[3] He built a career as a song and dance man in musical theatre and later toured parts of the United States in 1927-1928 with Beatrice Lillie and Noël Coward in the two-act revue This Year of Grace.

[3][4] By 1934, he had married Peggy Duncan and they toured as a double act called Peg and Jerry, largely in Scotland.

[1] The two men next worked together on a stage play, Harvey at the Prince of Wales Theatre, from which Desmonde was ultimately sacked.

[9] He was a regular panelist and occasional guest host on the original UK version of the television panel game What's My Line?

[13] He also appeared in The Dickie Henderson Show (1963)[1] and episodes of the ITV television series A Question of Happiness (1964),[14] The Plane Makers (1964),[15] The Villains (1965), No Hiding Place (1965), The Mask of Janus (1965),[16] The Valliant Varneys (1965), Pardon the Expression (1966)[1] and Vendetta (1966).