Up for auction an EARLY! "The Love Bug" Dean Jones Hand Signed 4X6 B&W Photo.

ES-5068

Dean Carroll Jones

(January 25, 1931 – September 1, 2015) was an American actor best known

for his roles as Agent Zeke Kelso in That Darn

Cat! (1965), Jim Douglas in The Love Bug

(1968), Albert Dooley in The Million Dollar Duck (1971; for

which he received a Golden Globe nomination) and Dr. Herman Varnick

in Beethoven (1992). Jones started his film career by

signing a contract at MGM, beginning with a small role as a soldier

in Somebody Up There Likes Me

(1956) and he later played disc jockey Teddy Talbot in the Elvis Presley

film Jailhouse Rock (1957). He portrayed a

soldier in both Imitation General (also 1957) with Glenn Ford

and Never So Few

(1959) with Frank Sinatra. Jones had a major role in an

episode of ABC's Stagecoach West ("Red Sand",

1960). He portrayed Joe Brady, one of two outlaws, with Harold J.

Stone as Tanner. They are trapped during a sandstorm in a frontier

house with series stars Robert Bray and Richard Eyer

as Simon and Davey Kane, respectively. The outlaws are sought by the United States Army for armed robbery and the

death of two guards. The young woman of the house, Martha Whitlock, played by Diana Millay,

was recently deserted by her husband. She becomes attracted to Jones'

character, who considers himself a failure since he had been orphaned at an

early age. In the story line, it is determined that Brady is not guilty of the

robbery and shooting of the guards, but is culpable as an accessory after the

fact. Jones subsequently starred in the NBC television sitcom Ensign

O'Toole (1962–63), produced by Four Star Television, portraying an

easy-going and inexperienced officer on a U.S. Navy

destroyer.

His co-stars included Jack Mullaney, Jack

Albertson, Jay C. Flippen, Harvey

Lembeck, and Beau Bridges. Jones also recorded a singing

album, Introducing Dean Jones, for Valiant

Records.[ As Ensign O'Toole was the

lead-in show on NBC to Walt Disney's The Wonderful World of Color,

Disney ordered a print of Jones' latest film Under the Yum Yum Tree to study.[6] Disney signed Jones on for a string

of Disney films in the 1960s and 1970s,

beginning with That Darn Cat!. His performance was so

well-received that Disney used him for future movies including The Ugly Dachshund (1966), Blackbeard's Ghost (1968), "Million Dollar Duck" (1971) and Snowball

Express (1972). Jones' signature Disney role would be as race

car driver Jim Douglas in the highly successful The Love Bug

series. He appeared in two feature films, The Love Bug

(1968) and Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977), as

well as the short-lived Herbie, the Love Bug (1982) television

series and the made-for-TV movie The Love Bug (1997). In 1969, Jones

also was the host of a short-lived sketch-comedy hour on ABC-TV titled What's

It All About, World? that became a variety show midway into its run, when

the title was changed to The Dean Jones Variety Hour.[ Away from Disney, Jones co-starred

with Broadway-era co-star Jane Fonda in the romantic comedy, Any Wednesday

(1966) and, in a dramatic turn, portrayed Ed Cooper in the NBC television movie

When Every Day Was the Fourth of July

(1978). In the later film, Jones played an attorney in the 1930s who agrees to

defend a man who has been accused of murder; accepting the case only after

urging from his daughter. Jones reprised the role of Ed Cooper in the ABC television sequel The Long Days of Summer (1980). He

appeared with Gregory Peck and Danny DeVito

as Bill Coles, the president of Peck's company, which was fighting a hostile

takeover by DeVito, in Other People's Money (1991). Jones,

who was always famous for playing nice characters, took on the role as Dr.

Herman Varnick, the evil veterinarian, in the family film Beethoven

(1992). Jones employed method acting for the first time in his

prolific career and didn't break character off set throughout the film's

shooting period much to the surprise of cast members as well as family and

friends whom had never seen him so immersed in a role. He maintained his

relationship to the Beethoven franchise by providing the voice of George Newton

in the television version of Beethoven. He also appeared in a small

role as Director of Central Intelligence Judge Arthur Moore in the film

adaptation of Tom Clancy's Clear and Present Danger

(1994), which stars Harrison Ford. Jones also appeared in at least

two episodes of Murder, She Wrote, which starred Angela

Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher - a crime writer who also solves

murders. On July 25, 1994, Jones was a guest on 100 Huntley Street.