Editing Jennifer Jones

{{Short description|American actress (1919–2009)}}
{{Other people}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Jennifer Jones
| image = JENNIFERjones.jpg
| caption = Jones in 1953
| birth_name = Phylis Lee Isley 
| birth_date = {{birth date|mf=yes|1919|3|2}}
| birth_place = [[Tulsa, Oklahoma]], U.S. 
| death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|2009|12|17|1919|03|02}}
| death_place = [[Malibu, California]], U.S.
| resting_place = [[Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)|Forest Lawn Memorial Park]], [[Glendale, California]], U.S.
| alma_mater =[[American Academy of Dramatic Arts]]
| years active = 1939–1974
| occupation = Actress
| spouse = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|[[Robert Walker (actor, born 1918)|Robert Walker]] |1939|1945|end=divorced}}
* {{marriage|[[David O. Selznick]] |1949|1965|end=died}}
* {{marriage|[[Norton Simon]] |1971|1993|end=died}}
}}
| children = 3, including [[Robert Walker (actor, born 1940)|Robert Walker, Jr.]]
}}

'''Jennifer Jones''' (born '''Phylis Lee Isley'''; March 2, 1919 – December 17, 2009), also known as '''Jennifer Jones Simon''', was an American actress and mental-health advocate. Over the course of her career that spanned more than five decades, she was nominated for an [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] five times, including one win for [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Actress]], and a [[Golden Globe Award]] win for [[Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama|Best Actress in a Drama]].

A native of [[Tulsa, Oklahoma]], Jones worked as a model in her youth before transitioning to acting, appearing in two serial films in 1939. Her third role was a lead part as [[Bernadette Soubirous]] in ''[[The Song of Bernadette (film)|The Song of Bernadette]]'' (1943), which earned her the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Actress. She went on to star in several films that garnered her significant critical acclaim and a further three Academy Award nominations in the mid-1940s, including ''[[Since You Went Away]]'' (1944), ''[[Love Letters (1945 film)|Love Letters]]'' (1945) and ''[[Duel in the Sun (film)|Duel in the Sun]]'' (1946).

In 1949, Jones married film producer [[David O. Selznick]] and appeared as the eponymous [[Madame Bovary]] in [[Vincente Minnelli]]'s [[Madame Bovary (1949 film)|1949 adaptation]]. She appeared in several films throughout the 1950s, including ''[[Ruby Gentry]]'' (1952), [[John Huston]]'s adventure comedy ''[[Beat the Devil (film)|Beat the Devil]]'' (1953) and [[Vittorio De Sica]]'s drama ''[[Terminal Station (film)|Terminal Station]]'' (1953). Jones earned her fifth Academy Award nomination for her performance as a Eurasian doctor in ''[[Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (film)|Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing]]'' (1955). After Selznick's death in 1965, Jones married industrialist [[Norton Simon]] and entered semiretirement. She made her final film appearance in ''[[The Towering Inferno]]'' (1974).

Jones suffered from mental-health problems during her life. After her 22 year-old daughter, Mary Jennifer Selznick, took her own life in 1976, Jones became deeply involved in mental health education. In 1980, she founded the Jennifer Jones Simon Foundation for Mental Health and Education. Jones enjoyed a quiet retirement, living the last six years of her life in Malibu, California, where she died of natural causes in 2009 at the age of 90.

==Biography==
===1919–1939: Early life===
Jones was born{{sfn|Green|2011|p=7}} in [[Tulsa, Oklahoma]], the daughter of Flora Mae (née Suber) and Phillip Ross Isley.{{sfn|Green|2011|p=11}} Her father was originally from [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], and her mother was a native of [[Sacramento, California]].{{sfn|Green|2011|p=11}} She was an only child, and she was raised Catholic. Her parents, both aspiring stage actors, toured the Midwest in a traveling [[tent show]] that they owned and operated. Jones accompanied them, performing on occasion as part of the Isley Stock Company.{{sfn|Green|2011|p=12}}
[[File:New Frontier (1939) 1.jpg|thumb|right|Jones with [[Ray Corrigan]] (left) and [[John Wayne]] (right) in ''New Frontier'' (1939)]]
In 1925, Jones enrolled at Edgemere Public School in [[Oklahoma City]], then attended [[Monte Cassino School (Tulsa, Oklahoma)|Monte Cassino]], a Catholic girls school and junior college in Tulsa.{{sfn|Green|2011|p=13}} After graduating, she enrolled as a drama major at [[Northwestern University]] in Illinois, where she was a member of [[Kappa Alpha Theta]] sorority before transferring to the [[American Academy of Dramatic Arts]] in New York City in September 1937.{{sfn|Green|2011|p=14}} It was there that she met and fell in love with fellow acting student [[Robert Walker (actor, born 1918)|Robert Walker]], a native of [[Ogden, Utah]].{{sfn|Green|2011|p=14}} They married on January 2, 1939.{{sfn|Green|2011|p=198}}

Jones and Walker returned to Tulsa for a 13-week radio program arranged by her father and then moved to Hollywood. She landed two small roles, first in the 1939 [[John Wayne]] Western ''[[New Frontier (film)|New Frontier]]'', which she filmed in the summer of 1939 for [[Republic Pictures]].{{sfn|Green|2011|p=17}} Her second project was the serial titled ''[[Dick Tracy's G-Men]]'' (1939), also for Republic.{{sfn|Green|2011|p=19}} In both films, she was credited as Phylis Isley.{{sfn|Green|2011|pages=17–19}} After failing a screen test for [[Paramount Pictures]], she became disenchanted with Hollywood and returned to New York City.{{sfn|Green|2011|pages=18–22}}

===1940–1948: Career beginnings===
Shortly after Jones married Walker, she gave birth to two sons: [[Robert Walker (actor, born 1940)|Robert Walker Jr.]] (1940–2019), and Michael Walker (1941–2007). While Walker found steady work in radio programs, Jones worked part-time modeling hats for the [[John Robert Powers|Powers Agency]], and posing for ''Harper's Bazaar'' while looking for acting jobs.{{sfn|Green|2011|p=22}} When she learned of auditions for the lead role in [[Rose Franken]]'s hit play ''Claudia'' in the summer of 1941, she presented herself to [[David O. Selznick]]'s New York office but fled in tears after what she thought was a bad reading.{{sfn|Green|2011|pages=22–3}} However, Selznick had overheard her audition and was impressed enough to have his secretary call her back. Following an interview, she was signed to a seven-year contract.{{sfn|Green|2011|pages=23–24}}

[[Image:Jennifer Jones still, 'Song of Bernadette'.jpg|right|thumb|Jones as Bernadette Soubirous in ''[[The Song of Bernadette (film)|The Song of Bernadette]]'' (1943)]]
She was carefully groomed for stardom and given a new name: Jennifer Jones. Director [[Henry King (director)|Henry King]] was impressed by her screen test as Bernadette Soubirous for ''The Song of Bernadette'' (1943), and she won the coveted role over hundreds of applicants.{{sfn |Green|2011|p= 32}} In [[16th Academy Awards|1944]], on her 25th birthday, she won the [[Academy Award for Best Actress]] for her performance as Bernadette, her third screen role.{{sfn|Green|2011|p=39}}

Simultaneously to her rise in prominence for ''The Song of Bernadette'', Jones began an affair with producer [[David_O._Selznick|Selznick]]. She separated from Walker in November 1943, co-starred with him in ''[[Since You Went Away]]'' (1944), and formally divorced him in June 1945.<ref>{{cite news | last= Watters | first=Sam | url= https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-oct-02-la-hm-lost-la-tea-party-20101002-story.html | title=Lost L.A.: Time for tea — and spin control: When Jennifer Jones' affair with David Selznick sank their marriages, the actress played tea party for a magazine spread | work=Los Angeles Times | date= October 2, 2010 | access-date=March 28, 2014}}</ref> For her performance in ''Since You Went Away'', she was nominated for her second Academy Award, this time for Best Supporting Actress.{{sfn|Green|2011|p=53}} She earned a third successive Academy Award nomination for her performance with [[Joseph Cotten]] in ''[[Love Letters (1945 film)|Love Letters]]'' (1945).{{sfn |Green|2011|p=57}}

Jones's saintly image from her first starring role was starkly contrasted three years later when she was cast as a biracial woman in [[David_O._Selznick|Selznick]]'s controversial ''[[Duel in the Sun (film)|Duel in the Sun]]'' (1946), in which she portrayed a mixed-race indigenous ([[Mestizo|mestiza]]) orphan in Texas who falls in love with a white man ([[Gregory Peck]]).{{sfn|Green|2011|pages=74–76}} 

Also in 1946, she starred as the title character in [[Ernst Lubitsch]]'s romantic comedy ''[[Cluny Brown]]'' as a working-class English woman who falls in love just before World War II.{{sfn |Green|2011|pages=67–68}} She next appeared in the fantasy film ''[[Portrait of Jennie]]'' (1948), again costarring with Cotten. The film was based on the [[Portrait of Jennie (novella)|novella of the same name]] by [[Robert Nathan]].{{sfn |Green|2011|pages= 88, 235}}{{sfn|Green|2011|pages= 88–90}} However, it was a commercial failure, grossing only $1.5 million against a $4 million budget.{{sfn|Green|2011|p=88}}

===1949–1964: Marriage to Selznick===
[[Image:Jennifer Jones and husband David O. Selznick in Los Angeles, 1957.jpg|thumb|right|Jones and second husband [[David O. Selznick]] in 1957]]
Jones married [[David_O._Selznick|Selznick]] at sea on July 13, 1949, en route to Europe after a five-year relationship.{{sfn|Green|2011|p=105}} Over the following two decades, she appeared in numerous films that he produced, and they established a working relationship.{{sfn|Green|2011|p=9}} In 1949, Jones starred opposite [[John Garfield]] in [[John Huston]]'s adventure film ''[[We Were Strangers]]''.{{sfn|Green|2011|p= 96}} [[Bosley Crowther]] of ''The New York Times'' felt that Jones's performance was lacking, noting: "There is neither understanding nor passion in the stiff, frigid creature she achieves."<ref>{{cite news|work=The New York Times|title= 'We Were Strangers,' Starring Jennifer Jones and Garfield, Is New Feature at Astor|date=April 28, 1949|author=Crowther, Bosley|author-link=Bosley Crowther|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1949/04/28/archives/we-were-strangers-starring-jennifer-jones-and-garfield-is-new.html}}</ref> She was subsequently cast as the title character of [[Vincente Minnelli]]'s ''[[Madame Bovary (1949 film)|Madame Bovary]]'' (1949), a role originally intended for [[Lana Turner]] that Turner declined.{{sfn|Green|2011|p=98}} ''Variety'' deemed the film "interesting to watch, but hard to feel," although it noted that "Jones answers to every demand of direction and script."<ref>{{cite web|work=Variety|title=Madame Bovary|date=December 31, 1948|archive-url=https://archive.today/20181122020322/https://variety.com/1948/film/reviews/madame-bovary-1200416272/|archive-date=November 22, 2018|url=https://variety.com/1948/film/reviews/madame-bovary-1200416272/|access-date=November 22, 2018|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref> In 1950, Jones starred in the [[Powell and Pressburger]]-directed fantasy ''[[Gone to Earth (film)|Gone to Earth]]'' as a superstitious gypsy woman in the English countryside.{{sfn|Green|2011|pages=110–114}}

Jones next starred in [[William Wyler]]'s drama ''[[Carrie (1952 film)|Carrie]]'' (1952) with [[Laurence Olivier]].{{sfn|Green|2011|pages=116–119}} Crowther criticized her performance, writing: "Mr. Olivier gives the film its closest contact with the book, while Miss Jones' soft, seraphic portrait of Carrie takes it furthest away."<ref>{{cite news|work=The New York Times|author=Crowther, Bosley|author-link=Bosley Crowther|title=THE SCREEN IN REVIEW; ' Carrie,' With Laurence Olivier and Jennifer Jones, Is New Feature at the Capitol|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1952/07/17/archives/the-screen-in-review-carrie-with-laurence-olivier-and-jennifer.html|date=July 17, 1952}}</ref> Also in 1952, she costarred with [[Charlton Heston]] in ''[[Ruby Gentry]]'', playing a ''[[femme fatale]]'' in rural North Carolina who becomes embroiled in a murder conspiracy after marrying a local man.{{sfn|Green|2011|p=126}} The role was previously offered to [[Joan Fontaine]], who felt that she was "unsuited to play backwoods."{{sfn|Green|2011|p=127}} In its review, ''Variety'' deemed the film a "sordid drama [with] neither Jennifer Jones nor Charlton Heston gaining any sympathy in their characters."<ref>{{cite web|work=Variety|title=Ruby Gentry|url=https://variety.com/1951/film/reviews/ruby-gentry-1200417185/|date=December 31, 1951|author=''Variety'' Staff|archive-url=https://archive.today/20181122023318/https://variety.com/1951/film/reviews/ruby-gentry-1200417185/|archive-date=November 22, 2018|access-date=November 22, 2018|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

[[File:Jones+clift ristorante.jpg|thumb|left|Jones and [[Montgomery Clift]] in ''[[Terminal Station (film)|Terminal Station]]'' (1953)]]
In 1953, Jones was cast opposite [[Montgomery Clift]] in Italian director [[Vittorio De Sica]]'s ''[[Terminal Station (film)|Terminal Station]]'' ({{langx|it|Stazione termini|label=none}}), a drama set in Rome about a romance between an American woman and an Italian man.{{sfn|Green|2011|pages=132–135}} The film, produced by Selznick, had a troubled production history, and [[David_O._Selznick|Selznick]] and De Sica clashed over the screenplay and tone of the film.{{sfn|Green|2011|pages=132–136}} Clift sided with De Sica and reportedly called Selznick "an interfering fuck-face" on set.{{sfn|Green|2011|p=133}} Aside from the tensions between cast and crew, Jones was mourning the recent death of her first husband Robert Walker, and also missed her two sons, who were staying in Switzerland during production.{{sfn|Bosworth|1978|pages=245–246}} ''Terminal Station'' was screened at the [[1953 Cannes Film Festival]]{{sfn|Bazin|2014|p=135}} and was released in a heavily truncated form in the United States with the title ''Indiscretion of an American Wife''.{{sfn|Green|2011|p=130}} Also in 1953, Jones teamed again with director John Huston to star in his film ''[[Beat the Devil (film)|Beat the Devil]]'' (1953), an adventure comedy costarring [[Humphrey Bogart]].{{sfn|Green|2011|p=139}} The film was a box-office flop and was critically panned upon release, and Bogart distanced himself from it.{{sfn|Green|2011|p=139}} However, it was reevaluated in later years by critics such as [[Roger Ebert]], who included it in his list of "Great Movies" and cited it as the first "[[camp (style)|camp]]" film.<ref>{{cite web|work=Chicago Sun-Times|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-beat-the-devil-1954|author=Ebert, Roger|author-link=Roger Ebert|title=Beat the Devil|date=November 26, 2000|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130428033127/http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-beat-the-devil-1954|archive-date=April 28, 2013|access-date=November 22, 2018|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref> In August 1954, Jones gave birth to her third child, daughter Mary Jennifer Selznick.<ref>{{cite news|work=The San Francisco Examiner|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25606221/the_san_francisco_examiner/|page=82|location=San Francisco, California|last=Morton|first=Hortense|title=Additional Re-release Planned by Selznick|via=Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}</ref>

Jones was cast as Chinese-born doctor [[Han Suyin]] in the drama ''[[Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (film)|Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing]]'' (1955), a role that brought her fifth Academy Award nomination.{{sfn|Green|2011|p=246}} Crowther lauded her performance as "... lovely and intense. Her dark beauty reflects sunshine and sadness."<ref>{{cite news|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1955/08/19/archives/love-is-a-few-splendors-shy-patricks-adaptation-of-suyin-novel.html|date=August 19, 1955|title=Love' Is a Few Splendors Shy; Patrick's Adaptation of Suyin Novel Opens|author=Crowther, Bosley|author-link=Bosley Crowther}}</ref> Next, she starred as a schoolteacher in ''[[Good Morning, Miss Dove]]'' (1955),{{sfn|Green|2011|pages=151–152}} followed by a lead role in ''[[The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit]]'', a drama about a World War II veteran.{{sfn|Green|2011|p=157}}

In 1957, she starred as the poet [[Elizabeth Barrett Browning]] in the historical drama ''[[The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1957 film)|The Barretts of Wimpole Street]]'', based on the 1930 [[The Barretts of Wimpole Street|play]] by [[Rudolf Besier]].{{sfn|Green|2011|p=159}} She next played the lead role in the [[Ernest Hemingway]] adaptation ''[[A Farewell to Arms (1957 film)|A Farewell to Arms]]'' (1957).{{sfn|Green|2011|pages=165–169}} The film received mixed reviews,{{sfn|Green|2011|p=169–170}} with ''Variety'' noting that "the relationship between Rock Hudson and Jennifer Jones never takes on real dimensions."<ref>{{cite web|work=Variety|url=https://variety.com/1956/film/reviews/a-farewell-to-arms-2-1200418375/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20181122031339/https://variety.com/1956/film/reviews/a-farewell-to-arms-2-1200418375/|archive-date=November 22, 2018|date=December 31, 1956|author=''Variety'' Staff|title=A Farewell to Arms|access-date=November 22, 2018|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Jones's next project came five years later with the [[F. Scott Fitzgerald]] adaptation ''[[Tender Is the Night (film)|Tender Is the Night]]'' (1962).{{sfn|Green|2011|p=191}}

===1965–2009: Later life and activities===
[[David_O._Selznick|Selznick]] died at age 63 on June 22, 1965, and after his death, Jones semiretired from acting. Her first role in four years was a lead part in the British drama ''[[The Idol (1966 film)|The Idol]]'' (1966) as the mother of an adult son in [[Swinging Sixties]] London who has an affair with his best friend.{{sfn|Green|2011|p=182}} 

In 1966, Jones made a rare theatrical appearance in the revival of Clifford Odets' ''The Country Girl'', costarring [[Rip Torn]], at New York's City Center. On November 9, 1967, the same day on which her close friend [[Charles Bickford]] died of a blood infection, Jones attempted suicide. Informing her physician of her intention to jump from a cliff overlooking Malibu Beach, she swallowed barbiturates before walking to the base of the cliff, where she was found unconscious amidst the rocky surf.{{sfn|Green|2011|p=184}} According to biographer Paul Green, it was news of Bickford's death that triggered Jones's suicide attempt.{{sfn|Green|2011|p=184}} She was hospitalized in a coma from the incident.<ref name=luther>{{cite web| last=Luther| first=Claudia| url=http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-jennifer-jones18-2009dec18,0,1884574.story| title=Jennifer Jones dies at 90; Oscar-winning actress| work=Los Angeles Times| date=December 18, 2009| archive-url=https://archive.today/20120906141857/http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-jennifer-jones18-2009dec18,0,1884574.story| archive-date=September 6, 2012| access-date=December 17, 2009| url-status=live| df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| title=Oscar-Winning Actress Jennifer Jones Dies at 90| url=http://www.myfoxla.com/dpp/entertainment/oscar-winner-jennifer-jones-dies-20091217|work=KCOP-TV|location=Los Angeles| date=December 17, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307084135/http://www.myfoxla.com/dpp/entertainment/oscar-winner-jennifer-jones-dies-20091217|archive-date=March 7, 2012|last=Coppersmith|first=Scott}}</ref> She returned to film with ''[[Angel, Angel, Down We Go]]'' in 1969, about a teenage girl who uses her association with a [[rock music|rock]] band to manipulate her family.{{sfn|Green|2011|p=186}}

[[File:Jennifer Jones and Norton Simon (1971).jpg|thumb|upright=.9|right|Jones with husband [[Norton Simon]] after their marriage, May 1971]]
On May 29, 1971, Jones married her third husband [[Norton Simon]], a multimillionaire industrialist, art collector and philanthropist from Portland, Oregon.{{sfn|Green|2011|p=198}} The wedding took place aboard a tugboat five miles off the English coast and was conducted by [[Unitarian Universalism|Unitarian]] minister Eirion Phillips.{{sfn|Green|2011|p=198}} Years before, Simon had attempted to buy the portrait of Jones that was used in the film ''[[Portrait of Jennie]]''. Simon later met Jones at a party hosted by fellow industrialist and art collector [[Walter Annenberg]].<ref>{{cite web|work=Turner Classic Movies|title=Biography for Jennifer Jones|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/96480%7C81471/jennifer-jones#biography|access-date=November 22, 2018|author=Maltin, Leonard|author-link=Leonard Maltin|series=Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide}}</ref> Jones's last film appearance came in the disaster film ''[[The Towering Inferno]]'' (1974).{{sfn|Green|2011|p=195}} Her performance as a doomed guest in the building earned her a [[Golden Globe Award|Golden Globe]] nomination for Best Supporting Actress.<ref>{{cite web|work=[[Golden Globe Awards]]|publisher=Hollywood Foreign Press Association|url=https://www.goldenglobes.com/film/towering-inferno|title=''The Towering Inferno''|archive-url=https://archive.today/20181122033002/https://www.goldenglobes.com/film/towering-inferno|archive-date=November 22, 2018|access-date=November 22, 2018|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Early scenes in the film showed paintings lent to the production by the art gallery of Jones's husband Simon.{{sfn|Green|2011|p=193}}

On May 11, 1976, Jones's 21-year-old daughter Mary, a student at [[Occidental College]], committed suicide by jumping from the roof of a 22-floor apartment hotel in downtown Los Angeles.<ref name=curse>{{cite news|work=San Antonio Express|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25606279/san_antonio_express/|title=Tragic curse haunts film star Jennifer Jones|last=Kirk|first=Christina|date=June 6, 1976|location=San Antonio, Texas|via=Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}</ref> This led to Jones's interest in mental health issues. In 1979, with husband Simon (whose son Robert died by suicide in 1969{{sfn|Muchnic|1998|p=398}}), she founded the Jennifer Jones Simon Foundation for Mental Health and Education, which she ran until 2003.{{sfn|Green|2011|p=247}} One of Jones's primary goals with the foundation was to destigmatize mental illness.<ref name=lancaster>{{cite news|work=Lancaster Eagle-Gazette|location=Lancaster, Ohio|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25606500/lancaster_eaglegazette/|last=Battelle|first=Phyllis|date=June 26, 1980|page=4|via=Newspapers.com|title=Team For Mental Health}} {{open access}}</ref> In 1980, Jones said: "I cringe when I admit I've been suicidal, had mental problems, but why should I? I hope we can reeducate the world to see there's no more need for stigma in mental illness than there is for cancer." She also divulged that she had been a psychotherapy patient since age 24.<ref name=lancaster/>

Jones spent the remainder of her life outside of the public eye. Four years before the death of her husband Simon in June 1993, he resigned as president of [[Norton Simon Museum]] in [[Pasadena, California]], and Jones was appointed chairman of the board of trustees, president and executive officer.<ref>{{cite news |title=Jennifer Jones dies at 90; Oscar-winning actress |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-jennifer-jones18-2009dec18-story.html |date=December 18, 2009|access-date=September 16, 2024 |work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> In 1996, she began working with architect [[Frank Gehry]] and landscape designer Nancy Goslee Power to renovate the museum and gardens. She remained active as the director of the museum until 2003, when she was awarded emerita status.{{Citation needed|date=August 2013}}

== Personal life ==
Jones was a registered [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] who supported [[Dwight Eisenhower]]'s campaign in the [[1952 United States presidential election|1952 presidential election]].<ref>''Motion Picture and Television Magazine'', November 1952, page 34, Ideal Publishers</ref>

Jones suffered from shyness for much of her life and avoided discussing her past and personal life with journalists. She was also averse to discussing critical analysis of her work.{{sfn|Green|2011|p=7}} Public discussion of her working relationship with Selznick often overshadowed her career. Biographer Paul Green contends that, while Selznick helped facilitate her career and sought roles for her, "Jones excelled because she not only possessed outstanding beauty but she also possessed genuine talent."{{sfn|Green|2011|p=9}}

==Death==
[[File:Jennifer Jones Star HWF.JPG|thumb|upright|Jones' star on the [[Hollywood Walk of Fame]] at 6429 Hollywood Boulevard]]
Jones enjoyed a quiet retirement, living with her eldest child, son [[Robert Walker (actor, born 1940)|Robert Walker Jr.]], and his family in Malibu for the last six years of her life. Jones's younger son, actor Michael Ross Walker, died from cardiac arrest on December 23, 2007, at age 66, while Robert Jr. died on December 5, 2019, at age 79.<ref>{{Cite news|author=Mike Barnes|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/robert-walker-jr-dead-star-trek-actor-son-hollywood-superstars-was-79-1260215|title=Robert Walker Jr., 'Star Trek' Actor and Son of Hollywood Superstars, Dies at 79|website=The Hollywood Reporter|date=December 6, 2019|access-date=December 5, 2023|archive-date=December 7, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191207171524/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/robert-walker-jr-dead-star-trek-actor-son-hollywood-superstars-was-79-1260215|url-status=live}}</ref>

Jones participated in Gregory Peck's [[AFI Life Achievement Award]] ceremony in 1989 and appeared at the 70th (1998) and 75th (2003) Academy Awards as part of the shows' tributes to past Oscar winners. In the last six years of her life, she granted no interviews and rarely appeared in public. She died of natural causes on December 17, 2009, at age 90.<ref name=NYTobit>{{cite news| title=Jennifer Jones, Postwar Actress, Dies at 90| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/18/movies/18jones.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181019205706/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/18/movies/18jones.html|archive-date=October 19, 2018|work=The New York Times| date=December 17, 2009| first=Aljean| last=Harmetz}}</ref> She was cremated and her ashes were interred with her second husband in the Selznick private room at the [[Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)|Forest Lawn Memorial Park]] in Glendale, California.

Minor planet [[6249 Jennifer]] is named in her honor.<ref>{{cite book |title=(6249) Jennifer In: Dictionary of Minor Planet Names |publisher=Springer |date=2003 |isbn=978-3-540-29925-7 |doi=10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_5751}}</ref>

==Filmography==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| rowspan="2"|1939
| ''[[New Frontier (film)|New Frontier]]''
| Celia Braddock
| As Phyllis Isley; film debut<ref>{{cite web |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/5143 |title=New Frontier |website=AFI Catalog of Feature Films |publisher=American Film Institute |access-date=2017-11-13}}</ref>
|-
| ''[[Dick Tracy's G-Men]]''
| Gwen Andrews
| As Phyllis Isley; 15-chapter serial
|-
| 1943
| ''[[The Song of Bernadette (film)|The Song of Bernadette]]''
| [[Bernadette Soubirous]]
| [[Academy Award for Best Actress]] <br> [[Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama|Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama]] <br> [[Best Actress Award (Locarno International Film Festival)|Locarno International Film Festival - Best Actress]]
|-
| 1944
| ''[[Since You Went Away]]''
| Jane Deborah Hilton
| Nominated — [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress]]
|-
| 1945
| ''[[Love Letters (1945 film)|Love Letters]]''
| Singleton / Victoria Morland
| Nominated — [[Academy Award for Best Actress]]
|-
| rowspan="2"|1946
| ''[[Cluny Brown]]''
| Cluny Brown
| [[Best Actress Award (Locarno International Film Festival)|Locarno International Film Festival - Best Actress]]
|-
| ''[[Duel in the Sun (film)|Duel in the Sun]]''
| Pearl Chavez
| Nominated — [[Academy Award for Best Actress]]
|-
| 1948
| ''[[Portrait of Jennie]]''
| Jennie Appleton
|
|-
| rowspan="2"|1949
| ''[[We Were Strangers]]''
| China Valdés
|
|-
| ''[[Madame Bovary (1949 film)|Madame Bovary]]''
| Emma Bovary
|
|-
| 1950
| ''[[Gone to Earth (film)|Gone to Earth]]''
| Hazel Woodus
|Released as ''The Wild Heart'' (heavily edited) in the U.S.
|-
| rowspan="2"|1952
| ''[[Carrie (1952 film)|Carrie]]''
| Carrie Meeber
|
|-
| ''[[Ruby Gentry]]''
| Ruby Gentry
|
|-
| rowspan="2"|1953
| ''[[Terminal Station (film)|Terminal Station]]''
| Mary Forbes
| Released as ''Indiscretion of an American Wife'' in the U.S.
|-
| ''[[Beat the Devil (film)|Beat the Devil]]''
| Mrs. Gwendolen Chelm
|
|-
| rowspan="2"|1955
| ''[[Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (film)|Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing]]''
| Dr. [[Han Suyin]]
| Nominated — [[New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress]] (3rd place)
Nominated — [[Academy Award for Best Actress]]
|-
| ''[[Good Morning, Miss Dove]]''
| Miss Dove
|
|-
| 1956
| ''[[The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit]]''
| Betsy Rath
|
|-
| rowspan="2"|1957
| ''[[The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1957 film)|The Barretts of Wimpole Street]]''
| [[Elizabeth Barrett]]
|
|-
| ''[[A Farewell to Arms (1957 film)|A Farewell to Arms]]''
| Catherine Barkley
|
|-
| 1962
| ''[[Tender Is the Night (film)|Tender Is the Night]]''
| Nicole Diver
|
|-
| 1966
| ''[[The Idol (1966 film)|The Idol]]''
| Carol
|
|-
| 1969
| ''[[Angel, Angel, Down We Go]]''
| Astrid Steele
| a.k.a. ''Cult of the Damned''
|-
| 1974
| ''[[The Towering Inferno]]''
| Lisolette Mueller
| Nominated — [[Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture]]
|}

== Awards and nominations ==

'''Academy Awards'''

{| class="wikitable" width="75%" cellpadding="5" style="font-size: 95%"
|-
! width="10%"|Year
! width="35%"|Category
! width="35%"|Work
! width="10%"|Result
|-
|style="text-align:center;"| [[28th Academy Awards|1956]] || rowspan="3"| [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Actress]] || ''[[Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (film)|Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing]]'' || {{nominated}} 
|-
|style="text-align:center;"| [[19th Academy Awards|1947]] || ''[[Duel in the Sun (film)|Duel in the Sun]]'' || {{nominated}}
|-
|style="text-align:center;"| [[18th Academy Awards|1946]] || ''[[Love Letters (1945 film)|Love Letters]]'' || {{nominated}} 
|-
|style="text-align:center;"| [[17th Academy Awards|1945]] || [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]] ||''[[Since You Went Away]]'' || {{nominated}} 
|-
|style="text-align:center;"| [[16th Academy Awards|1944]] || [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Actress]] || ''[[The Song of Bernadette (film)|The Song of Bernadette]]'' || {{won}} 
|-
|}

'''Golden Globe Awards'''

{| class="wikitable" width="75%" cellpadding="5" style="font-size: 95%"
|-
! width="10%"|Year
! width="35%"|Category
! width="35%"|Work
! width="10%"|Result
|-
|style="text-align:center;| [[32nd Golden Globe Awards|1975]] || [[Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture|Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture]] || ''[[The Towering Inferno]]'' || {{nominated}}
|-
|style="text-align:center;"| [[1st Golden Globe Awards|1944]] || [[Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama|Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama]] || ''[[The Song of Bernadette (film)|The Song of Bernadette]]'' || {{won}}
|-
|}

== See also ==
* [[List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book|last=Bazin|first=André|year=2014|title=Bazin on Global Cinema, 1948-1958|publisher=University of Texas Press|location=Austin, Texas|isbn=978-0-292-76740-9}}
*{{cite book|last=Bosworth|first=Patricia|author-link=Patricia Bosworth|year=1978|title=Montgomery Clift: A Biography|publisher=Bantam Books|location=New York|isbn=978-0-553-12455-2|url=https://archive.org/details/montgomerycliftb00bosw}}
*{{cite book|last=Green|first=Paul|year=2011|title=Jennifer Jones: The Life and Films|publisher=McFarland|location=Jefferson, North Carolina|isbn=978-0-786-48583-3}}
*{{cite book|last=Muchnic|first=Suzanne|year=1998|title=Odd Man in: Norton Simon and the Pursuit of Culture|publisher=University of California Press|location=Los Angeles|isbn=978-0-520-20643-4|url=https://archive.org/details/oddmaninnortonsi00much}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|author=Epstein, Edward|title=Portrait of Jennifer|location=New York|publisher=Simon & Schuster|year=1995|isbn=0-671-74056-3|url=https://archive.org/details/portraitofjennif00epst}}
* Carrier, Jeffrey L. / Jennifer Jones: A Bio-Bibliography / Westport, Connecticut / Greenwood Press / 1990 / {{ISBN|0-313-26651-4}}

==External links==
{{commons}}
* {{IMDb name|428354}}
* {{Tcmdb name}}
* [http://www.jenniferjonestribute.weebly.com Jennifer Jones] - Tribute site
* [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/film-obituaries/6835654/Jennifer-Jones.html Jennifer Jones] - Daily Telegraph obituary
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101018203438/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/J/JO021.html Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Jones, Jennifer]

{{Navboxes
|title = Awards for Jennifer Jones
|list =
{{AcademyAwardBestActress 1941-1960}}
{{GoldenGlobeBestActressMotionPictureDrama 1943-1960}}
}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Jennifer}}
[[Category:1919 births]]
[[Category:2009 deaths]]
[[Category:Actresses from Tulsa, Oklahoma]]
[[Category:American film actresses]]
[[Category:American Academy of Dramatic Arts alumni]]
[[Category:Best Actress Academy Award winners]]
[[Category:Best Drama Actress Golden Globe (film) winners]]
[[Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)]]
[[Category:Female models from Oklahoma]]
[[Category:Mental health activists]]
[[Category:Northwestern University School of Communication alumni]]
[[Category:People associated with the Norton Simon Museum]]
[[Category:20th-century American actresses]]
[[Category:American Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:California Republicans]]
[[Category:Oklahoma Republicans]]
[[Category:21st-century American women]]