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| Birth Name(s) : Shirley Mae Jones |
Date of Birth: March 31, 1934 |
| Status:
Married
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Partner:
Marty Ingels |
| Profession:
Actor |
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Full Shirley Jones Biography
Named after child star Shirley Temple, Shirley Jones started singing at the age of six. She started formal training at the age of 12 and would dream of singing with her idol, Gordon MacRae. Upon graduating from high school, Shirley went to New York to audition for the casting director of Rodgers & Hammerstein. Taken by Shirley's' beautifully trained voice, Shirley was signed as a nurse in the Broadway production of "South Pacific". Within a year, she would be in Hollywood to appear in her first film 'Oklahoma!' as the farm girl in love with cowboy Gordon MacRae. 'Oklahoma! (1955)' would be filmed in CinemaScope and Todd-AO wide screen and would take a year to shoot.
After that, Shirley returned to Broadway for the stage production of "Oklahoma!" before returning to Hollywood for 'Carousel (1956)'. But by this time, musicals were a dying art she would have a few lean years. She would work on Television in programs like "Playhouse 90". With a screen image comparable to "peaches 'n' cream", Shirley wanted a darker role to change her image. In 1960, she would be cast as the vengeful prostitute in the Richard Brooks dramatic film 'Elmer Gantry'. With a brilliant performance against an equally brilliant Burt Lancaster, Shirley would win the Oscar for Supporting Actress. But the public wanted the good Shirley so she was cast as Marion, the librarian, in the successful musical 'The Music Man (1962)'. Robert Preston had played the role on Broadway and his performance along with Shirley was magic.
Shirley would again work with little Ronny Howard in 'The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963)'. But the movies changed in the 60's and Shirley's image did not fit so she would see her movie career stop in 1965. There was always nightclubs, but Shirley would be remembered by another generation as Shirley Partridge in the Television Series "The Partridge Family". While the success of the show would do more for her stepson, teen idol David Cassidy, it would keep her name and face in the public view for the four years that the series ran. Never mind the clothes, the show still plays in reruns. After the show ended, Shirley would spend the rest of the 70's in the land of Television movies. The 1975 Television movie "The Lives of Jenny Dolan (1975)" would be made as a pilot for a series that was not picked up. In 1979, Shirley would appear in a comedy show called "Shirley", but the show would be off the air the next year. Shirley would appear infrequently in the 80's and would appear in video's extolling fitness and beauty at the end of the decade. |
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Additional Shirley Jones Biography
Shirley Mae Jones (born March 31, 1934) is an Academy Award-winning singer and actress, perhaps best known for her role as "Shirley Partridge," the widowed single mother of five children, in the television series The Partridge Family, co-starring her real-life stepson, David Cassidy.
Jones was born in the Pittsburgh suburb of Charleroi, Pennsylvania, later moving to nearby Smithton, Pennsylvania, to Marjorie Williams and Paul Jones, who was the owner of the Jones Brewing Company. An only child, she was named after Shirley Temple. She won a beauty pageant as a teenager and was crowned "Miss Pittsburgh 1952."
Before The Partridge Family, Jones had already achieved fame as a singer and actress. She starred in many films, including the highly successful musicals Oklahoma!, Carousel, April Love and The Music Man, in which she often embodied or represented wholesome beauty and kindness of character. In a rare "naughty girl" role, she won an Oscar for her role in Elmer Gantry as a prostitute corrupted by Burt Lancaster, who then takes revenge upon him. She attempted a television comeback in 1979 with the family drama Shirley, but the series fared poorly and was canceled after thirteen episodes.
Although best known for her movie and television roles, Shirley has an impressive stage résumé, including the musical Maggie Flynn on Broadway and 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, Shirley revisited the musical Carousel onstage in Massachusetts portraying Cousin Nettie. Shirley continues to appear in venues nationwide, in concert and in speaking engagements.
In July 2006, Jones received an Emmy nomination for her supporting performance in the TV film "Hidden Places". Shirley was nominated for a SAG award for the same film, but did not win; the award went instead to Helen Mirren for Elizabeth I.
She married actor Jack Cassidy on August 5, 1956, 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.
She is a registered Republican who appeared at the 1988 Republican Convention and sang the National Anthem. She also sang at the 2003 lighting of the National Christmas Tree in Washington, D.C., at President George W. Bush's request.
Jones and her son Shaun Cassidy are the only mother and son to each have a song reach number one on the Billboard Charts. Jones hit #1 with The Partridges "I Think I Love You" in 1970 (sung with stepson David Cassidy). Shaun followed that in 1977 with "Da Do Ron Ron." |
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Shirley Jones Quote(s)
| After I won the Oscar, my salary doubled, my friends tripled, my children became more popular at school, my butcher made a pass at me, and my maid hit me up for a raise. |
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