Career
Jones secured a contract with Paramount Pictures and made her first film in 1952. In 1953, she married aspiring film-maker Aaron Spelling. She appeared in several episodes of Dragnet, credited as Caroline Jones in at least one episode; had an uncredited bit part as a nightclub hostess in The Big Heat, and a role in House of Wax, as the woman who is converted by Vincent Price into a Joan of Arc statue, brought her good reviews. In 1954 she played Beth in Shield For Murder, earning $500.00 per day for playing the role.
She was cast in From Here to Eternity, for the role of Karen Holmes, which was written for Carolyn, but a bout with pneumonia forced her to withdraw.
Jones made her TV debut on the DuMont series Gruen Playhouse in 1952. She appeared in two Rod Cameron syndicated series, City Detective and State Trooper, as Betty Fowler in the 1956 episode, "The Paperhanger of Pioche". She guest-starred in Ray Milland's CBS sitcom, Meet Mr. McNutley. In 1955, Jones appeared on the anthology series Alfred Hitchcock Presents in the episode "The Cheney Vase" as a secretary assisting her scheming boyfriend Darren McGavin in attempting an art theft, and opposite Ruta Lee. In the 1962-1963 season, Jones guest starred on CBS's The Lloyd Bridges Show, which Spelling created. While married to Spelling, she appeared on the NBC program, Here's Hollywood.
Jones appeared in Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Alfred Hitchcock's remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for The Bachelor Party. In 1958, she shared a Golden Globe Award for "Most Promising Newcomer" with Sandra Dee and Diane Varsi, and appeared with Elvis Presley in King Creole.
In 1959, she played opposite Frank Sinatra in Frank Capra's A Hole in the Head, Dean Martin in Career, and Anthony Quinn in Last Train from Gun Hill. In 1960, she guest starred with James Best and Jack Mullaney in the episode "Love on Credit" of CBS's anthology series The DuPont Show with June Allyson, a Four Star Television production. By 1963, she and Spelling were separated, and by 1964 they were divorced.
She appeared three times as a guest star in the TV series Wagon Train, in the first season (1957) episode "The John Cameron Story," and in the later color episodes "The Jenna Albright Story" (1961) and "The Molly Kincaid Story" (1963).
In 1964, with a long coal black wig, Jones began playing Morticia Addams in the television series The Addams Family, a role which brought her success as a comedienne and a Golden Globe Award nomination. She guest-starred on the 1960s TV series Batman, playing Marsha, the Queen of Diamonds, and in 1976 appeared as the title character's mother, Hippolyta, on the Wonder Woman TV series. Her last role was the scheming matriarch of Clegg Clan, Myrna in the soap opera "Capitol".
Read more about this topic: Carolyn Jones
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