Biographie

Dean Jones

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Naissance
25 janvier 1931 · Decatur, Alabama, États-Unis
Décédé(e)
1 septembre 2015 · Los Angeles, Californie, États-Unis (Parkinson's disease)
Nom de naissance
Dean Carroll Jones
Taille
5′ 11½″ (1,82 m)

Biographie

Famille

Conjoints(es)
Enfants
Parents

Marque de commerce

Was very comical in Disney movies, he acted in, especially L'espion aux pattes de velours (1965)
Built a career on affable guy-next-door appeal
Usually played a man who gets outsmarted by animals or machines

Anecdotes

He was introduced into the Disney Legends Hall of Fame in 1995. Dean was one of Disney's biggest stars in the 1960s and 70s. He appeared in 10 films for the company, including L'espion aux pattes de velours (1965), Le fantôme de Barbe Noire (1968) and La coccinelle à Monte-Carlo (1977).
Known chiefly as one of Disney's main movie stars in the 60s & 70s, along with Fred MacMurray and Kurt Russell.
A born-again Christian, Dean Jones has appeared successfully in the one-man show "Saint John in Exile," which he subsequently filmed as St. John in Exile (1986).
In 1970, Dean Jones was a star in Hollywood and also on Broadway in two very distinctly different genres. In films, Jones was the lead in hugely successful Disney movies, holding his own against scene-stealing co-stars that included a cat ("That Darn Cat!"), dog ("The Ugly Dachshund") and a Volkswagen ("The Love Bug.") But on the New York stage that year, he was the star of the Stephen Sondheim landmark musical "Company" -- that examined adult relationships amid the fevered pace of urban life -- performing the pivotal role of "Bobby". Despite his success, however, Jones' personal life was a shambles. He left "Company" shortly after the opening and was drawn to self-destructive behavior. Later, he had a religious conversion -- that altered the course not only of his life but also his career choices. "I won't blaspheme God," he told Christianity Today in 2009. "That immediately eliminates most scripts." Jones is best known for his light comedies, often as the somewhat bumbling good guy, and that was OK with him. "I had no illusions that I would ever play 'Hamlet,'" Jones told USA Today in 1997. Dean Jones (84) died on a Tuesday, the 1st of September, 2015, in Los Angeles. His publicist, Richard Hoffman, reported the cause was Parkinson's disease.
Though primarily known for his work in films, especially Disney family comedies, Jones created the role of "Robert" (or "Bobby") in Stephen Sondheim's 1970 musical, "Company", which explored modern relationships. However, Jones only played the role for a few weeks before he dropped out due to personal problems, so short a time that his replacement, Larry Kert, received the nomination for Best Actor in A Leading Role for the show, rather than Jones.

Citations

[after being asked on he became involved with Disney Pictures] I made a picture for Columbia called Under the Yum-Yum Tree, and I was told that Walt Disney had ordered a print of that to run in his projection room. I think maybe that was it, or, one day at lunch Walt told me that Ensign O'Toole on NBC, that I had some great endings on that show. I thought to myself, What a funny thing...to say it had great endings, but his show, The Wonderful World of Disney, followed Ensign O'Toole on Sunday nights on NBC. So, I thought maybe he was warming up his television set and watching the end of my show before his show, The Wonderful World of Disney, so that might have been another way I got involved. At any rate, he called one day and said he had a script called That Darn Cat, and would I be interested in reading it. I told him I was, and I subsequently did the picture, and that started off a string of films, including The Love Bug. This answers another one of your questions. I think it was because of the success of the films I was doing there that they had me do more and more. I think if I had a big flop, that probably it would have ended the string at Disney, but it didn't (laughs). Every film was a success. So that's why I think they thought of me when The Love Bug came along. They didn't write Jim Douglas for me. They may have, because I had done two or three pictures at the time, we did The Love Bug.