Starting out in musicals and comedies, leather-lunged character actor Henry Jones had developed into a versatile dramatic actor by the 1950s, though he never abandoned his willingness to make people laugh. Jones scored his first cinematic bullseye when he re-created his Broadway role as the malevolent handyman Leroy in the 1956 cinemadaptation of Maxwell Anderson's The Bad Seed (1956). Refusing to be typed, Jones followed this triumph with a brace of quietly comic roles in Frank Tashlin's The Girl Can't Help It (1956) and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter. He returned to Broadway in 1958, winning the Tony and New York Drama Critics' awards for his performance in Sunrise at Campobello. Since that time, Jones has flourished in films, often making big impressions in the tiniest of roles: the coroner in Vertigo (1958), the bicycle salesman in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), the hotel night clerk in Dick Tracy (1990) and so on. From 1963's Channing onward, Jones has been a regular on several weekly TV series, most notably as Judge Jonathan Dexter in Phyllis (1975-76) and B. Riley Wicker on the nighttime serial Falcon Crest (1985-86). Henry Jones is the father of actress Jocelyn Jones. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Family
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Father: John Francis Xavier Jones.
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Mother: Helen Jones.
Education
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St Joseph's College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, AB, 1935
Milestones
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1935 Began acting career under Jasper Deeter at the famed Hedgerow Theatre in Moylan, Pennsylvania
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1938 Broadway acting debut as Reynaldo and the second gravedigger in "Hamlet", starring Maurice Evans
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1939 Had featured role in "The Time of Your Life" on Broadway
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1942 Served as a private in the US Army
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1942 Appeared in the stage show "This Is the Army"
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1943 Film debut, "This Is the Army"
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1946 Early TV credit as guest performer on "Light's Out", an NBC live series of mysteries and tales of the supernatural
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1946 Portrayed the Dauphin opposite Ingrid Berman's "Joan of Lorraine" on Broadway
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1951 Returned to features in "Lady Says No"
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1954 Portrayed the suspicious handyman Leroy in "The Bad Seed" on Broadway
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1956 Reprised role in film version of "The Bad Seed"
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1958 Offered memorable turn as the coroner in Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo"
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1958 Returned to Broadway to portray aide Louis Howe in the biographical play "Sunrise at Campobello"; received Tony Award
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1960 Final Broadway appearance in "Advise and Consent"
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1969 Portrayed the bicycle salesman in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"
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1977 Returned to the stage in an L.A. production of "Comedians"
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1984 Appeared opposite Virginia Mayo in a Los Angeles production of "Dear Jennie"
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1990 Made last film appearances in small roles in "The Grifters", "Dick Tracy", "Enid Is Sleeping" and "Aracnophobia"
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1995 Last screen appearance in the Joe Dante-directed segment "Lightning" of the Showtime anthology "Picture Windows"
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Had featured role as John Davidson's employer on the NBC sitcom "The Girl With Something Extra"
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Portrayed retired judge Jonathan Dexter on the CBS sitcom "Phyllis", starring Cloris Leachman
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Starred in the ABC drama series "Channing"