Carolyn Jones

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Carolyn Jones

Jones in The Man in the Net (1959)
Born Carolyn Sue Jones
April 28, 1930(1930-04-28)
Amarillo, Texas, U.S.
Died August 3, 1983 (aged 53)
West Hollywood, California, U.S.
Occupation Actress
Years active 1952–1983
Spouse(s) Aaron Spelling (1953–1964)
Herbert S. Greene (1968–1977)
Peter Bailey-Britton
(1982–1983)

Carolyn Sue Jones[1] (April 28, 1930 – 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.

Her acting career lost its momentum after this, however she continued to act infrequently in films and television until she was debilitated by colon cancer, from which she died in 1983.

Jones was married three times; her first husband was the television producer Aaron Spelling to whom she was married from 1953 until their divorce in 1964.[2]

Contents

[edit] Life and career

[edit] Early life

Jones was born in Amarillo, Texas, the daughter of Cloe Jeanette (née Southern) and Julius Alfred Jones.[1] She was named after actress Carole Lombard, and after moving to California, joined the Pasadena Playhouse in 1947.

[edit] 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 marriage), and her film career began to gain momentum. She had an uncredited bit part as a nightclub hostess in The Big Heat, and a role in House of Wax brought her good reviews.

She was cast in From Here to Eternity, but illness forced her withdrawal. Donna Reed was recast in her role and won an 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". 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 interview program, Here's Hollywood.

Jones appeared in Invasion of the Body Snatchers 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. In 1964, with a long coal black wig covering her naturally blonde hair, 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.

[edit] Personal life and illness

Her acting career began to decline after the end of The Addams Family in 1966, and while she continued to act, her roles were sporadic. While appearing in the television series Capitol in 1982, she was diagnosed with colon cancer and she played many of her scenes in a wheelchair. Jones' struggle with cancer, however, had begun far earlier. Lovely Me, the biography of best-selling pulp author Jacqueline Susann, reveals that Susann, herself battling cancer, inquired about Carolyn's condition. Susann died in 1974.

She married her voice coach, Herbert S. Greene (born 1906 in Columbia, SC), in 1968, and resided with him in Palm Springs, California. They were divorced in 1977.

Chemotherapy did little to slow the course of her cancer and she died in 1983 at her home in West Hollywood, California, a month after her marriage to her long-time boyfriend, actor Peter Bailey-Britton. Jones told her sister, Bette Moriarty, that she wanted her epitaph to be, "She gave joy to the world." Her body was entombed at Melrose Abbey Memorial Park Cemetery in Anaheim, California, beside her mother. Jones was a convert to Judaism.[3]

[edit] Filmography

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b The Addams Family's Carolyn Jones: A Descendant of Geronimo?
  2. ^ Spelling, Aaron; Graham, Jefferson (1996). A Prime-Time Life: An Autobiography. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 51. ISBN 0-312-14268-4. 
  3. ^ http://www.nndb.com/event/931/000084679/

[edit] External links

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