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Tommy Lee Jones

 
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Tommy Lee Jones

Tommy Lee Jones
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"Damn right, it's fun. There's good company. It's creative. It's adventurous. Combines high adventure and art with intellection. It's more fun than polo. It's like going undefeated in football. [When asked if making movies is fun]"

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Tommy Lee Jones

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Biography

An eighth-generation Texan, actor Tommy Lee Jones attended Harvard University, where he roomed with future U.S. Vice President Al Gore. Though several of his less-knowledgeable fans have tended to dismiss Jones as a roughhewn redneck, the actor was equally at home on the polo fields (he's a champion player) as the oil fields, where he made his living for many years.

After graduating cum laude from Harvard in 1969, Jones made his stage debut that same year in A Patriot for Me; in 1970, he appeared in his first film, Love Story (listed way, way down the cast list as one of Ryan O'Neal's fraternity buddies). Interestingly enough, while Jones was at Harvard, he and roommate Gore provided the models for author Erich Segal while he was writing the character of Oliver, the book's (and film's) protagonist. After this supporting role, Jones got his first film lead in the obscure Canadian film Eliza's Horoscope (1975). Following a spell on the daytime soap opera One Life to Live, he gained national attention in 1977 when he was cast in the title role in the TV miniseries The Amazing Howard Hughes, his resemblance to the title character -- both vocally and visually -- positively uncanny. Five years later, Jones won further acclaim and an Emmy for his startling performance as murderer Gary Gilmore in The Executioner's Song.

Jones spent the rest of the '80s working in both television and film, doing his most notable work on such TV miniseries as Lonesome Dove (1989), for which he earned another Emmy nomination. It was not until the early '90s that the actor became a substantial figure in Hollywood, a position catalyzed by a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his role in Oliver Stone's JFK. In 1993, Jones won both that award and a Golden Globe for his driven, starkly funny portrayal of U.S. Marshal Sam Gerard in The Fugitive. His subsequent work during the decade was prolific and enormously varied. In 1994 alone, he could be seen as an insane prison warden in Natural Born Killers; titular baseball hero Ty Cobb in Cobb; a troubled army captain in Blue Sky; a wily federal attorney in The Client; and a psychotic bomber in Blown Away.

Jones was also attached to a number of big-budget action movies, hamming it up as the crazed Two-Face in Batman Forever (1995); donning sunglasses and an attitude to play a special agent in Men in Black (1997); and reprising his Fugitive role for the film's 1998 sequel, U.S. Marshals. The following year, he continued this trend, playing Ashley Judd's parole officer in the psychological thriller Double Jeopardy. The late '90s and millennial turnover found Jones' popularity soaring, and the distinguished actor continued to develop a successful comic screen persona (Space Cowboys [2000] and Men in Black II [2002]), in addition to maintaining his dramatic clout with roles in such thrillers as The Rules of Engagement (2000) and The Hunted (2003).

2005 brought a comedic turn for the actor, who starred in the madcap comedy Man of the House as a grizzled police officer in tasked to protect a house full of cheerleaders who witnessed a murder. Jones also took a stab at directing that year, helming and starring in the western crime drama The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. In 2006, Jones appeared in Robert Altman's film adaptation of A Prairie Home Companion, based on Garrison Keillor's long running radio show. The movie's legendary director, much loved source material and all-star cast made the film a safe bet for the actor, who hadn't done much in the way of musical comedy. Jones played the consumate corporate bad guy with his trademark grit.

2007 brought two major roles for the actor. He headlined the Iraq war drama In the Valley of Elah for director Paul Haggis. His work as the veteran father of a son who died in the war earned him strong reviews and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. However more people saw Jones' other film from that year, the Coen brothers adaptation of No Country for Old Men. His work as a middle-aged Texas sheriff haunted by the acts of the evil man he hunts earned him a Screen Actors Guild nomination for Best Supporting Actor. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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Tommy Lee Jones

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Tommy Lee Jones

Tommy Lee Jones at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival
Born (1946-09-15) September 15, 1946 (age 65)[1]
San Saba, Texas, U.S.
Occupation Actor, director
Years active 1969–present
Spouse Katherine "Kate" Lardner (1971–78)
Kimberlea Cloughley (1981–96; 2 children)
Dawn Laurel (2001–present)

Tommy Lee Jones (born September 15, 1946) is an American actor and film director. He has received three Academy Award nominations, winning one as Best Supporting Actor for the 1993 thriller film The Fugitive.

His notable film roles include federal marshal Samuel Gerard in The Fugitive and U.S. Marshals, Agent K in Men in Black and its sequels, Ed Tom Bell in No Country for Old Men, the villain "Two-Face" in Batman Forever, terrorist William Strannix in Under Siege, former Texas Ranger Woodrow F. Call in Lonesome Dove, a Texas Ranger in Man of the House and rancher Pete Perkins in The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, and Colonel Chester Phillips in Captain America: The First Avenger. Jones has also portrayed real-life figures such as businessman Howard Hughes, executed murderer Gary Gilmore, Oliver Lynn in Coal Miner's Daughter and baseball great Ty Cobb.

Contents

Early life

Jones was born in San Saba, Texas.[2] His mother, Lucille Marie (née Scott), was a police officer, school teacher, and beauty shop owner, and his father, Clyde C. Jones, was an oil field worker.[1] The two were married and divorced twice. Jones has stated that his grandmother was of Cherokee ancestry.[3] He was a resident of Midland, Texas, and attended Robert E. Lee High School.

Jones graduated from the St. Mark's School of Texas,[4] where he attended on scholarship and is now on the board of directors, and attended Harvard College on a need-based scholarship. He stayed in Mower B-12 as a freshman, across the hall from future Vice President Al Gore, the son of Sen. Albert Gore of Tennessee. As an upperclassman, he was roommates in Dunster House with Gore and Bob Somerby, who later became editor of the media criticism site the Daily Howler. Jones played offensive guard[5] on Harvard's undefeated 1968 varsity football team, was nominated as a first-team All-Ivy League selection, and played in the 1968 Game, which featured a memorable and literally last-minute Harvard 16-point comeback to tie Yale. He recounts his memory of "the most famous football game in Ivy League history" in the documentary Harvard Beats Yale 29-29. Jones graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1969, and his senior thesis was on "the mechanics of Catholicism" in the works of Flannery O'Connor.[6][7]

Career

Jones moved to New York to become an actor, making his Broadway debut in 1969's A Patriot for Me in a number of supporting roles. In 1970 he landed his first film role, coincidentally playing a Harvard student in Love Story (Erich Segal, the author of "Love Story," said that he based the lead character of Oliver on the two undergrad roommates he knew while attending Harvard, Jones and Gore).[8]

In early 1971, he returned to Broadway in Abe Burrows' Four on a Garden where he shared the stage with Carol Channing and Sid Caesar. Between 1971 and 1975 he portrayed Dr. Mark Toland on the ABC soap opera, One Life to Live. He returned to the stage for a 1974 production of Ulysses in Nighttown with Zero Mostel.

In films, he played an escaped convict hunted in Jackson County Jail (1976), a Vietnam veteran in Rolling Thunder (1977) and an automobile mogul, co-starring with Laurence Olivier, in the Harold Robbins drama The Betsy.

In 1980, Jones earned his first Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of country singer Loretta Lynn's husband, Doolittle "Mooney" Lynn, in the popular Coal Miner's Daughter. In 1981 he played a drifter opposite Sally Field in Back Roads, a comedy that received middling reviews.[9]

In 1983, he received an Emmy[10] for Best Actor for his performance as murderer Gary Gilmore in a TV adaptation of Norman Mailer's The Executioner's Song. That same year he starred in a pirate adventure, Nate and Hayes, playing the heavily-bearded Captain Bully Hayes.

In 1989, he earned another Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Texas Ranger lawman Woodrow F. Call in the acclaimed television mini-series Lonesome Dove, based on the best-seller by Larry McMurtry.

In the 1990s, blockbuster hits such as The Fugitive co-starring Harrison Ford, Batman Forever co-starring Val Kilmer, and Men in Black with Will Smith made Jones one of the best-paid and most in-demand actors in Hollywood. His performance in The Fugitive received broad acclaim and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and a sequel. When he accepted his Oscar, his head was shaved for his role in the film Cobb, which he made light of in his speech: "All a man can say at a time like this is 'I am not really bald.'"

Among his other well-known performances during the 1990s were those of the accused conspirator Clay Shaw/Clay Bertrand in the 1991 film JFK (which earned him another Oscar nomination), as a terrorist who hijacks a U.S. Navy battleship in Under Siege and as a maximum-security prison warden who's in way over his head in Natural Born Killers.

Jones co-starred with director Clint Eastwood as astronauts in the 2000 film Space Cowboys, leading a space rescue mission.

In 2005, the first theatrical feature film Jones directed, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, was presented at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival. Jones's character speaks both English and Spanish in the film. His performance won him the Best Actor Award. His first film as a director had been The Good Old Boys in 1995, a made-for-television movie.

Tommy Lee Jones, August 2006

Two strong performances in 2007 marked a resurgence in Jones's career, one as a beleaguered father investigating the disappearance of his soldier son in In the Valley of Elah, the other as a Texas sheriff hunting an assassin in the Oscar-winning No Country for Old Men. For the former, he was nominated for an Academy Award.

Jones has been a spokesperson for Japanese brewing company Suntory since 2006. He can be seen in various Japanese TV commercials of Suntory's Coffee brand Boss as a character called "Alien Jones," an extraterrestrial who takes the form of a human being to check on the world of humans. There are 34 such commercials that can be seen on YouTube.[11]

In 2010, Jones appeared alongside Ben Affleck in the recession drama, The Company Men. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where early reviews praised Jones's performance as "pitch-perfect."[12] Jones had a role in the Marvel Studios film, Captain America: The First Avenger.[13] He also directed, produced and co-starred with Samuel L. Jackson in an adaptation of The Sunset Limited.

Preceded by
Barry Morse
as Philip Gerard
Sam Gerard portrayer
1993 - 1998
Succeeded by
Mykelti Williamson
as Philip Gerard
Preceded by
Billy Dee Williams
Harvey "Two-Face" Dent portrayer
1995
Succeeded by
Aaron Eckhart

Personal life

At the 2000 Democratic National Convention, he presented the nominating speech for his college roommate, Al Gore, as the Democratic Party's nominee for President of the United States.

Jones was married to Kate Lardner, the daughter of Ring Lardner Jr. from 1971 to 1978. He has two children from his second marriage to Kimberlea Cloughley, the daughter of Phil Hardberger, former mayor of San Antonio: Austin Leonard (born 1982) and Victoria Kafka (born 1991). On March 19, 2001, he married his third wife, Dawn Laurel.

Jones resides in Terrell Hills, Texas, a suburb of San Antonio and speaks fluent Spanish.[14] He owns a 3000 acre cattle ranch in San Saba County, Texas[15] and a ranch near Van Horn, Texas, which served as the set for his film The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. He also owns a home and farm in polo mecca Wellington, Florida. Jones is a serious polo player, he has a house in a polo country club in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is an avid San Antonio Spurs fan, he is often seen courtside at Spurs games.

In 2008, Jones signed on with Chesapeake Energy to be a spokesperson for a public relations campaign to promote shale gas (natural gas derived from shale rock through hydraulic fracturing or "fracking") in Texas.

Film and television credits

Film and television credits
Year Title Role Notes
1970 Love Story Hank Simpson
1971 One Life to Live Dr. Mark Toland TV soap opera
1973 Life Study Gus
1975 Eliza's Horoscope Tommy Lee
1976 Charlie's Angels Aram Kolegian TV, 1 episode
1976 Smash-Up on Interstate 5 Officer Hutton TV
1976 Jackson County Jail Coley Blake
1976 Family David Needham TV, 1 episode
1977 The Amazing Howard Hughes Howard Hughes
1977 Rolling Thunder Corporal Johnny Vohden
1978 The Betsy Angelo Perino
1978 Eyes of Laura Mars John Neville
1980 Coal Miner's Daughter Doolittle 'Mooney' Lynn aka 'Doo' Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1980 Barn Burning Ab Snopes TV
1981 Back Roads Elmore Pratt
1982 The Executioner's Song Gary Mark Gilmore Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor - Miniseries or a Movie
1982 The Rainmaker Starbuck TV
1983 Nate and Hayes Captain Bully Hayes
1984 The River Rat Billy
1985 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Brick Pollitt TV
1986 The Park is Mine Mitch TV
1986 Black Moon Rising Quint
1986 Yuri Nosenko: Double Agent Steve Daley TV
1987 Broken Vows Pater Joseph McMahon TV
1987 The Big Town George Cole
1988 Stranger on My Land Bud Whitman TV
1988 April Morning Moses Cooper TV
1988 Stormy Monday Cosmo
1988 Gotham Eddie Mallard TV
1989 Lonesome Dove Woodrow F. Call
1989 The Package Thomas Boyette
1990 Fire Birds Brad Little
1991 JFK Clay Shaw/Clay Bertrand
1992 Under Siege William Strannix
1993 House of Cards Jake Beerlander
1993 The Fugitive Marshal Samuel Gerard
1993 Heaven & Earth Steve Butler
1994 Blown Away Ryan Gaerity Nominated – MTV Movie Awards for Best Villain
1994 The Client 'Reverend' Roy Foltrigg
1994 Natural Born Killers Warden Dwight McClusky
1994 Blue Sky Maj. Henry 'Hank' Marshall
1994 Cobb Ty Cobb
1995 The Good Old Boys Hewey Calloway
1995 Batman Forever Harvey Dent/Two-Face Nominated – MTV Movie Awards for Best Villain
1997 Volcano Mike Roark
1997 Men in Black Kevin Brown/Agent K
1998 U.S. Marshals Chief Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard
1998 Small Soldiers Chip Hazard Voice
1999 Double Jeopardy Travis Lehman
2000 Rules of Engagement Col. Hayes 'Hodge' Hodges
2000 Space Cowboys William "Hawk" Hawkins
2002 Men in Black II Kevin Brown/Agent K
2003 The Hunted L.T. Bonham
2003 The Missing Samuel Jones/Chaa-duu-ba-its-iidan
2005 Man of the House Roland Sharp
2005 The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada Pete Perkins
2006 A Prairie Home Companion Axeman Gotham Awards for Best Ensemble Cast
2007 No Country for Old Men Ed Tom Bell
2007 In the Valley of Elah Hank Deerfield
2008 Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 Himself Interviewed for this documentary, by director Kevin Rafferty, concerning the 1968 Yale vs. Harvard football game. Jones was an offensive guard.
2009 In the Electric Mist Dave Robicheaux
2010 The Company Men Gene McClary Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
2011 The Sunset Limited The Professor Also director and executive producer
2011 Captain America: The First Avenger Colonel Chester Phillips[16] Nominated — Scream Award for Best Supporting Actor
2012 Men in Black 3[17] Kevin Brown/Agent K
2012 Hope Springs Arnold Soames
2012 Lincoln Thaddeus Stevens Post-Production

Further reading

  • Grunert, Andrea, "Les bons et les méchants selon Tommy Lee Jones", in: Francis Bordat et Serge Chauvin (eds.) Les bons et les méchants Université Paris X, 2005, p. 339–352, ISBN 2-907335-30-8

References

  1. ^ a b "Tommy Lee Jones Biography (1946–)". Filmreference.com. http://www.filmreference.com/film/98/Tommy-Lee-Jones.html. Retrieved 2012-05-16. 
  2. ^ Weinraub, Bernard (August 1, 1993). "FILM; Tommy Lee Jones Snarls His Way to the Pinnacle". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/01/movies/film-tommy-lee-jones-snarls-his-way-to-the-pinnacle.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=2. Retrieved March 28, 2010. 
  3. ^ "Eric O'Keefe :: WD Ranch". Ericokeefe.com. http://www.ericokeefe.com/wdranch.php. Retrieved 2012-05-16. 
  4. ^ Hollandsworth, Skip (2006-02-01). "Tommy Lee Jones Is Not Acting". Texas Monthly. http://www.texasmonthly.com/preview/2006-02-01/feature2. Retrieved 2012-05-16. 
  5. ^ Yale Alumni Publications, Inc. (2008-11-20). "Yale Alumni Magazine". Yale Alumni Magazine. http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/2008_11/thegame.html. Retrieved 2012-05-16. 
  6. ^ Scott, A. O. (February 7, 2005). "Big Questions, Smart Women, Mann’s Movies". The New York Times. http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/filmography.html?p_id=36238&mod=bio. Retrieved May 25, 2010. 
  7. ^ Laporte, Nicole (2011-02-06). "Newsweek.com". Newsweek.com. http://www.newsweek.com/2011/02/06/true-gruff.html. Retrieved 2012-05-16. 
  8. ^ Fox, Margalit (January 20, 2010). "Erich Segal, ‘Love Story' Author, Dies at 72". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/books/20segal.html. Retrieved March 28, 2010. 
  9. ^ "Back Roads". Business Date for Back Roads. imdb.com/. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082042/business. Retrieved March 12, 2006. 
  10. ^ "Tommy Lee Jones Emmy Nominated". Emmys.com. http://www.emmys.com/celebrities/tommy-lee-jones. Retrieved 2012-05-16. 
  11. ^ "34 Japanese Boss Coffee Commercials on Youtube". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvMZAXLTF1E. Retrieved Sept 18, 2011. 
  12. ^ Review: The Company Men – Sundance Film Festival – Film.com
  13. ^ "Tommy Lee Jones Officially Comes Aboard Captain America: The First Avenger". MovieWeb.com. http://www.movieweb.com/news/NE83q9deUnI0ag. 
  14. ^ "BBC – Movies – interview – Tommy Lee Jones". Bbc.co.uk. http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2006/03/30/tommy_lee_jones_melquiades_2006_interview.shtml. Retrieved 2012-05-16. 
  15. ^ Published on Thursday 1 August 2002 01:00 (2002-08-01). "Why lee jones loves black comedy - News". Scotsman.com. http://www.scotsman.com/news/why_lee_jones_loves_black_comedy_1_848648. Retrieved 2012-05-16. 
  16. ^ Ross, Dalton. "Marvel confirms Tommy Lee Jones will play Colonel Phillips in 'Captain America' | Inside Movies | EW.com". Hollywoodinsider.ew.com. http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2010/06/28/marvel-confirms-tommy-lee-jones-will-play-colonel-phillips-in-captain-america. Retrieved 2012-05-16. 
  17. ^ Brendon Connelly (April 21, 2010). "Barry Sonnenfeld Confirms Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones For Men in Black 3D". /Film. http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/04/21/barry-sonnenfeld-confirms-will-smith-and-tommy-lee-jones-for-men-in-black-3d/. Retrieved April 20, 2010. 

External links


 
 
Related topics:
Guillermo Arriaga (Writer, Director, Drama)
Kelli Garner (Actor, Drama/Comedy)
Return to Lonesome Dove (1993 Western Film)

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