Dean Jones was a performer best known for his roles in such classic Disney family films as That Darn Cat, The Shaggy D.A., The Love Bug and its sequel, Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo. He was inducted into the Disney Legends Hall of Fame in 1995.
The Love Bug and its sequels followed the story of down-on-his-luck race-car driver Jim Douglas, who becomes a champion with Herbie, a Volkswagen Beetle that has a mind of its own. The films spawned a short-lived television series, Herbie, the Love Bug, which aired on CBS in 1982, also starring Jones as the driver.
His other Disney films included The Million Dollar Duck and Snowball Express, as well as another family classic for Universal, Beethoven, about a family coping with a slobbbering St. Bernard. Jones also provided voice work for the animated version of the canine classic. Additionally, Jones appeared in the films Somebody Up There Likes Me, starring Paul Newman, Jailhouse Rock, starring Elvis Presley, Never So Few, starring Frank Sinatra and Clear and Present Danger, starring Harrison Ford.
Beyond Herbie, he appeared on many other television series, including Bonanza, Wagon Train, Ben Casey, Vacation Playhouse, Medical Center, The Love Boat and Superman. He also starred in the 1962 TV comedy Ensign O'Toole, as the title character, a lower-ranking Navy officer who instigates pranks on the destroyer Appleby.
Dean Jones was a performer best known for his roles in such classic Disney family films as That Darn Cat, The Shaggy D.A., The Love Bug and its sequel, Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo. He was inducted into the Disney Legends Hall of Fame in 1995.
The Love Bug and its sequels followed the story of down-on-his-luck race-car driver Jim Douglas, who becomes a champion with Herbie, a Volkswagen Beetle that has a mind of its own. The films spawned a short-lived television series, Herbie, the Love Bug, which aired on CBS in 1982, also starring Jones as the driver.
His other Disney films included The Million Dollar Duck and Snowball Express, as well as another family classic for Universal, Beethoven, about a family coping with a slobbbering St. Bernard. Jones also provided voice work for the animated version of the canine classic. Additionally, Jones appeared in the films Somebody Up There Likes Me, starring Paul Newman, Jailhouse Rock, starring Elvis Presley, Never So Few, starring Frank Sinatra and Clear and Present Danger, starring Harrison Ford.
Beyond Herbie, he appeared on many other television series, including Bonanza, Wagon Train, Ben Casey, Vacation Playhouse, Medical Center, The Love Boat and Superman. He also starred in the 1962 TV comedy Ensign O'Toole, as the title character, a lower-ranking Navy officer who instigates pranks on the destroyer Appleby.
Additionally, Jones appeared in a variety of religious-themed films and television movies and series, including the show Good Heavens and the movies Born Again; The Gospel According to Scrooge; Don't Ask Me, Ask God; St. John in Exile and Fire and Rain.
He began his career as the host of an Alabama radio show, Dean Jones Sings, and as a producer of stage shows. He also worked on Broadway, beginning with There Was a Little Girl, opposite Jane Fonda, in 1960, and Under The Yum-Yum Tree in the same year. Additionally, he was in the original Broadway cast of Stephen Sondheim’s Company in 1970 and the national tour of Harold Prince’s Showboat.
Jones died September 1, 2015, in Los Angeles. He was 84.
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