Carolyn Sue Jones 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 and a Golden Globe Award as one of the most promising actresses of 1959.
Her film career continued for another 20 years.
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.
Early life Jones was born in Amarillo, Texas, the daughter
of Cloe Jeanette Southern, a housewife, and Julius Alfred Jones, a barber.
In 1934 her father abandoned the family and her mother moved with her two children to
her parents' home in Amarillo.
Carolyn suffered from severe asthma that often restricted her from childhood activities.
She was an avid reader, and loved Hollywood magazines.
When her condition permitted she loved to go to the movies.
She enrolled at the Pasadena Playhouse in California, although at 15 she was still three
years under the minimum age; her father agreed to pay her tuition.
Career After being spotted by a talent scout at the
Playhouse, Jones secured a contract with Paramount Pictures and made her first film, The Turning
Point, in 1952.
In 1953, she married aspiring film-maker Aaron Spelling.
She appeared in several episodes of Dragnet, credited as Caroline Jones in at least one
episode; had an uncredited bit part as a nightclub hostess in The Big Heat, and a role in House
of Wax, as the woman who is converted by Vincent Price into a Joan of Arc statue, brought her
good reviews.
In 1954 she played Beth in Shield For Murder, earning $500.00 per day for playing the role.
Jones was cast in From Here to Eternity, for the role of Alma "Lorene" Burke, which was
written for her, however, a bout with pneumonia forced her to withdraw.
Jones made her TV debut on the DuMont series Gruen Playhouse in 1952.
She appeared in two Rod Cameron syndicated series, City Detective and State Trooper,
as Betty Fowler in the 1956 episode, "The Paperhanger of Pioche".
She guest-starred in Ray Milland's CBS sitcom, Meet Mr. McNutley.
She made five appearances on the crime drama series Dragnet, starring Jack Webb, between
1953-1955.
In 1955, Jones appeared on the CBS anthology series Alfred Hitchcock Presents in the episode
"The Cheney Vase" as a secretary assisting her scheming boyfriend Darren McGavin in attempting
an art theft, and opposite Ruta Lee.
In 1956, Jones appeared in Invasion of the Body Snatchers and in Alfred Hitchcock's remake
of The Man Who Knew Too Much.
In 1957, she had the lead in the episode "The Girl in the Grass" on CBS's Schlitz Playhouse,
with once again Ray Milland and Nora Marlowe.
She appeared three times as a guest star in the TV series Wagon Train, in the first season
episode "The John Cameron Story," and in the later color episodes "The Jenna Albright Story"
and "The Molly Kincaid Story".
In 1958, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for The
Bachelor Party, and she also 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 and Kirk Douglas 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.
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 program Here's Hollywood.
In the epic 1963 Western, How The West Was Won, she had a coveted role in a star-overflowing
cast, of Sheriff Jeb Rawlings' wife.
She appears with Peppard and Debbie Reynolds in the last speaking/singing scenes of the
film.
In 1964, with a long coal-black wig, 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.
She guest-starred on the 1960s TV series Batman, playing Marsha, the Queen of Diamonds, and
in 1976 appeared as the title character's mother, Hippolyta, on the Wonder Woman TV
series.
Her last role was the scheming matriarch of Clegg Clan, Myrna in the soap opera "Capitol".
Literary work Jones wrote a novel titled Twice Upon a Time
in 1971, which was published by Trident Press.
The story follows the life of Susan Maxwell, a "glamorous movie star" through her work
as an actress and through her romances.
There are similarities with this character and Jones herself, as it explores Hollywood
life, as well as the character's roots in Texas; Jones herself was raised in Texas.
Personal life and illness 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 Roots mini-series.
Jones landed the role of the power-driven political matriarch Myrna Clegg in the CBS
daytime television 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.
The cancer spread quickly to her liver and stomach.
Despite the pain, Carolyn finished the first season.
Marriages Carolyn Jones was married four times.
While studying at the Pasadena Playhouse, Jones married Don Donaldson, a twenty-eight-year-old
fellow student.
The couple soon divorced.
Jones was subsequently married to television producer Aaron Spelling from 1953 until 1964;
Jones converted to Judaism when she married Spelling.
She and Spelling separated in 1964.
Her third marriage was to Tony Award-winning Broadway musical director, vocal arranger
and co-producer Herbert Greene; she left him in 1977.
In September 1982, realizing she was dying, Jones married her boyfriend of five years,
actor Peter Bailey-Britton.
She wore a lace and ribbon cap to hide the loss of her hair from chemotherapy.
Death Jones was diagnosed with colon cancer in March
1981.
She continued to work, telling her friends she was being treated for ulcers.
After a period of apparent remission, the cancer returned in 1982, and in July 1983
she fell into a coma at her home in West Hollywood, California.
She died there on August 3, 1983, with her husband at her side.
Her ashes were entombed at Melrose Abbey Memorial Park Cemetery in Anaheim, California, beside
her mother.
Filmography Films
Television References
Further reading Pylant, James: In Morticia's Shadow: The Life
and Career of Carolyn Jones.
Jacobus Books, 2012.
ISBN 978-0-9841857-9-551895 External links
Carolyn Jones at the Internet Movie Database Carolyn Jones at AllMovie
Carolyn Jones at the Internet Broadway Database Carolyn Jones at Find A Grave
Carolyn Jones at Cult Sirens Carolyn Jones at filmreference.com