Dickie Jones(1927-2014)
- Actor
- Stunts
- Soundtrack
American actor who achieved some success as a child and as a young
adult, especially in B-Westerns and in television. The son of a Texas
newspaper editor. Jones was a accomplished horseman from infancy.
At the age of four he was billed as the World's Youngest Trick Rider and Roper.
At the age of six, he was hired to perform riding and lariat tricks in
the rodeo owned by western star Hoot Gibson.
Gibson convinced young Jones and his parents that there was a place for
him in Hollywood, and the boy and his mother went west. Gibson arranged
for some small parts for the boy. His good looks, energy, and
pleasant voice quickly landed him more and bigger parts. In both
low-budget Westerns and in more substantial productions. In 1940 he
had one of his most prominent roles, as the voice of Pinocchio (1940) in
Walt Disney's animated film of the same name.
Jones attended Hollywood High School and at 15, took over the
role of Henry Aldrich on the hit radio show "The Aldrich Family." He
learned carpentry and augmented his income with jobs in that field. He
served in the Army in Alaska during the final months of World War II.
Gene Autry, who had cast Jones in several Westerns before the war, now put him back to work in films.
And later in television, on programs produced by Autry's company.
Now billed as Dick Jones the handsome young man starred as Dick West.
Where he was sidekick to the Western hero known as
The Range Rider (1951), in a
TV series that ran for 76 episodes in 1951 (and for decades in
syndication). Then Autry gave Jones his own series Buffalo Bill, Jr. (1955)',
which ran for 40 episodes. Jones continued working in films throughout
the 50's and into the 60's. In 1966 he retired and entered the business world.
