{"id":1564,"date":"2013-08-05T03:42:00","date_gmt":"2013-08-05T03:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=1564"},"modified":"2014-12-23T22:50:09","modified_gmt":"2014-12-23T22:50:09","slug":"shirley-jones-stellar-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/08\/05\/shirley-jones-stellar-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Shirley Jones\u2019 stellar career"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By the time 18-year-old Shirley Jones was crowned Miss Pittsburgh in 1952, she was dreaming of stardom.<\/p>\n

An only child, she was named for Shirley Temple and studied theater at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. In her 1953 debut with Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, she appeared in \u201cLady in the Dark.\u201d That was back when the company performed outdoors at Pitt Stadium.<\/p>\n

With less than $200 in her pocket, the Western Pennsylvania native traveled to New York City, auditioning for a role in the Broadway chorus of \u00a0\u201cSouth Pacific.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein heard her sing, they signed her to a lengthy contract and offered her the role of Laurie in the film version of \u201cOklahoma.\u201d When the movie came out, a reviewer called her \u201cthe epitome of well scrubbed Midwest girldom.\u201d<\/p>\n

That heady period was the stellar beginning of a busy career.<\/p>\n

In 1956, she married her first husband, Jack Cassidy. They met while starring in a touring production of \u201cOklahoma\u201d that the National Theater Association sent to Paris and Rome with the help of the U.S. State Department.<\/p>\n

In 1961, she won an Academy Award as best supporting actress for her portrayal of Lulu Baines, a vengeful prostitute in \u201cElmer Gantry.\u201d Folks back home in Smithon, Pa. were shocked to see her play \u201ca woman of easy virtue\u201d but Ms. Jones liked the challenge of playing a bad girl. (That same year, Elizabeth Taylor won an Oscar as best actress, playing a prostitute in \u201cButterfield 8.\u201d)<\/p>\n

In 1962, she played the uptight Marian the Librarian, starring \u00a0opposite Robert Preston in the movie version of \u201cThe Music Man,\u201d another enduring classic.<\/p>\n

On screen, Jones worked with Burt Lancaster, James Cagney, Marlon Brando, Henry Fonda, Jimmy Stewart, Gordon MacRae, David Niven and Richard Widmark. On TV, she appeared with Len Cariou, Red Skelton, Carol Burnett, Dean Martin and Bob Hope.<\/p>\n

Millions of television viewers know her as the hip mother of five children who starred opposite her stepson, David Cassidy, in \u201cThe Partridge Family.\u201d The show, which aired from 1970 through 1974, was inspired by the lives of the Cowsills, a musical family.<\/p>\n

Ms. Jones divorced her first husband in 1974 and he died later in an apartment fire. Since 1977, she has been married to Marty Ingels, a comic. \u00a0In 1991, Point Park University gave her an honorary degree.<\/p>\n

In 2007, she appeared again in the Pittsburgh CLO\u2019s production of \u201cOklahoma,\u201d this time playing the role of elderly \u201cAunt Eller.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By the time 18-year-old Shirley Jones was crowned Miss Pittsburgh in 1952, she was dreaming of stardom.<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesShirley Jones\u2019 stellar career<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1571,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1066],"tags":[1034,1036,1044],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/tumblr_mqccbhpDuR1rr5swxo6_1280.jpg?fit=1080%2C1432&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":110,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/11\/03\/pittsburgh-playhouse-performers\/","url_meta":{"origin":1564,"position":0},"title":"Pittsburgh Playhouse performers","date":"November 3, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Point Park University took over the facility in 1973.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/tumblr_ne6asgl3AH1rr5swxo5_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C929&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8869,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2018\/06\/19\/ricki-wertz-on-tv-metoo-and-leaving-pittsburgh\/","url_meta":{"origin":1564,"position":1},"title":"Ricki Wertz on TV, #MeToo, and leaving Pittsburgh","date":"June 19, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"One day early in her television career, Ricki Wertz was knocked over by a stranger on her way to the bank. \u201cHe grabbed me and picked me up and and put me on the step and said, \u2018Sorry, Rick, I\u2019m in a hurry,\u2019\u201d Ms. Wertz recalls. 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