Christopher Jones (actor)

Christopher Jones
Christopher Jones as Jesse James, in 1965.
Born William Frank Jones
(1941-08-01)August 1, 1941
Jackson, Tennessee, U.S.
Died January 31, 2014(2014-01-31) (aged 72)
Los Alamitos, California, U.S.
Resting place Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Occupation Actor
Years active 1960–1996
Spouse(s)
Susan Strasberg
(m. 1965; div. 1968)

Carrie Abernathy
(m. 1975; div. 1983)

Paula McKenna
(m. 1983)
Children 7

William Frank Jones, better known as Christopher Jones (August 1, 1941 – January 31, 2014), was an American stage, movie, and television actor from Jackson, Tennessee.[1]

Early life

He was born in Jackson, Tennessee, where his father was a grocery clerk and his mother Robbie was an artist. Jones' father admitted her to the state hospital in Bolivar, Tennessee, in 1945, for holding a gun to his head after he was caught being unfaithful. Jones and his brother were then placed in Boys Town in Memphis, where he became a fan of James Dean after being told he bore a resemblance to him. He then joined the Army, but went AWOL, and after serving a sentence in a military prison, he moved to New York, where he began his acting career. His mother died when he was 19.[2]

Acting career

Jones (adopting the stage name Christopher) made his Broadway debut on December 17, 1961 in Tennessee Williams's The Night of the Iguana, directed by Frank Corsaro and starring Shelley Winters. Winters introduced Jones to actress Susan Strasberg, the daughter of method acting progenitor Lee Strasberg. Jones studied at Strasberg's Actors Studio.[1] Jones married Susan in 1965; the couple divorced in 1968.[1] Their daughter, Jennifer Robin Jones, was born in 1966.

Moving to Hollywood, Jones was cast in the title role of ABC's television series The Legend of Jesse James (produced by 20th Century Fox), which ran for 34 episodes in the 1965–66 season. When the series ended, he accepted the title role in the 1968 movie Chubasco (1968) with Susan Strasberg playing his character's lover/wife. Their real marriage did not survive the filming, and they divorced in 1968.[3]

Jones' next acting role, was rock star and presidential aspirant Max Frost in the influential cult film Wild in the Streets (1968), costarring Shelley Winters, Hal Holbrook and a young Richard Pryor.[4] Later that same year, Jones appeared with Yvette Mimieux in the hit-sex comedy Three in the Attic.[5]

Jones also became friends with actress Sharon Tate and her husband Roman Polanski. He later recounted that he had an affair with Tate while she was pregnant with Polanski's child, and that he had a premonition of her death (she was murdered by members of the Manson family).[6]

After two films in Europe with Pia Degermark (The Looking Glass War and Brief Season, both 1969), Jones was cast by director David Lean in Ryan's Daughter (1970). The two men had a difficult relationship, as did many actors who worked with David Lean. This intensified when production of the film took 12 months instead of the expected six because David Lean would wait for the right composition of clouds or the perfect storm to brew. Unknown to Jones, he was drugged during his filming of Ryan's Daughter by Sarah Miles, according to her first autobiography A Right Royal Bastard, which caused him to believe he was having a breakdown. Jones also was involved in a car crash,[7] not knowing he had been drugged. The director and producers never informed him of the drugging. Later, Lean would dub his voice (Jones' voice was also dubbed in The Looking Glass War), causing a bad reputation for Jones (Beyond the Epic: The Life and Films of David Lean). This took a personal toll on Jones, who returned from Ireland to California after filming ended (staying for a time in his manager Rudy Altobelli's guest house, the cottage behind the house where Tate had died), and abandoned his acting career.[8] He engaged in a few long-term relationships, did painting, art deco, and Roman classic sculpting in clay, and had a family life, living quietly at the beach with his children.

Later life

Jones was offered the part of Zed in Pulp Fiction (1994) by director Quentin Tarantino, but he turned it down.[9] He made a final screen appearance in crime comedy Mad Dog Time (1996) for his friend director/actor Larry Bishop, who appeared in Christopher's first movie Wild in the Streets. In his later years, he had a career as an artist and sculptor. His works included an oil painting of Rudolph Valentino that was displayed at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.[8]

Death

He died on January 31, 2014, at the age of 72, due to complications arising from gallbladder cancer.[8] He is survived by seven children, Jennifer Strasberg, Christopher Jones Jr., Jeromy McKenna, Delon Jones, Tauer Jones, Calin Jones, and Seagen Jones.[1] He is interred at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.[10]

In July 2018, actress Olivia Hussey claimed that she was raped by Jones in the house Roman Polanski had shared with his wife Sharon Tate weeks after Tate was murdered.[11] Hussey says that she had dated Jones in the late 1960s but ended the relationship because he was physically abusive toward her.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Vitello, Paul (February 8, 2014). "Christopher Jones, Actor who Quit Field, Dies at 72". The New York Times. Retrieved February 9, 2014.
  2. ↑ Christopher Jones Biography at cinetropic; retrieved February 1, 2014
  3. ↑ Jan E. Morris "Christopher Jones - Wild at Heart" Retrieved 25 May 2015
  4. ↑ Ebert, Roger (20 May 1968). "WILD IN THE STREETS". RogerEbert.com. Chicago Sun-Times.
  5. ↑ Ebert, Roger (20 December 1968). "THREE IN THE ATTIC". RogerEbert.com. Chicago Sun-Times.
  6. ↑ Das, Linda. "The final affair of Roman Polanski's murdered wife Sharon Tate". Daily Mail. Retrieved August 31, 2007.
  7. ↑ Phillips, Gene (2006). Beyond the Epic: The Life and Films of David Lean. p. 383.
  8. 1 2 3 Barnes, Mike (February 1, 2014). "'Ryan's Daughter' Star Christopher Jones Dies at 72". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 1, 2014.
  9. ↑ Colker, David (February 4, 2014). "Christopher Jones dies at 72; actor quit at peak of career". The Los Angeles Times.
  10. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=124440739
  11. ↑ Nicholson, Amy (1 August 2018). "Olivia Hussey, star of Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet: 'I was wild'". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
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