Henry Jones; Veteran Character Actor

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 UCLA 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. In 1977 he took the leading role in “Comedians” at the Mark Taper Forum. When he starred with Virginia Mayo in “Dear Jennie” at L.A. Stage Co. West in 1984, a Times reviewer said Jones “has a distinctive comic presence--the prolonged final syllables, the sleepy eyes.”

That same year, Jones and Mayo earned Bronze Halo awards from the Southern California Motion Picture Council for achievement in the entertainment industry.

Jones worked in television from the medium’s infancy, appearing on “Kraft TV Theatre,” “Playhouse 90,” “Burns & Allen Show,” and “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” in the 1950s and 1960s.

Over the next two decades, Jones had regular roles in such series as “Phyllis,” “Mrs. Columbo,” “I Married Dora,” “Channing,” “Girl with Something Extra” and “Code Name: Foxfire.” More recently, he appeared as Senator Carr in the 1992 miniseries “Grass Roots,” as Sam in the 1994 Hallmark Hall of Fame effort “Breathing Lessons,” and as the Assayer in the 1995 series “Picture Windows.”

Jones is survived by his son, David, and daughter, Jocelyn Jones Watkins.

The family has suggested that any memorial donations be sent to the Actors Fund of America, 1501 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10036.