Henry Jones

Henry Jones is an American actor seasoned in stage, film and television production. He was born in New Jersey and raised in Philadelphia. He was educated at St. Joseph’s College. Though he started out as a salesman, he started acting at the Hedgerow Theatre in Moylan, Philadelphia. He played the role of Dr. Glenn in “The American Tragedy”, in 1935.

His big Broadway debut was the production of Shakespearean tragedy, ‘Hamlet’, by Maurice Evans’ Company in 1938. The next year he appeared in “Henry IV”, as Francis and Silence. In 1940, he appeared in William Saroyan’s production of “The Time of Your Life”, as Dudley Bostwick. In 1941, he was Frank Lippincott, a peppy and chipper suitor for Eileen, in the show “My Sister Eileen”.

He served in the army during the Second World War. During his service, he was in the movie, “This is the Army”, which released in 1943. The character he played was the singing soldier, Mr. Brown. The movie also starred former actor-turned-US-president, Ronald Reagan. He went back to acting in Broadway productions. In 1947, he played Humpty Dumpty and the mouse in Eva la Gallienne’s “Alice in Wonderland”. In 1949, he played the doctor in “They Knew What They Wanted”. He did a commendable job in the movie, “The Bad Seed”.

Maxwell Anderson’s controversial movie originated from Broadway. Henry was part of both. He played the role of the suspicious handyman, Leroy Jessup, to the psychotic child murderess. The scariest scene is where he taunts the child with the electric chair. In 1958, he won the coveted Tony Award for the Best Supporting Actor for the role of Louis Howe in Dore Schary’s, “Sunrise at Campobello”. In this biopic, he played Franklin D. Roosevelt’s confidant. Alfred Hitchcock admired this actor’s works and he appeared in ‘Vertigo’, as the near cruel coroner. He even appeared in several episodes of “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”.

He has appeared in over 350 TV shows. The classic ones are “Murder she Wrote”, “The Twilight Zone”, ‘Phyllis’, and ‘Quincy’. He was a very gentle and self-deprecating person as he once stated, “The casting director didn’t know what to do with me, I was never tall enough or good looking enough for a juvenile lead role.” He was never in illusion about his appearance. He even appeared in some iconic movies; “3:10 to Yuma” (1957), “Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid” (1969) and “Dick Tracy” (1990). Henry died on 17th May, 1999, in the UCLA Medical Centre after suffering complications from a fall on set at the age of 86. Actress Jocelyn Jones is his daughter.