Shirley Jones
Encyclopedia
Shirley Mae Jones is an American singer and actress of stage
, film
and television
. In her six decades of television, she starred as wholesome characters in a number of well-known musical films, such as Oklahoma! (1955), Carousel
(1956), and The Music Man
(1962). She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
for playing a prostitute in Elmer Gantry
(1960). She is probably best known as Shirley Partridge, the widowed mother of five children in the situation-comedy television series
The Partridge Family
(1970–1974), co-starring her real-life stepson David Cassidy
, son of Jack Cassidy
.
, a suburb
of Pittsburgh, to Methodist parents Marjorie (née Williams), a strict, strong-minded homemaker, and Paul Jones, owners of the Jones Brewing Company. An only child, she was named after Shirley Temple
. The family later moved to the small nearby town of Smithton, Pennsylvania
. Jones could sing almost as soon as she could speak. Encouraged by her summer camp counselors, her family arranged for teenaged Shirley to study twice a week, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with the world-renowned singer and teacher, Ralph Lawando. Afterwards, she frequently joined her father for a show at the Pittsburgh Playhouse
, where she fell in love with the musical theatre
.
Jones won the "Miss Pittsburgh" contest in 1952.
, her voice teacher convinced her to audition for a Broadway
agent, Gus Sherman. Sherman was pleased to put Jones under contract, and with her parents' approval, she resettled in New York City and gave herself one year to become a Broadway performer. She only had $100 in her pocket. If she did not succeed, she would move back to Smithton and study to be a veterinarian
.
Her first audition was for an open bi-weekly casting call held by John Fearnley, casting director for Rodgers and Hammerstein
and their various musicals. At the time, Jones had never heard of Rodgers and Hammerstein. Fearnley was so impressed that he ran across the street to fetch Richard Rodgers
, who was rehearsing with an orchestra for an upcoming musical
. Rodgers then called Oscar Hammerstein
at home. The two saw great potential in Jones. She became the first and only singer to be put under personal contract with the songwriters. They first cast her in a minor role in South Pacific
. For her second Broadway show, Me and Juliet
, she started as a chorus girl
, and then an understudy
for the lead role, earning rave reviews in Chicago, Illinois.
with her musically trained voice and she was cast as the female lead in the film adaptation of their hit musical Oklahoma! in 1955. Other film musicals quickly followed, including Carousel
, April Love
(1957) and The Music Man
, in which she was often typecast
as a wholesome, kind character. However, she won a 1960 Academy Award for her performance in Elmer Gantry
portraying a woman corrupted by the title character played by Burt Lancaster
. Her character becomes a prostitute
who encounters her seducer years later and takes her revenge. She was reunited with Ron Howard
(who had played a role in The Music Man) in The Courtship of Eddie's Father
(1963). Jones landed the role of a lady who fell in love with the professor in Fluffy (1965). In addition, she also has an impressive stage résumé, including playing the title character in the Broadway
musical Maggie Flynn
in 1968.
, a role that ultimately went to her best friend, Florence Henderson
, Jones was more than happy to be the producers' first choice to audition for the lead role of Shirley Partridge in The Partridge Family
, an ABC
sitcom based on the real-life musical family The Cowsills
. The series focused on a young widowed mother whose five children form a pop rock
group after the entire family painted its signature bus to travel. She was convinced that the combination of music and comedy would be a surefire hit. Jones realized, however, that:
During its first season, it became a hit and was screened in over 70 countries. Within months, Jones and her co-stars were pop culture television icons. Her real-life twenty-year-old stepson David Cassidy
, who was an unknown actor at the time, played Shirley Partridge's eldest son, Keith, and became the hottest teen idol
in the country. The show itself also spawned a number of records and songs performed by David and Shirley. That same year, "I Think I Love You
" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100
music chart, making Jones the second person, after Frank Sinatra
, and the first woman to win an acting Oscar and also have a #1 hit on that chart.
While enjoying playing Shirley Partridge, Jones was in a real-life crisis with her emotionally troubled husband. This sitcom also starred a lot of unknown actors and actresses, such as ex-model
Susan Dey
as the eldest daughter and second child, Laurie; future radio personality
Danny Bonaduce
as sarcastic son Danny; and future bookstore manager Suzanne Crough
as the youngest child, Tracy. Jeremy Gelbwaks
played the original Chris Partridge but left the show after the first season because his parents were moving to another state. Future race car driver Brian Forster
replaced him during the series' second season in 1971.
By 1974, the ratings had dropped and David Cassidy finally had had enough of playing Keith Partridge. One of his teenage fans had died of heart failure from injuries sustained while attending one of his concerts. The Partridge Family was dropped from the prime-time lineup after four seasons and 96 episodes. Though Jones was outraged about the series' cancellation, she held the show together. In fact, it was one of six series to be cancelled that year (along with Room 222
, The F.B.I., The Brady Bunch
, Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law
, and Here's Lucy
) to make room for new shows.
Shirley Jones' friendship with David Cassidy's family began in the mid to late 1950s, when David was just six, after he learned about his father's divorce from his mother Evelyn Ward. Upon David's first meeting with Shirley before co-starring with her on The Partridge Family, he said, "The day he tells me that they're divorced, he tells me, 'We're remarried, and let me introduce you to my new wife.' He was thrilled when her first film, Oklahoma! (1955), had come out; and my dad took me to see it—I just see her, and I go, uh-oh, it doesn't really quite register with me, 'cause I'm in total shock, because I wanted to hate her, but the instant that I met her, I got the essence of her. She's a very warm open, sweet, good human being. She couldn't have thought of me in the coldness of the ice any more than she did." Shirley was shocked to hear her real-life stepson was going to audition for the role of Keith Partridge. David said, "At the auditions, they introduced me to the lead actress (Shirley Jones) 'cause they had no idea, they had no idea. So I said, 'What are you doing here?' She looked at me and said, 'What are you doing here?' And I said, 'Well, I'm reading for the lead guy.' I said, 'What are you doing here?' She said, 'I'm the mother!'" Cassidy discussed his relationship with his stepmother on the show: "She wasn't my mother, and I can be very open, and we can speak, and we became very close friends. She was a very good role model for me, watching the way, you know, she dealt with people on the set, and watching people revere her." After the show's cancellation, Cassidy remained very close to his half-brothers and the rest of his Partridge Family cast mates, especially Shirley.
Cassidy appeared on many shows alongside his stepmother, including A&E Biography, TV Land Confidential, and The Today Show, and he was one of the presenters of his stepmother's Intimate Portrait
on Lifetime Television
and the defunct reality show In Search of the Partridge Family, where he served as co-executive producer. The rest of the cast also celebrated the 25th, 30th, and the 35th anniversaries of The Partridge Family (although Cassidy was unavailable to attend the 25th anniversary in 1995 owing to other commitments). In addition, Jack Cassidy's death in 1976 drew Jones and Cassidy closer as Shirley's three children and stepson mourned their father.
.
She also won fans in the memorable drama
tic project There Were Times, Dear, in which she played a loyal wife whose husband is dying of Alzheimer's disease
; she was nominated for an Emmy Award
for this work.
In February 1986, Shirley Jones unveiled her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
on Vine Street just around the corner from Hollywood Boulevard.
Jones had a stellar turn in a rare revival of Noel Coward
's operetta Bitter Sweet
at the Long Beach Civic Light Opera in 1983. In 2004, Shirley returned to Broadway in a revival of 42nd Street
, portraying diva "Dorothy Brock" opposite her son Patrick Cassidy
—the first time a mother and son were known to star together on Broadway. In July 2005, Jones revisited the musical Carousel
onstage in Massachusetts portraying "Cousin Nettie". She continues to appear in venues nationwide, in concerts and in speaking engagements.
In July 2006, Jones received another Emmy Award nomination for her supporting performance in the television film Hidden Places
. Shirley was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild
award for the same film but lost to Helen Mirren
for Elizabeth I. She also appeared in Grandma's Boy (2006), produced by Adam Sandler
, as a nymphomaniac senior citizen.
On November 16, 2007, she took the stage at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City
, Oklahoma
, during the Oklahoma Centennial Spectacular concert which celebrated the state's 100th birthday. Jones sang the songs "Oklahoma!
" and "People Will Say We're In Love
" from the musical Oklahoma!.
In early 2008, it was announced that Shirley would play Colleen Brady
on the long-running NBC
soap opera Days of our Lives
.
Jones guest starred on ABC Family
's short-lived show Ruby & The Rockits, as David & Patrick's mother.
In 2008, U.K. label Stage Door Records
released the retrospective collection Shirley Jones — Then & Now featuring twenty-four songs from Jones's musical career, including songs from the films Oklahoma!, Carousel and April Love. The album also features new recordings of songs including "Beauty and the Beast", "Memory" and a sentimental tribute to The Music Man.
On August 5, 1956, Jones married the actor Jack Cassidy
, with whom she had three sons, Shaun
, Patrick
, and Ryan. David Cassidy
, Jack's only child from his first marriage to actress Evelyn Ward
, became her stepson. Divorcing Cassidy in 1974, she later married comic/actor Marty Ingels
on November 13, 1977. Despite drastically different personalities and several separations (she filed, then withdrew, a divorce petition in 2002), they remain married. Jones and Ingels wrote an autobiography
based on their quirky relationship/marriage, Shirley & Marty: An Unlikely Love Story (William Morrow and Company
, in 1990, co-written with Mickey Herskowitz, ISBN 0-688-08457-5).
Jones was friends with her late co-star Gordon MacRae
and his ex-wife Sheila, and he was named godfather to her first son, Shaun Cassidy
. She also admitted that she had a crush on McRae and was starstruck when she worked opposite him on Oklahoma! and states she is the one who convinced MacRae to take the part as Billy Bigelow in Carousel
. Frank Sinatra, who had originally been cast, suddenly dropped out during the first days of filming because each scene had to be shot twice. Once in CinemaScope 55 (a wider-than-usual, 55 millimeter, 6-track stereo system.) and once in 35mm CinemaScope. Sinatra felt that he should have been paid twice because technically he was shooting two films. Three weeks after he left, they found a way to film the scene once on 55mm, then transfer it onto 35mm.
On the evening of December 11, 1976, after Jones had refused an offer of reconciliation from Jack Cassidy, she received news that her ex-husband's penthouse apartment was on fire. Apparently, the fire started from his lit cigarette when he fell asleep on the couch; the following morning, firefighters found Cassidy's body inside the gutted apartment.
Jack "wanted to come back (to me) right up to the day he died", Jones said in a 1983 newspaper interview. "And I wanted him. "That's the terrible part. Much as I love Marty and have a wonderful relationship - I'd say this with Marty sitting here, I'm not sure if Jack were alive I'd be married to Marty." Jones was 20 years old when she met Cassidy, who was 8 years her senior and refers to him as the most influential person in her life.
Jones is a vegetarian and a supporter of PETA.
Jones is the grandmother of nine: Caitlin, Jake, Juliet, Caleb, Roan, Lila and Marian Cassidy, from son Shaun
, and Cole and Jack, from son Patrick
.
Stage (theatre)
In theatre or performance arts, the stage is a designated space for the performance productions. The stage serves as a space for actors or performers and a focal point for the members of the audience...
, film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
. In her six decades of television, she starred as wholesome characters in a number of well-known musical films, such as Oklahoma! (1955), Carousel
Carousel (film)
Carousel is a 1956 film adaptation of the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical of the same name which, in turn, was based on Ferenc Molnár's non-musical play Liliom. The 1956 Carousel film stars Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones, and was directed by Henry King...
(1956), and The Music Man
The Music Man (1962 film)
The Music Man is a 1962 musical film starring Robert Preston as Harold Hill and Shirley Jones as Marian Paroo. The film is based on the 1957 Broadway musical of the same name by Meredith Willson...
(1962). She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
for playing a prostitute in Elmer Gantry
Elmer Gantry (film)
Elmer Gantry is a 1960 drama film about a con man and a female evangelist selling religion to small town America. Adapted by director Richard Brooks, the film is based on the 1927 novel of the same name by Sinclair Lewis and stars Burt Lancaster and Jean Simmons.Lancaster won an Academy Award for...
(1960). She is probably best known as Shirley Partridge, the widowed mother of five children in the situation-comedy television series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
The Partridge Family
The Partridge Family
The Partridge Family is an American television sitcom about a widowed mother and her five children who embark on a music career. The series originally ran from September 25, 1970 until August 31, 1974, the last new episode airing on March 23, 1974, on the ABC network, as part of a Friday-night lineup...
(1970–1974), co-starring her real-life stepson David Cassidy
David Cassidy
David Bruce Cassidy is an American actor, singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for his role as the character of Keith Partridge in the 1970s musical/sitcom The Partridge Family. He was one of pop culture's most celebrated teen idols, enjoying a successful pop career in the 1970s, and...
, son of Jack Cassidy
Jack Cassidy
John Joseph Edward “Jack” Cassidy was an American actor of stage, film and screen.His frequent professional persona was that of an urbane, super-confident egotist with a dramatic flair, much in the manner of Broadway actor Frank Fay...
.
Early life
Jones was born in Charleroi, PennsylvaniaCharleroi, Pennsylvania
Charleroi is a borough in Washington County, Pennsylvania, along the Monongahela River, 25 miles south of Pittsburgh. Charleroi was settled in 1890 and incorporated in 1891. The population in 1900 stood at 5,930; in 1910, 9,615; in 1920, 11,516, and in 1940, 10,784...
, a suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
of Pittsburgh, to Methodist parents Marjorie (née Williams), a strict, strong-minded homemaker, and Paul Jones, owners of the Jones Brewing Company. An only child, she was named after Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple Black , born Shirley Jane Temple, is an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, autobiographer, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia...
. The family later moved to the small nearby town of Smithton, Pennsylvania
Smithton, Pennsylvania
Smithton is a borough in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 444 at the 2000 census.Smithton's early industry was in coal mining, coke ovens, and shipping goods produced in the valley of Jacobs Creek....
. Jones could sing almost as soon as she could speak. Encouraged by her summer camp counselors, her family arranged for teenaged Shirley to study twice a week, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with the world-renowned singer and teacher, Ralph Lawando. Afterwards, she frequently joined her father for a show at the Pittsburgh Playhouse
Pittsburgh Playhouse
Pittsburgh Playhouse is Point Park University's performing arts center located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It houses three performance spaces and is home to The Rep, Point Park's resident professional theatre company, as well as three student companies—Conservatory Theatre Company, Conservatory...
, where she fell in love with the musical theatre
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
.
Jones won the "Miss Pittsburgh" contest in 1952.
Early stage career
In New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, her voice teacher convinced her to audition for a Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
agent, Gus Sherman. Sherman was pleased to put Jones under contract, and with her parents' approval, she resettled in New York City and gave herself one year to become a Broadway performer. She only had $100 in her pocket. If she did not succeed, she would move back to Smithton and study to be a veterinarian
Veterinarian
A veterinary physician, colloquially called a vet, shortened from veterinarian or veterinary surgeon , is a professional who treats disease, disorder and injury in animals....
.
Her first audition was for an open bi-weekly casting call held by John Fearnley, casting director for Rodgers and Hammerstein
Rodgers and Hammerstein
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were a well-known American songwriting duo, usually referred to as Rodgers and Hammerstein. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age of the medium...
and their various musicals. At the time, Jones had never heard of Rodgers and Hammerstein. Fearnley was so impressed that he ran across the street to fetch Richard Rodgers
Richard Rodgers
Richard Charles Rodgers was an American composer of music for more than 900 songs and for 43 Broadway musicals. He also composed music for films and television. He is best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II...
, who was rehearsing with an orchestra for an upcoming musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
. Rodgers then called Oscar Hammerstein
Oscar Hammerstein
Oscar Hammerstein may refer to:*Oscar Hammerstein I , cigar manufacturer, opera impresario and theatre builder*Oscar Hammerstein II , Broadway lyricist, songwriting partner of Jerome Kern and Richard Rodgers...
at home. The two saw great potential in Jones. She became the first and only singer to be put under personal contract with the songwriters. They first cast her in a minor role in South Pacific
South Pacific (musical)
South Pacific is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The story draws from James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1947 book Tales of the South Pacific, weaving together characters and elements from several of its...
. For her second Broadway show, Me and Juliet
Me and Juliet
Me and Juliet is a musical comedy by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II and their sixth stage collaboration. The work tells a story of romance backstage at a long-running musical: assistant stage manager Larry woos chorus girl Jeanie behind the back of her electrician boyfriend, Bob...
, she started as a chorus girl
Chorus Girl
A chorus girl is a female performer in a chorus or chorus line.It may also refer to:*Chorus Girl , a compilation from Atomic Records*Chorus Girls , a 1981 musical*"The Chorus Girl", a story by Anton Chekhov...
, and then an understudy
Understudy
In theater, an understudy is a performer who learns the lines and blocking/choreography of a regular actor or actress in a play. Should the regular actor or actress be unable to appear on stage because of illness or emergencies, the understudy takes over the part...
for the lead role, earning rave reviews in Chicago, Illinois.
Movie actress of the 1950s and 1960s
Jones impressed Rodgers and HammersteinRodgers and Hammerstein
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were a well-known American songwriting duo, usually referred to as Rodgers and Hammerstein. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age of the medium...
with her musically trained voice and she was cast as the female lead in the film adaptation of their hit musical Oklahoma! in 1955. Other film musicals quickly followed, including Carousel
Carousel
A carousel , or merry-go-round, is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating circular platform with seats for riders...
, April Love
April Love (film)
April Love is an American Musical directed by Henry Levin and produced by David Weisbart, based on the novel Phantom Filly by George Agnew Chamberlain . Photographed in CinemaScope and DeLuxe Color by Wilfred M...
(1957) and The Music Man
The Music Man
The Music Man is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments and uniforms to naive townsfolk before skipping town with...
, in which she was often typecast
Typecasting (acting)
In TV, film, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character; one or more particular roles; or, characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ethnic groups...
as a wholesome, kind character. However, she won a 1960 Academy Award for her performance in Elmer Gantry
Elmer Gantry
Elmer Gantry is a satirical novel written by Sinclair Lewis in 1926 and published by Harcourt in March 1927.-Background:Lewis did research for the novel by observing the work of various preachers in Kansas City in his so-called "Sunday School" meetings on Wednesdays. He first worked with William L...
portraying a woman corrupted by the title character played by Burt Lancaster
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
. Her character becomes a prostitute
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
who encounters her seducer years later and takes her revenge. She was reunited with Ron Howard
Ron Howard
Ronald William "Ron" Howard is an American actor, director, and producer. He came to prominence as a child actor, playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years, and later the teenaged Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days for six years...
(who had played a role in The Music Man) in The Courtship of Eddie's Father
The Courtship of Eddie's Father (film)
The Courtship of Eddie's Father is a 1963 romantic comedy film directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring Glenn Ford as a widowed father, with a young son to care for, played by Ron Howard....
(1963). Jones landed the role of a lady who fell in love with the professor in Fluffy (1965). In addition, she also has an impressive stage résumé, including playing the title character in the Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
musical Maggie Flynn
Maggie Flynn
Maggie Flynn is a musical with a book by Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore, and George David Weiss and music and lyrics by Peretti, Creatore, and Weiss....
in 1968.
Prolific television character actress
As a teenager, Jones made her acting début on an episode of Fireside Theatre. The part led to other roles including:- Gruen Guild Playhouse
- Ford Star JubileeFord Star JubileeFord Star Jubilee was a usually live, ninety minute, color anthology series that aired once a month on Saturday nights on CBS at 9:00 P.M., E.S.T. from the fall of 1955 to the fall of 1956...
- Playhouse 90Playhouse 90Playhouse 90 is an American television anthology series that was telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. It originated from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California...
- Lux Video TheatreLux Video TheatreLux Video Theatre, is a weekly television anthology series that was produced from 1950 until 1959. The series presented both comedy and drama in original teleplays, as well as abridged adaptations of films and plays....
- The United States Steel HourThe United States Steel HourThe United States Steel Hour is an anthology series which brought hour-long dramas to television from 1953 to 1963. The television series and the radio program that preceded it were both sponsored by the United States Steel Corporation....
- DuPont Show of the MonthDuPont Show of the MonthDuPont Show of the Month, an acclaimed 90-minute television anthology series, aired monthly on CBS from 1957 to 1961. The DuPont Company also sponsored a weekly half-hour anthology drama series hosted by June Allyson, The DuPont Show with June Allyson .During the Golden Age of Television, DuPont...
- Make Room for Daddy, where she played herself
- The Comedy Spot
- Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler TheatreBob Hope Presents the Chrysler TheatreBob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre is an anthology television series, sponsored by Chrysler Corporation, which ran on NBC from 1963 through 1967...
- The Name of the GameThe Name of the Game"The Name of the Game" is a 1977 song by Swedish pop group ABBA, and was released as the first single from the group's fifth studio album, The Album...
- McMillan & Wife
- Disneyland (also known as Wonderful World of Disney)
- The Love BoatThe Love BoatThe Love Boat is an American television series set on a cruise ship, which aired on the ABC Television Network from September 24,1977, until May 24,1986.The show starred Gavin MacLeod as the ship's captain...
- HotelHotel (TV series)Hotel is an American prime time drama series which aired on ABC from September 21, 1983 to May 5, 1988 in the timeslot following Dynasty....
- Murder, She WroteMurder, She WroteMurder, She Wrote is an American television mystery series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. The series aired for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996 on the CBS network, with 264 episodes transmitted. It was followed by four TV films and a spin-off series,...
- Melrose Place
- Sabrina the Teenage Witch
The Partridge Family
In 1970, after her film roles dwindled, and after turning down the role of Carol Brady on The Brady BunchThe Brady Bunch
The Brady Bunch is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz and starring Robert Reed, Florence Henderson, and Ann B. Davis. The series revolved around a large blended family...
, a role that ultimately went to her best friend, Florence Henderson
Florence Henderson
Florence Agnes Henderson is an American actress and singer. She is perhaps best known for her role of Carol Brady on the ABC sitcom The Brady Bunch from 1969 to 1974...
, Jones was more than happy to be the producers' first choice to audition for the lead role of Shirley Partridge in The Partridge Family
The Partridge Family
The Partridge Family is an American television sitcom about a widowed mother and her five children who embark on a music career. The series originally ran from September 25, 1970 until August 31, 1974, the last new episode airing on March 23, 1974, on the ABC network, as part of a Friday-night lineup...
, an ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
sitcom based on the real-life musical family The Cowsills
The Cowsills
The Cowsills are an American singing group from Newport, Rhode Island. They specialized in harmonies and the ability to sing and play music at an early age. The band was formed in the spring of 1965 by brothers Bill, Bob, and Barry, then shortly thereafter added John...
. The series focused on a young widowed mother whose five children form a pop rock
Pop rock
Pop rock is a music genre which mixes a catchy pop style and light lyrics in its guitar-based rock songs. There are varying definitions of the term, ranging from a slower and mellower form of rock music to a subgenre of pop music...
group after the entire family painted its signature bus to travel. She was convinced that the combination of music and comedy would be a surefire hit. Jones realized, however, that:
During its first season, it became a hit and was screened in over 70 countries. Within months, Jones and her co-stars were pop culture television icons. Her real-life twenty-year-old stepson David Cassidy
David Cassidy
David Bruce Cassidy is an American actor, singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for his role as the character of Keith Partridge in the 1970s musical/sitcom The Partridge Family. He was one of pop culture's most celebrated teen idols, enjoying a successful pop career in the 1970s, and...
, who was an unknown actor at the time, played Shirley Partridge's eldest son, Keith, and became the hottest teen idol
Teen idol
A teen idol is a celebrity who is widely idolized by teenagers; he or she is often young but not necessarily teenaged. Often teen idols are actors or pop singers, but some sports figures have an appeal to teenagers. Some teen idols began their careers as child actors...
in the country. The show itself also spawned a number of records and songs performed by David and Shirley. That same year, "I Think I Love You
I Think I Love You
"I Think I Love You" is a 1970 single by The Partridge Family, featuring David Cassidy, composed by songwriter Tony Romeo. The song was released at the same time as the debut of the network television sitcom The Partridge Family. During the show's first season the song was featured on the show...
" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
music chart, making Jones the second person, after Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, and the first woman to win an acting Oscar and also have a #1 hit on that chart.
While enjoying playing Shirley Partridge, Jones was in a real-life crisis with her emotionally troubled husband. This sitcom also starred a lot of unknown actors and actresses, such as ex-model
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....
Susan Dey
Susan Dey
Susan Dey is an American actress, known primarily for her roles in film and television. Her more prominent parts came as elder daughter, Laurie Partridge, on the 1970s sitcom The Partridge Family, and as Grace Van Owen, a California assistant district attorney and judge on the dramatic series, L.A...
as the eldest daughter and second child, Laurie; future radio personality
Radio personality
A radio personality is a person with an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality can be someone who introduces and discusses various genres of music, hosts a talk radio show that may take calls from listeners, or someone whose primary responsibility is to give news, weather,...
Danny Bonaduce
Danny Bonaduce
Dante Daniel "Danny" Bonaduce is an American radio/television personality, comedian, professional wrestler, and former child actor...
as sarcastic son Danny; and future bookstore manager Suzanne Crough
Suzanne Crough
Suzanne Crough is a former actress who is best known for her role in the hit television Sitcom The Partridge Family. The show ran from 1970 to 1974.-Career:...
as the youngest child, Tracy. Jeremy Gelbwaks
Jeremy Gelbwaks
Jeremy Gelbwaks was a child actor who starred in the television series The Partridge Family from 1970 to 1971.-Career:...
played the original Chris Partridge but left the show after the first season because his parents were moving to another state. Future race car driver Brian Forster
Brian Forster
Brian Forster was the second actor to play the role of Chris Partridge in the television series The Partridge Family.-Biography:...
replaced him during the series' second season in 1971.
By 1974, the ratings had dropped and David Cassidy finally had had enough of playing Keith Partridge. One of his teenage fans had died of heart failure from injuries sustained while attending one of his concerts. The Partridge Family was dropped from the prime-time lineup after four seasons and 96 episodes. Though Jones was outraged about the series' cancellation, she held the show together. In fact, it was one of six series to be cancelled that year (along with Room 222
Room 222
Room 222 is an American comedy-drama television series produced by 20th Century Fox Television. The series aired on ABC from September 17, 1969, to January 11, 1974, for 112 episodes...
, The F.B.I., The Brady Bunch
The Brady Bunch
The Brady Bunch is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz and starring Robert Reed, Florence Henderson, and Ann B. Davis. The series revolved around a large blended family...
, Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law
Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law
Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law is an American legal drama, jointly created by David Victor and former law professor Jerry McNeely, that starred actor Arthur Hill. The series was broadcast on ABC from 1971 to 1974...
, and Here's Lucy
Here's Lucy
Here's Lucy is Lucille Ball's third network television sitcom. It ran on CBS from 1968 to 1974.-Background:Though The Lucy Show was still hugely popular during the previous season, finishing in the top five of the Nielsen Ratings , Ball opted to end that series at the end of that season and create...
) to make room for new shows.
Shirley Jones' friendship with David Cassidy's family began in the mid to late 1950s, when David was just six, after he learned about his father's divorce from his mother Evelyn Ward. Upon David's first meeting with Shirley before co-starring with her on The Partridge Family, he said, "The day he tells me that they're divorced, he tells me, 'We're remarried, and let me introduce you to my new wife.' He was thrilled when her first film, Oklahoma! (1955), had come out; and my dad took me to see it—I just see her, and I go, uh-oh, it doesn't really quite register with me, 'cause I'm in total shock, because I wanted to hate her, but the instant that I met her, I got the essence of her. She's a very warm open, sweet, good human being. She couldn't have thought of me in the coldness of the ice any more than she did." Shirley was shocked to hear her real-life stepson was going to audition for the role of Keith Partridge. David said, "At the auditions, they introduced me to the lead actress (Shirley Jones) 'cause they had no idea, they had no idea. So I said, 'What are you doing here?' She looked at me and said, 'What are you doing here?' And I said, 'Well, I'm reading for the lead guy.' I said, 'What are you doing here?' She said, 'I'm the mother!'" Cassidy discussed his relationship with his stepmother on the show: "She wasn't my mother, and I can be very open, and we can speak, and we became very close friends. She was a very good role model for me, watching the way, you know, she dealt with people on the set, and watching people revere her." After the show's cancellation, Cassidy remained very close to his half-brothers and the rest of his Partridge Family cast mates, especially Shirley.
Cassidy appeared on many shows alongside his stepmother, including A&E Biography, TV Land Confidential, and The Today Show, and he was one of the presenters of his stepmother's Intimate Portrait
Intimate Portrait
Intimate Portrait is a 1997 limited edition EP by Caedmon's Call, released to coincide with their major tour of 1997. It is an enhanced CD with video footage.-Track listing:# "Bus Driver" – 5:12# "April Showers" – 4:05# "Truth" – 5:53...
on Lifetime Television
Lifetime Television
Lifetime Television, often referred to as Lifetime TV, or most commonly, Lifetime, is an American cable television specialty channel devoted to movies, sitcoms and dramas, all of which are either geared toward women or feature women in lead roles. The cable network is owned by A&E Television Networks...
and the defunct reality show In Search of the Partridge Family, where he served as co-executive producer. The rest of the cast also celebrated the 25th, 30th, and the 35th anniversaries of The Partridge Family (although Cassidy was unavailable to attend the 25th anniversary in 1995 owing to other commitments). In addition, Jack Cassidy's death in 1976 drew Jones and Cassidy closer as Shirley's three children and stepson mourned their father.
Shirley and other projects
In 1979, Jones tried her hand at television for the second time starring in Shirley which, like, The Partridge Family, featured a family headed by a widowed mother, but failed to win ratings, and was canceled toward the middle of the season. Jones also played the "older woman" girlfriend of Drew Carey's character in several episodes of The Drew Carey ShowThe Drew Carey Show
The Drew Carey Show is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from 1995 to 2004. The show was set in Cleveland, Ohio, and revolved around the retail office and home life of "everyman" Drew Carey, a fictionalized version of the actor....
.
She also won fans in the memorable drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
tic project There Were Times, Dear, in which she played a loyal wife whose husband is dying of Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
; she was nominated for an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
for this work.
In February 1986, Shirley Jones unveiled her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
on Vine Street just around the corner from Hollywood Boulevard.
Jones had a stellar turn in a rare revival of Noel Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
's operetta Bitter Sweet
Bitter Sweet
Bitter Sweet is an operetta in three acts written by Noël Coward and first produced in 1929 at Her Majesty's Theatre in London. It ran for a very successful 967 performances....
at the Long Beach Civic Light Opera in 1983. In 2004, Shirley returned to Broadway in a revival of 42nd Street
42nd Street (musical)
42nd Street is a musical with a book by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble, lyrics by Al Dubin, and music by Harry Warren. The 1980 Broadway production, directed by an ailing Gower Champion and orchestrated by Philip J. Lang, won the Tony Award for Best Musical and became a long-running hit...
, portraying diva "Dorothy Brock" opposite her son Patrick Cassidy
Patrick Cassidy (actor)
Patrick Cassidy is an American actor best known for his roles in musical theatre and television.-Personal life:...
—the first time a mother and son were known to star together on Broadway. In July 2005, Jones revisited the musical Carousel
Carousel (musical)
Carousel is the second stage musical by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II . The work premiered in 1945 and was adapted from Ferenc Molnár's 1909 play Liliom, transplanting its Budapest setting to the Maine coastline...
onstage in Massachusetts portraying "Cousin Nettie". She continues to appear in venues nationwide, in concerts and in speaking engagements.
In July 2006, Jones received another Emmy Award nomination for her supporting performance in the television film Hidden Places
Hidden Places
Hidden Places is a 2006 made for TV movie. It premiered on 28 January 2006 on Hallmark Channel. The film was directed by Yelena Lanskaya. The teleplay was by Robert Tate Miller and was based on the novel by Lynn Austin.- Plot :...
. Shirley was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild
Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
award for the same film but lost to Helen Mirren
Helen Mirren
Dame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...
for Elizabeth I. She also appeared in Grandma's Boy (2006), produced by Adam Sandler
Adam Sandler
Adam Richard Sandler is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, musician, and film producer.After becoming a Saturday Night Live cast member, Sandler went on to star in several Hollywood feature films that grossed over $100 million at the box office...
, as a nymphomaniac senior citizen.
On November 16, 2007, she took the stage at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City
Oklahoma city
Oklahoma City is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma.Oklahoma City may also refer to:*Oklahoma City metropolitan area*Downtown Oklahoma City*Uptown Oklahoma City*Oklahoma City bombing*Oklahoma City National Memorial...
, Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
, during the Oklahoma Centennial Spectacular concert which celebrated the state's 100th birthday. Jones sang the songs "Oklahoma!
Oklahoma! (song)
♥"Oklahoma" is the title song from, and the finale to, the Broadway musical Oklahoma!, named for the setting of the musical play.The music and lyrics were written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II...
" and "People Will Say We're In Love
People Will Say We're in Love
"People Will Say We're In Love" is a show tune from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma! . In the original Broadway production, the song was introduced by Alfred Drake and Joan Roberts.-Plot context:...
" from the musical Oklahoma!.
In early 2008, it was announced that Shirley would play Colleen Brady
Colleen Brady
Colleen Mary Brady was a fictional character on the U.S. soap opera Days of our Lives. Her story was seen in flashbacks through the correspondence between Santo DiMera and herself...
on the long-running NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
soap opera Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around...
.
Jones guest starred on ABC Family
ABC Family
ABC Family, stylized as abc family, is an American television network, owned by ABC Family Worldwide Inc., a subsidiary of the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company...
's short-lived show Ruby & The Rockits, as David & Patrick's mother.
In 2008, U.K. label Stage Door Records
Stage Door Records
Stage Door Records is a UK based label founded in 2007 that specialise in cast recordings and vocalist albums from stars of stage and screen. The label has issued a number of cast albums on CD for the first time, including Mutiny! and Colette...
released the retrospective collection Shirley Jones — Then & Now featuring twenty-four songs from Jones's musical career, including songs from the films Oklahoma!, Carousel and April Love. The album also features new recordings of songs including "Beauty and the Beast", "Memory" and a sentimental tribute to The Music Man.
Personal life
Jack Cassidy
John Joseph Edward “Jack” Cassidy was an American actor of stage, film and screen.His frequent professional persona was that of an urbane, super-confident egotist with a dramatic flair, much in the manner of Broadway actor Frank Fay...
, with whom she had three sons, Shaun
Shaun Cassidy
Shaun Paul Cassidy is an American actor, singer, writer, and producer. He is the eldest son of Academy Award winning actress Shirley Jones, and the second son of Tony award-winning actor Jack Cassidy...
, Patrick
Patrick Cassidy (actor)
Patrick Cassidy is an American actor best known for his roles in musical theatre and television.-Personal life:...
, and Ryan. David Cassidy
David Cassidy
David Bruce Cassidy is an American actor, singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for his role as the character of Keith Partridge in the 1970s musical/sitcom The Partridge Family. He was one of pop culture's most celebrated teen idols, enjoying a successful pop career in the 1970s, and...
, Jack's only child from his first marriage to actress Evelyn Ward
Evelyn Ward
Evelyn Ward was an American actress best known for her television career from the late 1940s through the mid 1960s, and for being the mother of famous actor and teen idol David Cassidy....
, became her stepson. Divorcing Cassidy in 1974, she later married comic/actor Marty Ingels
Marty Ingels
Marty Ingels is an actor, comedian, theatrical agent, and, by many, best known as the voice of many cartoon characters and commercials. Born Martin Ingerman in Brooklyn, New York, he is the son of Jacob and Minnie Ingerman.His voice-overs and commercials include those for Paul Masson wines, with...
on November 13, 1977. Despite drastically different personalities and several separations (she filed, then withdrew, a divorce petition in 2002), they remain married. Jones and Ingels wrote an autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
based on their quirky relationship/marriage, Shirley & Marty: An Unlikely Love Story (William Morrow and Company
William Morrow and Company
William Morrow and Company is an American publishing company founded by William Morrow in 1926. The company was acquired by Scott Foresman in 1967, and sold to Hearst Corporation in 1981. It was sold along to the News Corporation in 1999...
, in 1990, co-written with Mickey Herskowitz, ISBN 0-688-08457-5).
Jones was friends with her late co-star Gordon MacRae
Gordon MacRae
Gordon MacRae was an American actor and singer, best known for his appearances in the film versions of two Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, Oklahoma! and Carousel and films with Doris Day like Starlift.-Early life:Born Albert Gordon MacRae in East Orange, New Jersey, MacRae graduated from...
and his ex-wife Sheila, and he was named godfather to her first son, Shaun Cassidy
Shaun Cassidy
Shaun Paul Cassidy is an American actor, singer, writer, and producer. He is the eldest son of Academy Award winning actress Shirley Jones, and the second son of Tony award-winning actor Jack Cassidy...
. She also admitted that she had a crush on McRae and was starstruck when she worked opposite him on Oklahoma! and states she is the one who convinced MacRae to take the part as Billy Bigelow in Carousel
Carousel (film)
Carousel is a 1956 film adaptation of the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical of the same name which, in turn, was based on Ferenc Molnár's non-musical play Liliom. The 1956 Carousel film stars Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones, and was directed by Henry King...
. Frank Sinatra, who had originally been cast, suddenly dropped out during the first days of filming because each scene had to be shot twice. Once in CinemaScope 55 (a wider-than-usual, 55 millimeter, 6-track stereo system.) and once in 35mm CinemaScope. Sinatra felt that he should have been paid twice because technically he was shooting two films. Three weeks after he left, they found a way to film the scene once on 55mm, then transfer it onto 35mm.
On the evening of December 11, 1976, after Jones had refused an offer of reconciliation from Jack Cassidy, she received news that her ex-husband's penthouse apartment was on fire. Apparently, the fire started from his lit cigarette when he fell asleep on the couch; the following morning, firefighters found Cassidy's body inside the gutted apartment.
Jack "wanted to come back (to me) right up to the day he died", Jones said in a 1983 newspaper interview. "And I wanted him. "That's the terrible part. Much as I love Marty and have a wonderful relationship - I'd say this with Marty sitting here, I'm not sure if Jack were alive I'd be married to Marty." Jones was 20 years old when she met Cassidy, who was 8 years her senior and refers to him as the most influential person in her life.
Jones is a vegetarian and a supporter of PETA.
Jones is the grandmother of nine: Caitlin, Jake, Juliet, Caleb, Roan, Lila and Marian Cassidy, from son Shaun
Shaun Cassidy
Shaun Paul Cassidy is an American actor, singer, writer, and producer. He is the eldest son of Academy Award winning actress Shirley Jones, and the second son of Tony award-winning actor Jack Cassidy...
, and Cole and Jack, from son Patrick
Patrick Cassidy (actor)
Patrick Cassidy is an American actor best known for his roles in musical theatre and television.-Personal life:...
.
Filmography
- Oklahoma! (1955)
- CarouselCarousel (film)Carousel is a 1956 film adaptation of the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical of the same name which, in turn, was based on Ferenc Molnár's non-musical play Liliom. The 1956 Carousel film stars Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones, and was directed by Henry King...
(1956) - April LoveApril Love (film)April Love is an American Musical directed by Henry Levin and produced by David Weisbart, based on the novel Phantom Filly by George Agnew Chamberlain . Photographed in CinemaScope and DeLuxe Color by Wilfred M...
(1957) - Never Steal Anything SmallNever Steal Anything SmallNever Steal Anything Small is a musical comedy film starring James Cagney, Shirley Jones, Roger Smith, Cara Williams, Nehemiah Persoff, Royal Dano, and Horace McMahon. The film was based on The Devil's Hornpipe by Maxwell Anderson and released by Universal Pictures.-Production details:Filmed in...
(1959) - BobbikinsBobbikinsBobbikins is a 1959 British film directed by Robert Day. It stars Shirley Jones and Max Bygraves.-Cast:* Shirley Jones as Betty Barnaby* Max Bygraves as Ben Barnaby* Billie Whitelaw as Lydia Simmons* Barbara Shelley as Valerie* Colin Gordon as Dr...
(1959) - Elmer GantryElmer Gantry (film)Elmer Gantry is a 1960 drama film about a con man and a female evangelist selling religion to small town America. Adapted by director Richard Brooks, the film is based on the 1927 novel of the same name by Sinclair Lewis and stars Burt Lancaster and Jean Simmons.Lancaster won an Academy Award for...
(1960) - PepePepe (film)Pepe is a 1960 film starring Mario "Cantinflas" Moreno in the title role, directed by George Sidney. A multitude of cameo appearances attempted to replicate the success of Mario Moreno's American debut, notably Around the World in Eighty Days, produced by Mike Todd in 1956.The film failed to...
(1960) - Two Rode TogetherTwo Rode TogetherTwo Rode Together is a western film directed by John Ford, and starring James Stewart, Richard Widmark, and Shirley Jones. The supporting cast includes Linda Cristal, Andy Devine, and John McIntire...
(1961) - The Music ManThe Music Man (1962 film)The Music Man is a 1962 musical film starring Robert Preston as Harold Hill and Shirley Jones as Marian Paroo. The film is based on the 1957 Broadway musical of the same name by Meredith Willson...
(1962) - The Courtship of Eddie's FatherThe Courtship of Eddie's Father (film)The Courtship of Eddie's Father is a 1963 romantic comedy film directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring Glenn Ford as a widowed father, with a young son to care for, played by Ron Howard....
(1963) - A Ticklish AffairA Ticklish AffairA Ticklish Affair is a 1963 film directed by George Sidney. It stars Shirley Jones and Gig Young. It was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1964.-Cast:*Shirley Jones as Amy Martin*Gig Young as Key Weedon*Red Buttons as Uncle Cy...
(1963) - Dark Purpose (1964)
- Bedtime StoryBedtime Story (film)Bedtime Story is a 1964 comedy film made by Pennebaker Productions, The Lankershim Company and Universal Pictures. It was directed by Ralph Levy and produced by Stanley Shapiro with Robert Arthur as executive producer from a screenplay by Stanley Shapiro and Paul Henning. The music score was by...
(1964) - Fluffy (1965)
- The Secret of My Success (1965)
- The Gulf (1969)
- The Happy EndingThe Happy EndingThe Happy Ending is a 1969 film written and directed by Richard Brooks, which tells the story of a repressed housewife who longs for liberation from her marriage...
(1969)
- Oddly Coupled (1970)
- The Cheyenne Social ClubThe Cheyenne Social ClubThe Cheyenne Social Club is a 1970 Western comedy film written by James Lee Barrett and directed and produced by Gene Kelly, starring James Stewart, Henry Fonda, and Shirley Jones....
(1970) - Beyond the Poseidon AdventureBeyond the Poseidon AdventureBeyond the Poseidon Adventure is a 1979 American disaster film, a sequel to the 1972 film The Poseidon Adventure. It was directed by Irwin Allen and starred Michael Caine and Sally Field...
(1979) - TankTank (film)Tank is a 1984 comedy, drama, and action movie starring James Garner, Jenilee Harrison, and C. Thomas Howell. The film was written by Dan Gordon and directed by Marvin J. Chomsky...
(1984) - Jack L. Warner: The Last Mogul (1993) (documentary)
- Cops n Roberts (1995)
- This Is My Father (1998) (documentary)
- GideonGideon (film)-Plot:Gideon Oliver Dobbs is a man with a mental disability. He moves into a nursing home known as Lakeview, with many elderly inhabitants. They are all grumpy old men and women. Gideon is much younger than the other residents, which causes confusion when he first introduces himself...
(1999) - The Adventures of Cinderella's Daughter (2000)
- Ping! (2000)
- Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the ThirteenthShriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the ThirteenthShriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth is a 2000 American direct-to-video parody film directed by John Blanchard. Several mid and late '90s teen horror films are parodied, as are the slasher films of the '70s and '80s, including the Scream films , Friday the 13th , Halloween , A...
(2000) - Manna from HeavenManna from Heaven (film)Manna from Heaven is a 2002 film written by Gabrielle B. Burton and co-directed by her daughter Gabrielle and her sister Maria. The film won awards at four film festivals. It was actor Jerry Orbach's final film.-Principal cast:-Critical reception:...
(2002) - The Creature of the Sunny Side Up Trailer Park (2004)
- Raising GeniusRaising GeniusRaising Genius is a comedy starring Justin Long, Wendie Malick, Ed Begley, Jr., Stephen Root, Danica McKellar, Mark DeCarlo, Tippi Hedren, Shirley Jones, Clint Howard, and Sam Huntington about a teenage genius who locks himself in his bathroom for three months, in order to work out his formulas...
(2004) - Grandma's Boy (2006)
- Christmas Is Here AgainChristmas Is Here AgainChristmas Is Here Again is a 2007 animated Christmas film released on DVD by Screen Media Films. The first feature production from the Renegade Animation studio, it was co-written, co-produced and directed by Robert Zappia...
(2007) (voice)
Television work
- The Pat Boone Chevy ShowroomThe Pat Boone Chevy ShowroomThe Pat Boone Chevy Showroom is a half-hour variety show that aired on ABC from October 3, 1957 to June 23, 1960, starring the young singer Pat Boone and a host of top-name guest stars. The program was of course sponsored by Chevrolet...
(1957) (guest) - Out of the Blue (1968) (unsold pilot)
- Silent Night, Lonely Night (1969)
- The Partridge FamilyThe Partridge FamilyThe Partridge Family is an American television sitcom about a widowed mother and her five children who embark on a music career. The series originally ran from September 25, 1970 until August 31, 1974, the last new episode airing on March 23, 1974, on the ABC network, as part of a Friday-night lineup...
(1970–1974) - The Girls of Huntington HouseThe Girls of Huntington HouseThe Girls of Huntington House is a 1973 television film directed by Alf Kjellin. The film is based on the 1972 novel of the same name written by Blossom Elfman.- Plot :...
(1973) - The Family Nobody WantedThe Family Nobody WantedThe Family Nobody Wanted is a 1954 memoir by Helen Doss .It retells the story of how Doss and her husband Carl, a Methodist minister, adopted twelve children of various ethnic backgrounds...
(1975) - Winner Take All (1975)
- The Lives of Jenny Dolan (1975)
- Yesterday's Child (1977)
- Evening in ByzantiumEvening in ByzantiumEvening in Byzantium is a 1978 television movie produced by Glen A. Larson Productions and Universal Television, and directed by Jerry London, about the Cannes Film Festival being overtaken by terrorists. It stars Glenn Ford, Vince Edwards, Shirley Jones, Eddie Albert and Erin Gray, with Edward...
(1978) - Who'll Save Our Children? (1978)
- A Last Cry for Help (1979)
- Shirley (1979–1980)
- The Children of An Lac (1980)
- Inmates: A Love Story (1981)
- The Adventures of PollyannaPollyannaPollyanna is a best-selling 1913 novel by Eleanor H. Porter that is now considered a classic of children's literature, with the title character's name becoming a popular term for someone with the same optimistic outlook. The book was such a success, that Porter soon produced a sequel, Pollyanna...
(1982) - HotelHotel (TV series)Hotel is an American prime time drama series which aired on ABC from September 21, 1983 to May 5, 1988 in the timeslot following Dynasty....
(1983) (pilot for series) - Charlie (1989) (unsold pilot)
- Dog's Best Friend (1997)
- The Drew Carey Show (1998)
- That '70s ShowThat '70s ShowThat '70s Show is an American television period sitcom that centers on the lives of a group of teenage friends living in the fictional suburban town of Point Place, Wisconsin, from May 17, 1976, to December 31, 1979...
(2000) (cameo) - Hidden Places (2006)
- Monarch CoveMonarch CoveMonarch Cove is a prime time telenovela that premiered on Lifetime Television on November 4, 2006. It ran for 14 episodes, ending on December 16, 2006.-Premise:...
(2006) - Days of our LivesDays of our LivesDays of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around...
(2008) - Ruby & The Rockits (2009)
- Raising HopeRaising HopeRaising Hope is a television comedy program first aired on September 21, 2010 on Fox. The series airs on Tuesdays at 9:30 pm. On January 10, 2011, Fox renewed Raising Hope for a second season, which premiered on September 20, 2011....
(2011) (Episode: "Burt's Parents")
Stage work
- South PacificSouth Pacific (musical)South Pacific is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The story draws from James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1947 book Tales of the South Pacific, weaving together characters and elements from several of its...
(1953) (Broadway, ensemble role) - Me and JulietMe and JulietMe and Juliet is a musical comedy by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II and their sixth stage collaboration. The work tells a story of romance backstage at a long-running musical: assistant stage manager Larry woos chorus girl Jeanie behind the back of her electrician boyfriend, Bob...
(1954) (Chicago) - Oklahoma!Oklahoma!Oklahoma! is the first musical written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance...
(1956) (European tour with Jack CassidyJack CassidyJohn Joseph Edward “Jack” Cassidy was an American actor of stage, film and screen.His frequent professional persona was that of an urbane, super-confident egotist with a dramatic flair, much in the manner of Broadway actor Frank Fay...
) - The Beggar's OperaThe Beggar's OperaThe Beggar's Opera is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay with music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It is one of the watershed plays in Augustan drama and is the only example of the once thriving genre of satirical ballad opera to remain popular today...
(1957) (with Jack Cassidy) - Wish You Were Here!Wish You Were Here (musical)Wish You Were Here is a musical with a book by Arthur Kober and Joshua Logan and music and lyrics by Harold Rome. The musical was adapted from Kober's 1937 play, Having Wonderful Time, and revolves around a summer camp for adults.-Synopsis:...
(1959) (Dallas State Fair Theater with Jack Cassidy) - The Sound of MusicThe Sound of MusicThe Sound of Music is a musical by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the memoir of Maria von Trapp, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers...
(1966) (Regional - various) - Maggie FlynnMaggie FlynnMaggie Flynn is a musical with a book by Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore, and George David Weiss and music and lyrics by Peretti, Creatore, and Weiss....
(1967) (Broadway with Jack Cassidy) - Wait Until DarkWait Until DarkWait Until Dark is a play by Frederick Knott.-Synopsis:Susy Hendrix is a blind Greenwich Village housewife who becomes the target of three con-men searching for the heroin hidden in a doll, which her husband Sam innocently transported from Canada as a favor to a woman who has since been murdered...
(1967) (with Jack Cassidy) - The Marriage Band (1972) (with Jack Cassidy)
- On a Clear Day You Can See ForeverOn a Clear Day You Can See ForeverOn a Clear Day You Can See Forever is a musical with music by Burton Lane and a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner based loosely on Berkeley Square, written in 1929 by John L. Balderston. It concerns a woman who has ESP and has been reincarnated...
(1974) - Show BoatShow BoatShow Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was originally produced in New York in 1927 and in London in 1928, and was based on the 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. The plot chronicles the lives of those living and working...
(1976) - The Sound of MusicThe Sound of MusicThe Sound of Music is a musical by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the memoir of Maria von Trapp, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers...
(1977) - Bitter SweetBitter SweetBitter Sweet is an operetta in three acts written by Noël Coward and first produced in 1929 at Her Majesty's Theatre in London. It ran for a very successful 967 performances....
(1982) - Love LettersLove Letters (play)Love Letters is a Pulitzer Prize for Drama nominated play by A. R. Gurney. The play centers on just two characters, Melissa Gardner and Andrew Makepeace Ladd III...
(1994) (with Marty IngelsMarty IngelsMarty Ingels is an actor, comedian, theatrical agent, and, by many, best known as the voice of many cartoon characters and commercials. Born Martin Ingerman in Brooklyn, New York, he is the son of Jacob and Minnie Ingerman.His voice-overs and commercials include those for Paul Masson wines, with...
) - The King & I (1994)
- A Christmas CarolA Christmas CarolA Christmas Carol is a novella by English author Charles Dickens first published by Chapman & Hall on 17 December 1843. The story tells of sour and stingy Ebenezer Scrooge's ideological, ethical, and emotional transformation after the supernatural visits of Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of...
(1994) (with Brian KeithBrian KeithBrian Keith was an American film, television, and stage actor who in his four decade-long career gained recognition for his work in movies such as the 1961 Disney family film The Parent Trap, the 1966 comedy The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, and the 1975 adventure saga The Wind and...
and Kevin McCarthyKevin McCarthy-Politicians:*Kevin McCarthy , United States Representative from California's 22nd congressional district*Kevin McCarthy , member of the Iowa House of Representatives...
) - Love LettersLove Letters (play)Love Letters is a Pulitzer Prize for Drama nominated play by A. R. Gurney. The play centers on just two characters, Melissa Gardner and Andrew Makepeace Ladd III...
(1995) (with Marty Ingels) - 42nd Street42nd Street (musical)42nd Street is a musical with a book by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble, lyrics by Al Dubin, and music by Harry Warren. The 1980 Broadway production, directed by an ailing Gower Champion and orchestrated by Philip J. Lang, won the Tony Award for Best Musical and became a long-running hit...
(2004) (Broadway with Patrick CassidyPatrick Cassidy (actor)Patrick Cassidy is an American actor best known for his roles in musical theatre and television.-Personal life:...
) - CarouselCarousel (musical)Carousel is the second stage musical by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II . The work premiered in 1945 and was adapted from Ferenc Molnár's 1909 play Liliom, transplanting its Budapest setting to the Maine coastline...
(2005)
External links
- shirleyjones.com, Shirley Jones official website
- Archive of American Television Shirley Jones Interview
- Shirley Jones interview
- Shirley Jones New Album 'Then & Now'