| Carolyn Jones | |
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Jones in The Addams Family (1964-1966) |
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| Born | Carolyn Sue Jones[1] April 28, 1930 Amarillo, Texas, U.S. |
| Died | August 3, 1983 (aged 53) West Hollywood, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1952–83 |
| Spouse | Aaron Spelling (1953–64) (divorced) Herbert Greene (1968–77) (divorced) Peter Bailey-Britton (1982–83) (her death) |
Carolyn Sue Jones[2] (April 28, 1930[1] – August 3, 1983) was an American actress.
Jones began her film career in the early 1950s, and by the end of the decade had achieved recognition with a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for The Bachelor Party (1957) and a Golden Globe Award as one of the most promising actresses of 1959. Her film career continued for a few years, and in 1964 she began playing the role of Morticia Addams in the television series The Addams Family, receiving a Golden Globe Award nomination for her work.
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Jones was born in Amarillo, Texas, the daughter of Julius Alfred and Cloe Jeanette (née Southern) Jones.[2] She had some Native American ancestry[3][4][5][6] In 1934 her father abandoned the family and her mother moved her and the two children to her parents' home in Amarillo. Carolyn suffered from severe asthma that often restricted her from childhood activities. She was an avid reader, and loved Hollywood magazines. When her condition permitted she loved to go to the movies. After her graduation, her grandfather agreed to pay her tuition to the Pasadena Playhouse. Therefore, she moved to California in 1947 to pursue her acting career.
Jones secured a contract with Paramount Pictures and made her first film in 1952. In 1953, she married aspiring film-maker Aaron Spelling (converting to Judaism upon their marriageand her film career began to gain momentum. She appeared in several episodes of Dragnet, had an uncredited bit part as a nightclub hostess in The Big Heat, and a role in House of Wax, as the woman who is converted by Vincent Price into a Joan of Arc statue, brought her good reviews. In 1954 she played Beth in Shield For Murder, earning $500.00 per day for playing the role.[7]
She was cast in From Here to Eternity, but a bout with pneumonia forced her to withdraw. Donna Reed, almost a decade Jones's senior, was recast in her role and won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance.
Early in her career, she appeared in two Rod Cameron syndicated series, City Detective and State Trooper, as Betty Fowler in the 1956 episode, "The Paperhanger of Pioche". About this time, she guest starred in Ray Milland's CBS sitcom, Meet Mr. McNutley. In 1955, Jones appeared on the anthology series Alfred Hitchcock Presents in the episode "The Cheney Vase" as a secretary assisting her scheming boyfriend Darren McGavin in attempting an art theft, and opposite Ruta Lee. In the 1962-1963 season, Jones guest starred on CBS's The Lloyd Bridges Show, which Spelling created. While married to Spelling, she appeared on the NBC program, Here's Hollywood.
Jones appeared in Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Alfred Hitchcock's remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for The Bachelor Party. In 1958, she shared a Golden Globe Award for "Most Promising Newcomer" with Sandra Dee and Diane Varsi, and appeared with Elvis Presley in King Creole.
In 1959, she played opposite Frank Sinatra in Frank Capra's A Hole in the Head, Dean Martin in Career, and Anthony Quinn in Last Train from Gun Hill. In 1960, she guest starred with James Best and Jack Mullaney in the episode "Love on Credit" of CBS's anthology series The DuPont Show with June Allyson, a Four Star Television production. By 1963, she and Spelling were separated, and by 1964 they were divorced.
She appeared three times as a guest star in the TV series Wagon Train, in the first season (1957) episode "The John Cameron Story," and in the later color episodes "The Jenna Albright Story" (1961) and "The Molly Kincaid Story" (1963).
In 1964, with a long coal black wig, Jones began playing Morticia Addams in the television series The Addams Family, a role which brought her success as a comedienne and a Golden Globe Award nomination. She guest-starred on the 1960s TV series Batman, playing Marsha, the Queen of Diamonds,[8] and in 1976 appeared as the title character's mother, Hypolyte, on the Wonder Woman TV series. Her last role was the scheming matriarch of Clegg Clan, Myrna in the soap opera "Capitol".
In 1971, Jones wrote a novel titled, Twice Upon a Time, which was published by Trident Press.[9] The story follows the life of Susan Maxwell, a "glamorous movie star" through her work as an actress and through her romances. There are similarities with this character and Jones herself, as it explores Hollywood life, as well as the character's roots in Texas; Jones herself was raised in Texas.
Her acting career began to decline after The Addams Family ended in 1966. Sporadic roles in the 70s included that of Mrs. Moore, the wife of the plantation owner who was also "Chicken George's" father, in the Roots mini-series.
Jones landed the role of the power-driven political matriarch Myrna Clegg in the CBS daytime television soap opera Capitol in 1981. The following year, shortly after Capitol debuted, she was diagnosed with colon cancer, and played many of her scenes in a wheelchair. The cancer spread quickly to her liver and stomach. Marj Dusay took over her role after Jones died of cancer.[10]
Carolyn Jones was married four times. While studying at the Pasadena Playhouse, Jones married Don Donaldson a twenty-eight year-old fellow student; the couple soon divorced.[11] Jones was subsequently married to television producer Aaron Spelling from 1953 until 1964;[12] Tony Award-winning Broadway musical director, vocal arranger and co-producer, Herbert Greene, who was her vocal coach, from 1968 until their divorce in 1977; and British actor Peter Bailey-Britton from 1982 until her death.
Jones died on August 3, 1983, aged 53, at her home in West Hollywood, California, nine months after her wedding to Bailey-Britton on December 14, 1982. Her body was entombed at Melrose Abbey Memorial Park Cemetery in Anaheim, California, beside her mother.
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