Editing Shirley Jones (section)

===''The Partridge Family''===
{{Further|The Partridge Family}}[[File:The Partridge Family Cast 1972.jpg|150px|left|thumb|Jones with fellow cast members of ''[[The Partridge Family]]'' in 1972]]
[[File:The Partridge Family Cast 1970 No 2.jpg|thumb|''The Partridge Family'', season 1]]
In 1970, after turning down the role of [[Carol Brady]] on ''[[The Brady Bunch]]'', a role that ultimately went to her best friend, [[Florence Henderson]], Jones was the producers' first choice to audition for the lead role of Shirley Partridge in ''[[The Partridge Family]]'', an [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] musical sitcom based loosely on the real-life musical family [[The Cowsills]]. The series focused on a young widowed mother whose five children form a pop-rock group after the entire family painted its signature bus to travel. She was convinced that the combination of music and comedy would be a surefire hit. Jones realized, however, that:

{{Blockquote |The problem with ''Partridge''—though it was great for me and gave me an opportunity to stay home and raise my kids—when my agents came to me and presented it to me, they said if you do a series and it becomes a hit show, you will be that character for the rest of your life and your film career will go into the toilet, which is what happened. But I have no regrets.<ref>{{cite news| last=King| first=Susan| title=Shirley Jones: No Regrets, and Still Going Strong at 75|work=Vancouver Sun| date=May 26, 2009| page=35| url=https://vancouversun.newspapers.com/image/497427246/?terms=Shirley%2BJones%3A%2BNo%2BRegrets%2C%2Band%2BStill%2BGoing%2BStrong%2Bat%2B75| url-access=subscription|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>}}

During its first season, it became a hit and was screened in over 70 countries. Within months, Jones and her co-stars were [[popular culture|pop culture]] television icons.<ref name=TVGuide>{{cite web|url=https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/shirley-jones/credits/174626/|title=Shirley Jones|website=TVGuide.com|publisher=[[TV Guide]]|access-date=January 24, 2020}}</ref> Her real-life 20-year-old stepson [[David Cassidy]], who was an unknown actor at the time, played Shirley Partridge's eldest son Keith and became a [[teen idol]]. The show also spawned a number of albums and singles by The Partridge Family, performed by David Cassidy and Shirley Jones. That same year, "[[I Think I Love You]]" reached number one on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] music chart, making Jones the second person, after [[Frank Sinatra]], and the first woman to win an acting Oscar and also have a number-one hit on that chart, an achievement only matched by [[Cher]] and [[Barbra Streisand]]. The Partridge Family won a [[NARM]] award for the best-selling single of the year in 1970 for their hit "I Think I Love You".<ref name="Cassidy">{{cite book |last1=Cassidy |first1=David |last2=Deffaa |first2=Chip |title=C'mon, Get Happy...Fear and Loathing on the Partridge Family Bus |date=1994 |publisher=Warner Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0446395311 |page=92 }}</ref> In 1971, The Partridge Family was nominated for a [[Grammy]] under the [[Best New Artist]] category.<ref>{{cite web| title=13th Annual GRAMMY Awards (1970)| url=https://www.grammy.com/grammys/awards/13th-annual-grammy-awards-1970| website=Recording Academy| date=November 28, 2017| access-date=September 22, 2019}}</ref>

[[File:The Partridge Family Shirley Jones 1972.jpg|thumb|Jones in 1972]]

The series' run ended in 1974.

Shirley Jones's friendship with David Cassidy had begun in the mid-to-late 1950s, when David was just six, after he learned about his father's divorce from his mother Evelyn Ward. Upon David's first meeting with Shirley before co-starring with her on ''The Partridge Family'', he said, "The day he tells me that they're divorced, he tells me, 'We're remarried, and let me introduce you to my new wife.' He was thrilled when her first film, ''Oklahoma!'' (1955), had come out; and my dad took me to see it—I just see her, and I go, uh-oh, it doesn't really quite register with me, 'cause I'm in total shock, because I wanted to hate her, but the instant that I met her, I got the essence of her. She's a very warm, open, sweet, good human being. She couldn't have thawed it for me—the coldness and the ice—any more than she did."<ref>David Cassidy quoted on a Biography Channel episode about Shirley Jones – airdate January 10, 2012</ref> Shirley was shocked to hear her real-life stepson was going to audition for the role of Keith Partridge. David said, "At the auditions, they introduced me to the lead actress [Shirley Jones] 'cause they had no idea, they had no idea. So I said, 'What are you doing here?' She looked at me and said, 'What are you doing here?' And I said, 'Well, I'm reading for the lead guy.' I said, 'What are you doing here?' She said, 'I'm the mother!'" Cassidy discussed his relationship with his stepmother on the show: "She wasn't my mother, and I can be very open, and we can speak, and we became very close friends. She was a very good role model for me, watching the way, you know, she dealt with people on the set, and watching people revere her."<ref>{{cite episode| title=Shirley Jones| network=[[A&E (TV channel)|A&E]]| series=[[Biography (TV program)|Biography]]| url=https://www.biography.com/video/shirley-jones-playlist-5324227558001| air-date=January 10, 2012}}</ref>

Cassidy appeared on many shows alongside his stepmother, including ''[[A&E Biography]]'', ''[[TV Land Confidential]]'', and ''[[Today (NBC program)|The Today Show]]'', and he was one of the presenters of his stepmother's ''[[Intimate Portrait]]'' on [[Lifetime Television]], and the reality show pilot ''In Search of the Partridge Family'', where he served as co-executive producer. The rest of the cast also celebrated the 25th, 30th, and 35th anniversaries of ''The Partridge Family'' (although Cassidy was unavailable to attend the 25th anniversary in 1995 owing to other commitments). In addition, Jack Cassidy's death in 1976 drew Jones and Cassidy closer as Shirley's three children and stepson mourned their father.{{citation needed|date=December 2018}}