Jennifer Jones
Jennifer Jones was born Phylis Lee Isley in Tulsa, Oklahoma to Phil Isley and Flora Mae Suber, who toured the Midwest in a traveling tent show they owned and operated. Jones attended Monte Cassino Junior College in Tulsa and Northwestern University, where she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, before transferring to the Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York in 1938. There she met and fell in love with fellow acting student Robert Walker and they were married on January 2, 1939 when Jones was 19 years old. They returned to Tulsa for a 13-week radio program arranged by her father, and then headed for Hollywood. Isley landed two small roles, first in a John Wayne western titled New Frontier (1939) and later a serial, Dick Tracy’s G-Men (1939). In these two films, she was billed as "Phyllis Isley" (Phyllis now spelled with two L's). However, when she and Walker failed a screen test for Paramount Pictures, they decided to return to New York City. While Walker found steady work in radio programs, Isley worked part-time work modeling hats for the Powers Agency and looked for possible acting jobs. When she learned of auditions for the lead role of Claudia in Rose Franken’s hit play of the same name, she presented herself to David O. Selznick’s New York office, but fled in tears after what she thought was a bad reading. Selznick, however, overheard her audition and was impressed enough to have his secretary call her back. Following an interview, she was signed to a seven-year contract.
Jennifer with Karl Malden in "Ruby Gentry".
Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones and Shirley Temple in Since You Went AwayShe was carefully groomed for stardom and given her new name -- Jennifer Jones. Director King Vidor was impressed by her screen test as Bernadette Soubirous for The Song of Bernadette and she won the coveted role over hundreds of applicants. In 1944, on her 25th birthday, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as St. Bernadette. That year, Jones' new best friend, Ingrid Bergman was also a Best Actress nominee for her work in For Whom the Bell Tolls. After Jones won the award, she tried to apologize to her friend, but Bergman classily replied "Your Bernadette was better than my Maria." Furthermore, she presented the Best Actress Oscar the following year to Bergman for Gaslight. By this time she had divorced Robert Walker and had become Selznick's mistress (and later his wife). Selznick was a suffocating and dominating lover who became obsessed with grooming and molding Jones' career. It is suggested that Selznick's domination lead to her many suicide attempts and an increasing nervousness. During her tenure with Selznick, Jones was cast in multiple inapproriate roles in his effort to get her a second Oscar. Over the next two decades, Jones appeared in a wide range of roles selected by Selznick. Her dark beauty and sensitive nature appealed to audiences and she projected a variable range. Her initial saintly image, as shown in her first starring role, was a stark contrast three years later when she was cast as a provocative half-breed in Selznick’s controversial Duel in the Sun (1946). Other notable films included Since You Went Away (1944), Love Letters (1945), Cluny Brown (1946), Portrait of Jennie (1948), Madame Bovary (1949), We Were Strangers (1949), Carrie (1952), Ruby Gentry (1952), Indescretion of an American Wife (1953), Beat the Devil (1954), Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955), Good Morning Miss Dove (1955), The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit (1956), and A Farewell to Arms (1957). Her leading men during this period included Charles Boyer, Gregory Peck, James Mason, John Garfield, Charlton Heston, Laurence Olivier, Montgomery Clift, Humphrey Bogart, William Holden, Robert Stack and Rock Hudson.
Jennifer with Rock Hudson in "A Farewell to Arms".
Jones's first marriage to Robert Walker produced two sons, Robert Walker Jr. born April 15, 1940, and Michael Walker, born March 13, 1941. Both of them became actors. The couple divorced in 1944. Jones married Selznick on July 13, 1949, staying with him until his death on June 22, 1965. Following Selznick's death, she semi-retired from acting and appeared in only a few films. Her last appearance was a strong supporting role in The Towering Inferno (1974). Her only child with Selznick, Mary Jennifer Selznick, born August 12, 1954, committed suicide in 1976. This led to Jones' interest in mental health issues. She married multi-millionaire industrialist, art collector and philanthropist Norton Simon on May 29, 1971, and remained married to him until his death on June 1, 1993. She is currently on the board of directors of the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena.
Jennifer Jones is a breast cancer survivor. The late actress Susan Strasberg, who died of breast cancer, was married to a fellow actor surnamed Jones, and named her only child, a daughter, Jennifer Jane Jones, after the esteemed older actress.
Biography courtesy: Wikipedia.
Jennifer with Montgomery Clift in "Indiscretion of an American Wife".
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