Dick Jones
Encyclopedia
Dickie Jones is an American
actor who achieved some success as a child
and as a young adult, especially in B-Westerns
and television
. He is best known as the voice of Pinocchio
in the 1940 Walt Disney
film.
, the seat of Scurry County on the South Plains
in Texas
. The son of a newspaper
editor, Jones was a prodigious horseman from infancy, billed at the age of four as the "World's Youngest Trick Rider and Trick Roper".
tricks in the rodeo
owned by Western
star Hoot Gibson
. Gibson convinced young Jones and his parents that there was a place for him in Hollywood, so the boy and his mother moved there.
Gibson arranged for some small parts for the boy, whose good looks, energy and pleasant voice quickly landed him more and bigger parts, both in low-budget Westerns and in more substantial productions. Although often uncredited, he was usually known as Dickie Jones. A well known early film role is the film A Man to Remember
(1938). Jones also appeared as a bit player in several of Hal Roach
's Our Gang
(Little Rascals) shorts. In 1939, Dickie Jones appeared as a troublesome kid named 'Killer Parkins' in the film, Nancy Drew
-Reporter. In the film he did a good imitation of Donald Duck
. The same year he appeared in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
as Senate page Richard (Dick) Jones. In 1940, he had one of his most prominent (though invisible) roles, as the voice of Pinocchio
in Walt Disney
's animated film of the same name
. Jones attended Hollywood High School
and at 15, took over the role of Henry Aldrich
on the hit radio show The Aldrich Family
.
He learned carpentry
and augmented his income with jobs in that field. He served in the Army
in Alaska
during the final months of World War II
. Gene Autry
, who before the war had cast Jones in several Westerns, put him back to work in films and particularly in television, on programs produced by Autry's company.
Now billed as Dick Jones, the handsome young man starred as Dick West, sidekick to the Western hero known as The Range Rider
, played by Jock Mahoney
, in a television series that ran for seventy-six episodes in 1951 (and for decades in syndication
).
Autry gave Jones his own series, Buffalo Bill, Jr.
(1955), which ran for forty-two episodes in syndication. In 1957 Jones appeared twice as Ned in the episodes "The Brothers" and "Renegade Rangers" of the syndicated American Civil War
series Gray Ghost
, with Tod Andrews
(1914–1972) in the title role of Confederate
Major John Singleton Mosby. In 1958, during the filming of the The Cool and the Crazy
, he and fellow actor Richard Bakalyan
were arrested for vagrancy
in Kansas City
. They were standing on the corner between takes in "juvenile delinquent" outfits and the police thought that they were actual gang members. It took several hours for the film crew to get it all straight and them released from jail.
In 1960, he guest-starred as Bliss in the episode "Fire Flight" of another syndicated series, The Blue Angels
, about the elite air-show squadron of the U.S. Navy
. In 1962, he appeared as John Hunter in the episode "The Wagon Train Mutiny" of NBC's long-running western series Wagon Train
starring John McIntire
. That same year, he appeared in the television short The Night Rider starring Johnny Cash
as Johnny Laredo and Eddie Dean
as Trail Boss Tim.
Jones' last acting role was as Cliff Fletcher in the 1965 film Requiem for a Gunfighter.
In 1959 Jones retired from acting and began his new career in real estate. In 1992, he founded White Hat Realty.
.
In early 2009 Jones did promotional events for the Platinum Edition DVD and Blu-Ray release of Pinocchio.
In March 2009, Jones was a guest star at the Williamsburg
Film Festival in Virginia.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor who achieved some success as a child
Child actor
The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting in motion pictures or television, but also to an adult who began his or her acting career as a child; to avoid confusion, the latter is also called a former child actor...
and as a young adult, especially in B-Westerns
B-movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
. He is best known as the voice of Pinocchio
Pinocchio (1940 film)
Pinocchio is a 1940 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the story The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. It is the second film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics, and it was made after the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and was released to theaters by...
in the 1940 Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
film.
Early life
Jones was born in SnyderSnyder, Texas
Snyder is a city in and the county seat of Scurry County, Texas, United States. The population was 10,653 at the 2010 census. It is located on Deep Creek, a minor tributary of the Colorado River of Texas. Snyder is approximately 150 km southeast of Lubbock.Located in Snyder is the Scurry County...
, the seat of Scurry County on the South Plains
South Plains
South Plains is a vernacular term that refers to a region in West Texas consisting of the portion of the Llano Estacado extending south of the Texas Panhandle, centered at Lubbock. While prominent in the area of petroleum production, the South Plains is mainly an agricultural region, producing a...
in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. The son of a newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
editor, Jones was a prodigious horseman from infancy, billed at the age of four as the "World's Youngest Trick Rider and Trick Roper".
Career
At the age of six, he was hired to perform riding and lariatLasso
A lasso , also referred to as a lariat, riata, or reata , is a loop of rope that is designed to be thrown around a target and tighten when pulled. It is a well-known tool of the American cowboy. The word is also a verb; to lasso is to successfully throw the loop of rope around something...
tricks in the rodeo
Rodeo
Rodeo is a competitive sport which arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain, Mexico, and later the United States, Canada, South America and Australia. It was based on the skills required of the working vaqueros and later, cowboys, in what today is the western United States,...
owned by Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
star Hoot Gibson
Hoot Gibson
Hoot Gibson was an American rodeo champion and a pioneer cowboy film actor, director and producer.-Early life and career:...
. Gibson convinced young Jones and his parents that there was a place for him in Hollywood, so the boy and his mother moved there.
Gibson arranged for some small parts for the boy, whose good looks, energy and pleasant voice quickly landed him more and bigger parts, both in low-budget Westerns and in more substantial productions. Although often uncredited, he was usually known as Dickie Jones. A well known early film role is the film A Man to Remember
A Man to Remember
A Man to Remember is a American drama film directed by Garson Kanin, his first film credit as a director. The picture was based on the novel The Failure, written by Katharine Haviland-Taylor, and the screenplay was penned by Dalton Trumbo. The story tells of a saintly small town doctor working...
(1938). Jones also appeared as a bit player in several of Hal Roach
Hal Roach
Harold Eugene "Hal" Roach, Sr. was an American film and television producer and director, and from the 1910s to the 1990s.- Early life and career :Hal Roach was born in Elmira, New York...
's Our Gang
Our Gang
Our Gang, also known as The Little Rascals or Hal Roach's Rascals, was a series of American comedy short films about a group of poor neighborhood children and the adventures they had together. Created by comedy producer Hal Roach, the series is noted for showing children behaving in a relatively...
(Little Rascals) shorts. In 1939, Dickie Jones appeared as a troublesome kid named 'Killer Parkins' in the film, Nancy Drew
Nancy Drew
Nancy Drew is a fictional young amateur detective in various mystery series for all ages. She was created by Edward Stratemeyer, founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate book packaging firm. The character first appeared in 1930. The books have been ghostwritten by a number of authors and are published...
-Reporter. In the film he did a good imitation of Donald Duck
Donald Duck
Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at Walt Disney Productions and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit with a cap and a black or red bow tie. Donald is most...
. The same year he appeared in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a 1939 American drama film starring Jean Arthur and James Stewart about one man's effect on American politics. It was directed by Frank Capra and written by Sidney Buchman, based on Lewis R. Foster's unpublished story. Mr...
as Senate page Richard (Dick) Jones. In 1940, he had one of his most prominent (though invisible) roles, as the voice of Pinocchio
Pinocchio
The Adventures of Pinocchio is a novel for children by Italian author Carlo Collodi, written in Florence. The first half was originally a serial between 1881 and 1883, and then later completed as a book for children in February 1883. It is about the mischievous adventures of Pinocchio , an...
in Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
's animated film of the same name
Pinocchio (1940 film)
Pinocchio is a 1940 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the story The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. It is the second film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics, and it was made after the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and was released to theaters by...
. Jones attended Hollywood High School
Hollywood High School
Hollywood High School is a Los Angeles Unified School District high school located at the intersection of North Highland Avenue and West Sunset Boulevard in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California.-History:...
and at 15, took over the role of Henry Aldrich
Henry Aldrich
Henry Aldrich was an English theologian and philosopher.-Life:Aldrich was educated at Westminster School under Dr Richard Busby. In 1662, he entered Christ Church, Oxford, and in 1689 was made Dean in succession to the Roman Catholic John Massey, who had fled to the Continent. In 1692, he...
on the hit radio show The Aldrich Family
The Aldrich Family
The Aldrich Family, a popular radio teenage situation comedy , was also presented in films, television and comic books. In the radio series' well-remembered weekly opening exchange, awkward teen Henry's mother called, "Hen-reeeeeeeeeeeee! Hen-ree Al-drich!", and he responded with a breaking...
.
He learned carpentry
Carpentry
A carpenter is a skilled craftsperson who works with timber to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects. The work, known as carpentry, may involve manual labor and work outdoors....
and augmented his income with jobs in that field. He served in the Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
in Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
during the final months of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Gene Autry
Gene Autry
Orvon Grover Autry , better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s...
, who before the war had cast Jones in several Westerns, put him back to work in films and particularly in television, on programs produced by Autry's company.
Now billed as Dick Jones, the handsome young man starred as Dick West, sidekick to the Western hero known as The Range Rider
The Range Rider
The Range Rider is an American Western television series that aired in syndication from 1951-1953. A single lost episode was first shown in 1959...
, played by Jock Mahoney
Jock Mahoney
Jock Mahoney was an American actor and stuntman of Irish, French, and Cherokee ancestry. Born Jacques O'Mahoney, he was credited variously as Jock Mahoney, Jack O'Mahoney or Jock O'Mahoney. He starred in two television series, both westerns...
, in a television series that ran for seventy-six episodes in 1951 (and for decades in syndication
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
).
Autry gave Jones his own series, Buffalo Bill, Jr.
Buffalo Bill Jr.
Buffalo Bill, Jr. is an American Western television series starring Dickie Jones that aired in syndication from March 1, 1955, until September 21, 1956.-Synopsis:...
(1955), which ran for forty-two episodes in syndication. In 1957 Jones appeared twice as Ned in the episodes "The Brothers" and "Renegade Rangers" of the syndicated American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
series Gray Ghost
Gray Ghost (TV series)
The Gray Ghost is an American historical series which aired in syndication from October 10, 1957, to July 3, 1958. It depicts the true story of Major John Singleton Mosby, a Virginia officer in the Confederate Army, whose cunning and stealth earned him the nickname "Gray Ghost".-Synopsis:The Gray...
, with Tod Andrews
Tod Andrews
Tod Andrews was an American actor on the stage, screen, and television. Born in New York, he was raised in California. He studied acting and journalism at Washington State College.-Career:...
(1914–1972) in the title role of Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
Major John Singleton Mosby. In 1958, during the filming of the The Cool and the Crazy
The Cool and the Crazy
The Cool and the Crazy is a 1958 motion picture that was distributed by American-International Pictures. The producer of the film, Elmer Rhoden Jr., was president of the Kansas City, Missouri-based Commonwealth Theaters chain, a prominent chain of motion picture theaters with stretched through...
, he and fellow actor Richard Bakalyan
Richard Bakalyan
Richard Bakalyan is an Born in Iran character actor who started his career playing juvenile delinquents he served them treats and candys in his ice cream van in his first several films. He had some fun experience having served a year's probation at age 15...
were arrested for vagrancy
Vagrancy (people)
A vagrant is a person in poverty, who wanders from place to place without a home or regular employment or income.-Definition:A vagrant is "a person without a settled home or regular work who wanders from place to place and lives by begging;" vagrancy is the condition of such persons.-History:In...
in Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
. They were standing on the corner between takes in "juvenile delinquent" outfits and the police thought that they were actual gang members. It took several hours for the film crew to get it all straight and them released from jail.
In 1960, he guest-starred as Bliss in the episode "Fire Flight" of another syndicated series, The Blue Angels
The Blue Angels (TV series)
The Blue Angels is a 1960-1961 syndicated television series about the Blue Angels of the United States Navy. The program starred Dennis Cross as Commander Arthur Richards, the head of a four-man squadron which tours the country to give flight exhibitions...
, about the elite air-show squadron of the U.S. Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
. In 1962, he appeared as John Hunter in the episode "The Wagon Train Mutiny" of NBC's long-running western series Wagon Train
Wagon Train
Wagon Train is an American Western series that ran on NBC from 1957–62 and then on ABC from 1962–65...
starring John McIntire
John McIntire
John McIntire was an American character actor.-Career:The craggy-faced film actor was born in Spokane in eastern Washington State but reared in Montana, growing up around ranchers and cowboys, an experience that would later inspire his performances in dozens of westerns.A graduate of USC, McIntire...
. That same year, he appeared in the television short The Night Rider starring Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
as Johnny Laredo and Eddie Dean
Eddie Dean (singer)
Eddie Dean was an American western singer and actor whom Roy Rogers and Gene Autry termed the best cowboy singer of all time. Dean was best known for "I Dreamed Of A Hill-Billy Heaven" , which became an even greater hit in 1961 for Tex Ritter....
as Trail Boss Tim.
Jones' last acting role was as Cliff Fletcher in the 1965 film Requiem for a Gunfighter.
In 1959 Jones retired from acting and began his new career in real estate. In 1992, he founded White Hat Realty.
Recent activity
In 2000, Dick Jones was named one of the Disney LegendsDisney Legends
Established in 1987, the Disney Legends program recognizes people who have made an extraordinary and integral contribution to The Walt Disney Company. The honor is awarded annually during a special ceremony....
.
In early 2009 Jones did promotional events for the Platinum Edition DVD and Blu-Ray release of Pinocchio.
In March 2009, Jones was a guest star at the Williamsburg
Williamsburg, Virginia
Williamsburg is an independent city located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, USA. As of the 2010 Census, the city had an estimated population of 14,068. It is bordered by James City County and York County, and is an independent city...
Film Festival in Virginia.