollywood in 1951, where he took up a role as a radio and television manager for Cecil & Presbrey. Jackson moved to film work in 1953, and by 1961, he and fellow showman Robert Patrick, established the distribution company Parade Releasing, for which Jackson produced the English-language version of 'I Bombed Pearl Harbor' (1960, dir.

Shue Matsubayashi), which landed him an uncredited role as the dialogue director on the English-language version of 'Monster Zero' (1965, dir. Ishiro Honda) for Henry G. Saperstein's United Productions of America.