LOS ANGELES -- Henry Jones, veteran character actor of some three dozen motion pictures, 350 television shows and scores of Broadway stage productions spanning half a century, has died. He was 86.
Jones, who earned a Tony Award for his work in 1958's "Sunrise at Campobello," died Monday at the University of California, Los Angeles, Medical Center of injuries sustained in a fall at his Santa Monica home.Born in Philadelphia and educated at St. Joseph's College, Jones began his long and versatile career on stage. He appeared in Shakespearean plays including "Hamlet" and "Henry IV" and in such classic contemporary works as "My Sister Eileen," "Bad Seed" and "Advise and Consent." Jones' work in the biographical "Sunrise at Campobello" about Franklin D. Roosevelt also earned the actor a Variety New York Drama Critics Poll award.
Jones made his film debut in 1943 in "This Is the Army," which also featured Ronald Reagan, Irving Berlin and George Murphy.
Although Jones' roles were sometimes brief, he never failed to make an impression as a top-quality actor, whether in comedy or drama. His four-minute monologue in Alfred Hitchcock's many-layered 1958 film "Vertigo" was chosen by Film Comment magazine in 1994 as one of the top 10 performances by a supporting actor in movie history.
Among Jones' other films were "The Girl Can't Help It," "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" "Cash McCall," "Angel Baby," "Never Too Late," "Support Your Local Sheriff," "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," "Rabbit Run," "Pete & Tillie," "Tom Sawyer," "Nine to Five," "Dick Tracy," "Arachnophobia" and "The Grifters."
Jones returned to the stage occasionally, principally in regional theater.
Jones is survived by his son, David, and daughter, Jocelyn Jones Watkins.