Born 1934 in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, American actress and singer Shirley Jones has had seven 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).
Jones 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.
In 2008, U.K. label Stage Door Records released the retrospective collection Then & Now featuring 24 songs from Jones’ 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.
Take a look at these gorgeous photos to see the beauty of young Shirley Jones in the 1950s and 1960s.
