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Carolyn Jones

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Carolyn Jones
Jones in 1956
Born
Carolyn Sue Jones

(1930-04-28)April 28, 1930
DiedAugust 3, 1983(1983-08-03) (aged 53)
Resting placeMelrose Abbey Memorial Park Cemetery, Anaheim, California, U.S.
Occupations
  • Actress
  • singer
Years active1952–1983
Spouses
Don Donaldson
(m. 1950; div. 1951)
(m. 1953; div. 1964)
(m. 1968; div. 1977)
Peter Bailey-Britton
(m. 1982)

Carolyn Sue Jones (April 28, 1930 – August 3, 1983) was an American actress of television and film.[1][2] She 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 new actresses of 1959. Her film career continued for another 20 years. In 1964, Jones began playing the role of matriarch Morticia Addams in the black and white television series The Addams Family.

Early life

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Carolyn Jones was born in Amarillo, Texas to homemaker Chloe Jeanette Southern (1906–1979),[3] and Julius Alfred Jones (1897–1979), a barber.[1][4][5] After their father abandoned the family in 1934, Carolyn and her younger sister, Bette Rhea Jones (1934–2020),[3] moved with their mother into her maternal grandparents' Amarillo home.[6] Jones suffered from severe asthma that often restricted her childhood activities, and when her condition prevented her from going to the movies, she became an avid reader of Hollywood fan magazines and aspired to become an actress. She enrolled at the Pasadena Playhouse in California at age 17, with her grandfather, Charles W. Baker, paying her tuition.[7][8][9]

John Astin and Carolyn Jones as Gomez Addams and Morticia Addams in The Addams Family (1964)
Guest stars for the 1961 premiere episode of The Dick Powell Show, "Who Killed Julie Greer?". Standing, from left: Ronald Reagan, Nick Adams, Lloyd Bridges, Mickey Rooney, Edgar Bergen, Jack Carson, Ralph Bellamy, Kay Thompson, Dean Jones. Seated, from left, Carolyn Jones and Dick Powell.
Carolyn Jones and John Church in the Broadway production of The Homecoming by Harold Pinter in 1967[10]

Film

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After being spotted by a talent scout at the Playhouse, Jones secured a contract with Paramount Pictures and made her first film, an uncredited part in The Turning Point (1952);[9] had an uncredited bit part as a nightclub hostess in The Big Heat (1953); and a role in House of Wax (also 1953) as the woman who is converted by Vincent Price's character into a Joan of Arc statue. She played Beth in Shield for Murder (1954), earning $500 per day for playing the role.[11]

Jones was cast in the film From Here to Eternity (1953) in the role of Alma "Lorene" Burke. A bout of pneumonia forced her to withdraw; the role earned Donna Reed the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.[12]

In 1956 she appeared in Invasion of the Body Snatchers and in the Alfred Hitchcock film The Man Who Knew Too Much, a remake of one of the director's earlier films.

In 1958, Jones was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for The Bachelor Party (1957), and she also shared the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress with Sandra Dee and Diane Varsi, and appeared with Elvis Presley in King Creole (1958).

Jones played opposite Frank Sinatra in Frank Capra's A Hole in the Head, Dean Martin in Career, and Anthony Quinn and Kirk Douglas in Last Train from Gun Hill (all 1959).

In the epic Western How the West Was Won (1963), she played the role of Sheriff Jeb Rawlings' (George Peppard) wife. She appears with Peppard and Debbie Reynolds in the final speaking/singing scenes of the film.

Television

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She made her television debut on the DuMont series Gruen Playhouse in 1952. Jones appeared in several episodes of Dragnet starring Jack Webb from 1953-1955, credited as ‘’Caroline Jones’’. She appeared in two Rod Cameron syndicated series, City Detective and State Trooper, as Betty Fowler in the 1956 episode, "The Paperhanger of Pioche”. Jones also appeared on the CBS anthology series Alfred Hitchcock Presents in the episode "The Cheney Vase" (1955), as a secretary assisting her scheming boyfriend Darren McGavin in attempting an art theft, and opposite Ruta Lee.

In 1957 she had the lead in the episode "The Girl in the Grass" on CBS's Schlitz Playhouse, once again with Ray Milland and Nora Marlowe.

Jones guest-starred three times on the television series Wagon Train: in the first-season episode "The John Cameron Story" (1957) and in later color episodes "The Jenna Douglas Story" (1961) and "The Molly Kincaid Story" (1963). Also in 1963 she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best TV Star - Female for portraying quadruplets—one the murder victim and the others suspects—in the Burke's Law episode "Who Killed Sweet Betsy?"

She guest-starred in CBS's The DuPont Show with June Allyson, with James Best and Jack Mullaney, in the episode "Love on Credit" (1960).

In the 1962–1963 season, Jones guest-starred on CBS's The Lloyd Bridges Show, created by her second husband, television producer Aaron Spelling. While married to Spelling, she appeared on the NBC program Here's Hollywood.[13]

In 1964, Jones donned a long coal-black wig to play Morticia Addams in the television series The Addams Family, a role which brought her a Golden Globe Award nomination and success as a comedian. She guest-starred on the 1960s TV series Batman, playing Marsha, the Queen of Diamonds,[5] and in 1976 appeared as the title character's mother, Hippolyta, in the Wonder Woman TV series. In Tobe Hooper's movie Eaten Alive (1976), she played a madam running a rural whorehouse. The film also featured Neville Brand, Roberta Collins, and Robert Englund. Her last role was that of Myrna, the scheming matriarch of the Clegg clan, on the soap opera Capitol from the first episode in March 1982 until March 1983, though she already knew that she was dying of cancer. During her occasional absences, veteran actress Marla Adams subbed for her.

Her acting career declined after The Addams Family ended in 1966. Sporadic roles in the 1970s included that of Mrs. Moore, the wife of the plantation owner in the miniseries Roots.

Personal life

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Jones and Aaron Spelling in 1960

Jones was married four times and had no children. While studying at the Pasadena Playhouse, she married Don Donaldson, a 28-year-old fellow student. The couple soon divorced.[14]

She converted to Judaism upon marrying Aaron Spelling; the marriage lasted from 1953 until their 1964 separation and divorce.[15]

Her third marriage, in 1968, was to Tony Award-winning Broadway musical director, vocal arranger and co-producer Herbert Greene (who was her vocal coach); she left him in 1977.[citation needed]

Jones' fourth and final marriage was to Peter Bailey-Britton in 1982, lasting until her death a year later.

Final years and death

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Jones gained the role of the power-driven political matriarch Myrna Clegg in the CBS daytime 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.[16] The cancer spread quickly to her liver and stomach. Despite the pain, Jones finished the first season.[17]

Even after being diagnosed with cancer, Jones continued to work, telling colleagues that she was being treated for ulcers.[18] After a period of apparent remission, the cancer returned in 1982.

In July 1983, she fell into a coma at her home in West Hollywood, California, where she died on August 3. Her body was cremated the next day and a memorial service was held at Glasband-Willen Mortuary in Altadena, California, on August 5. Her ashes were interred in her mother's crypt at Melrose Abbey Memorial Park & Mortuary in Anaheim, California. She donated her Morticia costume and wig to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, while a collection of The Addams Family scripts was donated by Bailey-Britton to UCLA.[19]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
1952 The Turning Point Miss Lillian Smith Uncredited
Road to Bali Eunice Uncredited
1953 Off Limits Deborah Also known as: Military Policeman (UK title). Uncredited
The War of the Worlds Blonde Party Guest Uncredited
House of Wax Cathy Gray
The Big Heat Doris
Geraldine Kitty
1954 Make Haste to Live Mary Rose
The Saracen Blade Elaine of Siniscola
Shield for Murder Girl at Bar
Three Hours to Kill Polly Her character says: "I don't look so good in black"
Désirée Mme. Tallien Uncredited
1955 The Seven Year Itch Nurse Finch
The Tender Trap Helen
1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers Theodora 'Teddy' Belicec
The Man Who Knew Too Much Cindy Fontaine
The Opposite Sex Pat
1957 The Bachelor Party The Existentialist Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Johnny Trouble Julie Horton
Baby Face Nelson Sue Nelson
1958 Marjorie Morningstar Marsha Zelenko Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress
(with Sandra Dee and Diane Varsi)
King Creole Ronnie
1959 The Man in the Net Linda Hamilton
Last Train from Gun Hill Linda
A Hole in the Head Shirl
Career Shirley Drake
1960 Ice Palace Bridie Ballantyne
1961 Sail a Crooked Ship Virginia
1962 How the West Was Won Julie Rawlings
1963 A Ticklish Affair Tandy Martin
1969 Heaven with a Gun Madge McCloud
Color Me Dead Paula Gibson
1976 Eaten Alive Miss Hattie Also known as: Death Trap, Horror Hotel, and Starlight Slaughter
1979 Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff Beth

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1952 Chevron Theatre ?; ? 2 episodes: "An Affair at the Embassy" and "Call the Police"
1952–1954 Mr. and Mrs. North Grace Wilson; Mrs. Janet Ferber; Ellen 3 episodes: "A Good Buy", "Dead Man's Tale" and "Model for Murder"
1953–1955 Dragnet ?; Donna Stewart; Marian Fuller; Laura Osborne; ? 5 episodes; billed as Caroline Jones on first 4 episodes
1954 The Colgate Comedy Hour Hazel Season 4, Episode 21
Lux Video Theatre ? Episode: "The Outside Witness"
The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse Alice; ?; Karen Brook 3 episodes: "Account Closed", "The Silence" and "Doubled in Danger"
Four Star Playhouse Dolores Episode: "The Answer"
1954–1955 City Detective Linda; Alene 2 episodes: "On the Record" and "A Girl's Best Friend"
Treasury Men in Action ?; Judy King; Eadie Starr Also known as: Federal Men. 3 episodes
Studio 57 Corinna Rogers; Carol Marshall; Diana Flagg; Maria 4 episodes
My Favorite Husband Janie Cooper Season 1, Episode 40; Season 3, Episode 9: "The Painting"
1954–1957 Schlitz Playhouse of Stars June Sardo; Sarah; Girl; Wealthy Wife 4 episodes
1955 Meet Mr. McNutley Risa Powell Episode: "Mr. Sargent and the Lady"
The Man Behind the Badge Louise Episode: "The Case of the Desperate Moment"
Alfred Hitchcock Presents Pamela Waring Episode: "The Cheney Vase"
1955–1956 The 20th Century Fox Hour Marcia Bridges; Rita Kirby 2 episodes: "Cavalcade" and "The Heffron Family"
1955–1957 Jane Wyman Presents the Fireside Theatre Patient; Madeline Kovak 2 episodes: "The Key" and "The Little Black Lie"
The Millionaire Emily Short; Carol Fletcher 2 episodes: "The Emily Short Story" and "The Matt Kirby Story"
1956 Star Stage ? Episode: "Screen Credit"
Passport to Danger Sally Towne; Celia 2 episodes: "Batavia" and "Athens"
State Trooper Betty Fowler Episode: "The Paperhanger of Pioche"
1957 Wire Service Eve Episode: "Dateline Las Vegas"
Panic! Janet Hunter Episode: "The Airline Hostess"
General Electric Theater Phyllis Episode: "The Man Who Inherited Everything"
Climax! Helen Episode: "The Disappearance of Amanda Hale"
1957–1961 Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre Ella Clanton; Sal - Rue Royale Proprietor; Julie Whiting 3 episodes: "Until the Man Dies", "Picture of Sal" and "Blood Red"
1957–1963 Wagon Train Julie Cameron; Jenna Douglas; Molly Kincaid 3 episodes: "The John Cameron Story", "The Jenna Douglas Story" and "The Molly Kincaid Story"
1958 Playhouse 90 Julie Reynolds Episode: "The Last Man"
1959 The David Niven Show Girl Episode: "Portrait"
1960 The DuPont Show with June Allyson Lena Murchak Also known as: The June Allyson Show. Episode: "Love on Credit"
1961–1962 The Dick Powell Show Julie Greer; Hannah Cole; Cleo Plowright 3 episodes: "Who Killed Julie Greer?", "Goodbye, Hannah" and "The Sea Witch"
1962 Frontier Circus Amy Tyson Episode: "Stopover in Paradise"
The Lloyd Bridges Show Cathy Episode: "Just Married"
Dr. Kildare Evy Schaller Episode: "The Mask Makers"
1963–1964 Burke's Law The Richards quadruplets; Carole Durand 2 episodes: "Who Killed Sweet Betsy?" and "Who Killed Madison Cooper?"
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best TV Star - Female[broken anchor] (1963)
1964 The DuPont Show of the Week Jo Jo Episode: "Jeremy Rabbitt - The Secret Avenger"
1964–1966 The Addams Family Morticia Addams; Ophelia Frump; Lady Fingers Main role, 64 episodes
1966–1967 Batman Marsha, Queen of Diamonds 5 episodes
1967 Rango Belle Starker Episode: "What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing Holding Up a Place Like This?"
The Danny Thomas Hour Stacey McCall Episode: "Fame Is a Four-Letter Word"
1969 Bracken's World Paula Shannon Episode: "King David"
The Mod Squad Ginny / Lisa Whittaker Episode: "Lisa"
Storybook Squares Morticia Addams Series debut
1969–1970 Love, American Style Vera Segment: "Love and the Geisha". 2 episodes
1970 The Name of the Game Lydia Mulholland Episode: "Why I Blew Up Dakota"
1971 The Men from Shiloh Annie Spencer Episode: "The Legacy of Spencer Flats"
Dan August Margo Episode: "The Assassin"
1972 The New Scooby-Doo Movies Morticia Addams (voice) Episode: "Wednesday Is Missing"
Ghost Story Martha Alcott Episode: "The Summer House"
1973 The New Perry Mason Marian Ryan Episode: "The Case of the Frenzied Feminist"
1974 Ironside Justine Cross 2 episodes: "Raise the Devil: Parts 1 & 2"
1975 Kolchak: The Night Stalker The Registrar Episode: "Demon in Lace"
1976 Ellery Queen Rita Radcliffe Episode: "The Adventure of the Hardhearted Huckster"
1976–1977 Wonder Woman Queen Hippolyta 3 episodes: "The Feminum Mystique: Parts 1 & 2" and "Wonder Woman in Hollywood"
1977 Roots Mrs. Moore Television miniseries
Halloween with the New Addams Family Morticia Addams; Ophelia Frump Television film
Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels Additional voices Episode: "The Mystery Mansion Mix-Up"
Little Ladies of the Night Marilyn Atkins Television film
1977–1981 Quincy, M.E. Nurse Barbara Grayson; Sybil Presstin; Victoria Sawyer 3 episodes: "Valleyview", "Last of the Dinosaurs" and "Stain of Guilt"
1979 The French Atlantic Affair Peg Television miniseries
The Love Boat Margaret Jerome Episode: "Play by Play / Cindy / What's a Brother For?" (Segment: "Cindy")
1979–1982 Fantasy Island Ellie Simpson; Jessie DeWinter; Clora McAllister; Ellie Ackland 4 episodes
1980 The Dream Merchants Vera Television miniseries
Whew! Herself 5 episodes
1981 Midnight Lace Bernadette Chance Television film. Remake of 1960 feature film
1982 Tattletales Herself 5 episodes
1982–1983 Capitol Myrna Clegg Main role (until becoming ill in April 1983); her final acting role

Honors

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Year Award Category Title of work Result
1958 Academy Award Best Supporting Actress The Bachelor Party Nominated
1959 Golden Globe Award New Star of the Year – Actress Marjorie Morningstar Won
1963 Best TV Star - Female[broken anchor] Burke's Law Nominated

References

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  1. ^ a b Pylant, James (May 27, 2007). "The Addams Family's Carolyn Jones: A Descendant of Geronimo?". Genealogy Magazine. Archived from the original on June 10, 2008. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
  2. ^ Birth Certificate
  3. ^ a b Pylant, James (2012). In Morticia's Shadow: The Life & Career of Carolyn Jones. Jacobus Books. ISBN 978-0984185757.
  4. ^ Stroder, Chris (2000). Swingin' Chicks of the '60s: A Tribute to 101 of the Decade's Defining Women. Cedco Publishing. ISBN 978-0768322323.
  5. ^ a b Donnelley, Paul (2005). Fade To Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries. New York City: Omnibus Press. p. 528. ISBN 978-1844494309. She was one of the stars on the hit TV game show Match Game (1973).
  6. ^ "1940 United States Census". Family Search. Retrieved December 30, 2016.
  7. ^ Pylant 2012, p. 36.
  8. ^ Thise, Mark M. (2008). Hollywood Winners and Losers, A to Z. Limelight Editions. p. 97. ISBN 978-0879103514.
  9. ^ a b "Carolyn Jones Is Dead at 50; A TV Actress". The New York Times. United Press International. August 4, 1983.
  10. ^ Carolyn Jones at the Internet Broadway Database
  11. ^ Weaver, Tom (January 10, 2014). A Sci-Fi Swarm and Horror Horde: Interviews with 62 Filmmakers. McFarland & Company. p. 174. ISBN 978-0786458318.
  12. ^ "Carolyn Jones". TVGuide.com. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
  13. ^ "Carolyn Jones and Marshall Thompson". Here's Hollywood. Episode 1.39. November 23, 1960. NBC.
  14. ^ Milwaukee Sentinel August 9, 1959, p.27
  15. ^ Spelling, Aaron; Graham, Jefferson (1996). A Prime-Time Life: An Autobiography. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 51. ISBN 978-0312142681."Do you think you know film? The 'TCM Classic Movie Trivia' book has more than 4,000 questions to test your knowledge", Los Angeles Times, September 19, 2011.
  16. ^ Del Vecchio, Deborah (December 19, 2012). Beverly Garland: Her Life and Career. McFarland & Company. p. 149. ISBN 978-0786465019.
  17. ^ Schemering, Christopher (1988). The Soap Opera Encyclopedia. Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-0345324597.
  18. ^ Bennett, Ray (April 28, 2015). "Why Carolyn Jones did not want to kiss Elvis Presley". The Cliff Edge. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
  19. ^ Pylant 2012, p. 207.

Bibliography

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Further reading

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