Justus Ellis McQueen Jr. (August 19, 1927 – July 9, 2022), known professionally as L.Q. Jones, was an American actor and director. He appeared in Sam Peckinpah's films Ride the High Country (1962), Major Dundee (1965), The Wild Bunch (1969), The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970), and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973). His later film roles include Casino (1995), The Patriot (1998), The Mask of Zorro (1998), and A Prairie Home Companion (2006).
His other roles included Western television series such as Cheyenne (1955), Laramie (1959–63), Wagon Train (1959–64), Rawhide (1963–65), The Virginian (1963–71), and Gunsmoke (1963–72).
Jones was the writer and director of the 1975 science fiction film A Boy and His Dog, based on Harlan Ellison's 1969 novella of the same name.
Early life
Jones was born August 19, 1927, in Beaumont, in southeastern Texas, the son of Jessie Paralee (née Stephens) and Justus Ellis McQueen Sr., a railroad worker. At an early age he lost his mother when she died following a car accident. He completed his school education from Port Neches–Groves High School in 1945. After serving in the U.S. Navy from 1945 to 1946, Jones attended Lamar Junior College (now Lamar University) and Lon Morris College in Jacksonville, Texas, and then studied law, business and journalism at the University of Texas at Austin from 1950 to 1951. He worked as a stand-up comic, briefly played professional baseball and American football, and tried ranching in Nicaragua, then turned to acting after corresponding with Fess Parker, his former college roommate. His character's name in that film was "L.Q. Jones", a name he liked and decided to adopt as his stage name for all of his future roles as an actor.
Personal life and death
On July 9, 2022, Jones died from natural causes at his Hollywood Hills home in Los Angeles at the age of 94.
Filmography
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 1955 || Battle Cry || Private L.Q. Jones || Credited as Justus McQueen
|-
| 1955 || An Annapolis Story || Watson ||
|-
| 1958 || The Young Lions || Private Donnelly || Uncredited