Shirley Mae Jones (born March 31, 1934) is an American actress and singer. In her six decades in show business, she has starred as wholesome characters in a number of musical films, such as Oklahoma! (1955), Carousel (1956), and The Music Man (1962). She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing a vengeful prostitute in Elmer Gantry (1960). She played the lead role of Shirley Partridge, the widowed mother of five children, in the musical situation-comedy television series The Partridge Family (1970–1974), which co-starred her real-life stepson, David Cassidy, son of Jack Cassidy.
Early life
Jones was born on March 31, 1934, Jones' paternal grandfather came from Wales. She was named after child star Shirley Temple.
Jones says that many people have incorrectly assumed that her middle name referred to vaudeville and film legend Mae West, but Jones was actually named after her aunt. Coincidentally, the first star Jones ever met was West, who was performing at the Twin Coaches supper club in Rostraver around 1954.
The Jones family later moved to the small nearby town of Smithton. Jones began singing at the age of six in the Methodist Church choir and took voice lessons from Ralph Lewando.
Career
Early stage career
right|thumb|A program featuring Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy at the [[White House in 1957]]
Her first audition was for an open bi-weekly casting call held by John Fearnley, casting director for Rodgers and Hammerstein and their various musicals. At the time, Jones had never heard of Rodgers and Hammerstein. Fearnley was so impressed, he ran across the street to fetch Richard Rodgers, who was rehearsing with an orchestra for an upcoming musical. Rodgers then called Oscar Hammerstein at home. She was reunited with Ron Howard (who had played her brother in The Music Man) in The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963). With an uncharacteristically brunette hairstyle, Jones played the role of a woman who falls in love with Tony Randall's lion-owning professor in Fluffy (1965).
In her film career, she has worked with some of Hollywood's icons: Jimmy Stewart, Gene Kelly, Marlon Brando, James Cagney, Henry Fonda, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and director John Ford.
During its first season, the series became a hit and was screened in over 70 countries. Within months, Jones and her co-stars were pop culture television icons. Her 20-year-old stepson David Cassidy, who was an unknown actor at the time, played Shirley Partridge's eldest son Keith and became a teen idol.
The show also spawned a number of albums and singles by The Partridge Family, performed by David Cassidy and Shirley Jones. That same year, their single "I Think I Love You" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 music chart, making Jones the second person, after Frank Sinatra, and the first woman to win an acting Oscar and also have a number-one hit on that chart. Her achievement was matched only by Cher and Barbra Streisand. The Partridge Family won a NARM award for the best-selling single of the year in 1970 for their hit "I Think I Love You". In 1971, The Partridge Family was nominated for a Grammy under the Best New Artist category.
thumb|Jones in 1972
The series' run ended in 1974.
Shirley Jones's friendship with David Cassidy had begun in the mid-to-late 1950s, when David was just six, after he learned about his father's divorce from his mother Evelyn Ward. Upon David's first meeting with Shirley before co-starring with her on The Partridge Family, he said, "The day he tells me that they're divorced, he tells me, 'We're remarried, and let me introduce you to my new wife.' He was thrilled when her first film, Oklahoma! (1955), had come out; and my dad took me to see it—I just see her, and I go, uh-oh, it doesn't really quite register with me, 'cause I'm in total shock, because I wanted to hate her, but the instant that I met her, I got the essence of her. She's a very warm, open, sweet, good human being. She couldn't have thawed it for me—the coldness and the ice—any more than she did."
Shirley was shocked to hear her stepson was going to audition for the role of Keith Partridge. David said, "At the auditions, they introduced me to the lead actress [Shirley Jones] 'cause they had no idea, they had no idea. So I said, 'What are you doing here?' She looked at me and said, 'What are you doing here?' And I said, 'Well, I'm reading for the lead guy.' I said, 'What are you doing here?' She said, 'I'm the mother!'" Cassidy discussed his relationship with his stepmother on the show: "She wasn't my mother, and I can be very open, and we can speak, and we became very close friends. She was a very good role model for me, watching the way, you know, she dealt with people on the set, and watching people revere her."
Cassidy appeared on many shows alongside his stepmother, including A&E Biography, TV Land Confidential, and The Today Show. He was one of the presenters of his stepmother's Intimate Portrait on Lifetime Television, and the reality show pilot In Search of the Partridge Family, where he served as co-executive producer. The rest of the cast also celebrated the 25th, 30th, and 35th anniversaries of The Partridge Family (although Cassidy was unavailable to attend the 25th anniversary in 1995 owing to other commitments). Jack Cassidy's death in 1976 drew Jones and Cassidy closer, as Shirley's three children and stepson mourned their father.
Shirley and other projects
In 1975, Jones starred in Winner Take All as a compulsive gambler who wrecks her marriage by stealing from her husband and by eventually cheating on him with her bookie. In 1979, Jones tried her hand at television for the second time, starring in the NBC show Shirley, which, like The Partridge Family, featured a family headed by a widowed mother. It failed to win ratings and was cancelled toward the middle of the season. Jones also played the "older woman" girlfriend of Drew Carey's character in several episodes of The Drew Carey Show. She reprised Shirley Partridge in a cameo in a 2000 episode of That '70s Show.
thumb|left|Jones in 2010
She was also in the dramatic project There Were Times, Dear, in which she played a loyal wife whose husband is dying of Alzheimer's disease. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for this work.
In February 1986, Jones unveiled her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Vine Street just around the corner from Hollywood Boulevard.
In 1983, she appeared in a rare revival of Noël Coward's operetta, Bitter Sweet. In 2004, she returned to Broadway in a revival of 42nd Street, portraying diva Dorothy Brock opposite Patrick Cassidy, the first time a mother and son were known to star together on Broadway. In July 2005, Jones revisited the musical Carousel onstage in Massachusetts, portraying "Cousin Nettie".
Jones appeared as aunt of a struggling widow during the Great Depression, in Hallmark Channel's Hidden Places in 2006. She received an Emmy Award nomination for Supporting Actress, Miniseries or Movie, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Actress in a Movie or Miniseries. She also appeared in Grandma's Boy (2006) as a nymphomaniac senior citizen.
On November 16, 2007, she took the stage at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, during the Oklahoma Centennial Spectacular concert that celebrated the state's 100th birthday. Jones sang the songs "Oklahoma!" and "People Will Say We're In Love" from the musical Oklahoma!.
thumb|right|Jones and Patrick Cassidy in 2012
In early 2008, it was announced that Jones would play Colleen Brady on the long-running NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives. ABC Family series Ruby & The Rockits featured Jack and Patrick Cassidy. Jones guest-starred as their mother.
In 2008, U.K. label Stage Door Records released the retrospective collection Then & Now featuring 24 songs from Jones's musical career, including songs from the films Oklahoma!, Carousel, and April Love. The album featured new recordings of songs including "Beauty and the Beast", "Memory", and a sentimental tribute to The Music Man. She had a recurring role as Burt Chance's mother in the Fox TV comedy series Raising Hope.
In mid-2012, Jones played Mrs. Paroo, when her son Patrick played Harold Hill, in a California Musical Theatre revival of The Music Man.
In 2014, Jones guest-starred on an episode of General Hospital as Mrs. McClain.
Personal life
thumb|right|250px|Jones (left) with [[First Lady of the United States|U.S. First Lady Nancy Reagan, September 29, 1982]]
On August 5, 1956, Jones married actor and singer Jack Cassidy.
Cassidy died in a fire on December 12, 1976. Jack "wanted to come back (to me) right up to the day he died", Jones said in a 1983 newspaper interview. "And as I realized later, I wanted him. That's the terrible part. Much as I love Marty and have a wonderful relationship—I'd say this with Marty sitting here—I'm not sure if Jack were alive I'd be married to Marty." Jones was 20 years old when she met Cassidy, who was seven years her senior, and she refers to him as the most influential person in and the love of her life.
On November 13, 1977, Jones married actor and comedian Marty Ingels. Jones and Ingels wrote an autobiography based on their relationship called Shirley & Marty: An Unlikely Love Story. Despite what Ingels called having an “odd-couple relationship” After his death, Jones said: "He often drove me crazy, but there's not a day I won't miss him and love him to my core."
Jones is a supporter of PETA.
Jones was devastated when Suzanne Crough died on April 27, 2015; Crough played one of her TV daughters on The Partridge Family.
Filmography
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
|1955
|Oklahoma!
| Laurey Williams
|
|-
|1956
|Carousel
|Julie Jordan
|
|-
|1957
|April Love
|Liz Templeton
| Laurel Award for Top Female Musical Performance (5th place)
|-
|1959
|Never Steal Anything Small
|Linda Cabot
| Laurel Award for Top Female Musical Performance (3rd place)
|-
|1959
|Bobbikins
|Betty Barnaby
|
|-
|1960
|Elmer Gantry
|Lulu Bains
|Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress<br> Laurel Award for Top Female Supporting Performance<br>National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress<br>Nominated-Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
|-
|1960
|Pepe
|Suzie Murphy
|
|-
|1961
|Two Rode Together
|Marty Purcell
|
|-
|1962
|The Music Man
|Marian Paroo
| Laurel Award for Top Female Musical Performance (3rd place)<br>Nominated-Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
|-
|1963
|The Courtship of Eddie's Father
|Elizabeth Martan
|
|-
|1963
| A Ticklish Affair
|Amy Martin
|
|-
|1964
|Dark Purpose
|Karen Williams
|
|-
|1964
| Bedtime Story
|Janet Walker
|
|-
|1965
|Fluffy
|Janice Claridge
|
|-
|1965
|The Secret of My Success
|Marigold Marido
|
|-
|1969
|The Happy Ending
|Flo Harrigan
|Reunited with her Elmer Gantry co-star Jean Simmons
|-
|1969
|El Golfo
|Mary O'Hara
|
|-
|1970
|The Cheyenne Social Club
|Jenny
|
|-
|1979
| Beyond the Poseidon Adventure
|Nurse Gina Rowe
|
|-
|1984
|Tank
|LaDonna Carey
|
|-
|1999
|Gideon
|Elly Morton
|
|-
|2000
|The Adventures of Cinderella's Daughter
|Fairy Godmother
|
|-
|2000
|Ping!
|Ethel Jeffries
|
|-
| 2000
|Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth
|Nurse Kervorkian
|
|-
|2002
|Manna from Heaven
|Bunny
|
|-
|2004
|The Creature of the Sunny Side Up Trailer Park
|Charlotte
|
|-
|2004
|Raising Genius
|Aunt Sis
|
|-
|2006
|Grandma's Boy
|Grace
|
|-
|2007
|Christmas Is Here Again
|Victoria Claus
|Voice
|-
|2013
|Family Weekend
|GG
|
|-
|2013
|A Strange Brand of Happy
|Mildred
|
|-
|2013
|Zombie Night
|Nana
|
|-
|2014
|Waiting in the Wings: The Musical
|Broadway Diva
|
|-
|2015
|On the Wing
|Grandma Ryburn
|
|-
|2016
|The Irresistible Blueberry Farm
|Ruth
|Hallmark Movies & Mysteries
|-
| 2018
| Eco-Teens Save The World
| Senator Jeremy Ryburn's Mother
|
|}
Television
- 1950: Fireside Theatre (acting debut)
- 1952: Gruen Guild Playhouse
- 1956: Ford Star Jubilee
- 1956: Playhouse 90
- 1957: Lux Video Theatre
- 1957: The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom (guest)
- 1957: The United States Steel Hour
- 1958: DuPont Show of the Month
- 1959: Make Room for Daddy (as herself)
- 1964: Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
- 1969: Silent Night, Lonely Night
- 1969: The Carol Burnett Show
- 1969: The Name of the Game
- 1970–74: The Partridge Family
- 1971: Curiosity Shop (Episode: The Curiosity Shop Special)
- 1973: The Girls of Huntington House
- 1975: The Family Nobody Wanted
- 1975: The Lives of Jenny Dolan
- 1975: Winner Take All
- 1977: McMillan & Wife
- 1977: Yesterday's Child
- 1978: Evening in Byzantium
- 1978: Who'll Save Our Children?
- 1979: A Last Cry for Help
- 1979–80: Shirley
- 1980: The Children of An Lac
- 1981: Inmates: A Love Story
- 1982: The Adventures of Pollyanna
- 1983/87: Hotel
- 1983: Hotel (pilot)
- 1983: The Love Boat
- 1985: There Were Times, Dear
- 1988/90: Murder, She Wrote
- 1989: Charlie (unsold pilot)
- 1997: Dog's Best Friend
- 1998: Melrose Place
- 1998: The Drew Carey Show
- 1999: Sabrina the Teenage Witch
- 2000: That '70s Show (cameo)
- 2003: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
- 2006: Hidden Places
- 2006: Monarch Cove
- 2008: Days of Our Lives
- 2009: Ruby & the Rockits
- 2011/14: Raising Hope (3 episodes)
- 2012: Good Luck Charlie (Episodes: "Welcome Home", "A Duncan Christmas")
- 2012: Victorious (Episode: "Car, Rain, and Fire")
- 2013: Cougar Town
- 2013: Hot in Cleveland
- 2014: General Hospital
- 2014: Over the Garden Wall (voice)
- 2016: Childrens Hospital (cameo as herself)
Stage
- 1953: South Pacific (Broadway)
- 1954: Me and Juliet (Chicago)
- 1956: Oklahoma! (European tour with Jack Cassidy)
- 1957: The Beggar's Opera (with Cassidy)
- 1959: Wish You Were Here! (Dallas State Fair Theater, with Cassidy)
- 1966: The Sound of Music (Westbury Music Fair)
- 1967: Wait Until Dark (with Cassidy)
- 1968: Maggie Flynn (Broadway, with Cassidy)
- 1972: The Marriage Band (with Cassidy)
- 1974: On a Clear Day You Can See Forever
- 1976: Show Boat
- 1977: The Sound of Music
- 1982: Bitter Sweet
- 1994: Love Letters (with Marty Ingels)
- 1994: The King and I
- 1994: A Christmas Carol
- 1995: Love Letters (with Marty Ingels)
- 2004: 42nd Street (Broadway, with Patrick Cassidy)
- 2005: Carousel
- 2012: The Music Man (Sacramento Music Circus, with Patrick Cassidy)
Discography
Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy albums
- Speaking of Love (1957) (Columbia Records)
- Brigadoon (1957) (Columbia Records)
- With Love from Hollywood (1958) (Columbia Records)
- Marriage Type Love (1959) (RCA Records, unreleased)
- Maggie Flynn (1968) (RCA Records)
- Show Tunes (1995) (Sony Music)
- Essential Masters (2011) (Master Classics Records)
- Marriage Type Love (2014) (Columbia Masterworks)