Tommy Lee Jones filmography and biography
Date of birth: 15 September 1946, San Saba, Texas, USA
Tommy Lee Jones biography
Born in San Saba, Texas, the son of Clyde C. and Lucille Marie (Scott)
Jones, Tommy Lee Jones worked in underwater construction and on an oil
rig. He attended St. Mark's School of Texas, a prestigious prep school
for boys in Dallas, on a scholarship, and went to Harvard on another
scholarship.He roomed with future Vice President Al Gore (I) and
played offensive guard in the famous 29-29 Harvard-Yale football game
of '68 known as "The Tie." He received a B.A. in English literature and
graduated cum laude from Harvard in 1969.
Following college, he moved to New York and began his theatrical career
on Broadway in "A Patriot for Me" (1969). In 1970, he made his film
debut in Love Story. While living in New York, he
continued to appear in various plays, both on- and off-Broadway:
"Fortune and Men's Eyes" (1969); "Four on a Garden" (1971); "Blue Boys"
(1972); "Ulysses in Nighttown" (1974). During this time, he also
appeared on a daytime soap opera, One Life to Live as
Dr. Mark Toland from 1971-75. He moved with wife
Kate Lardner (I), granddaughter of short-story writer/columnist
Ring Lardner, and her two children from a previous marriage, to
Los Angeles.
There he began to get some roles on television:
Charlies Angels (pilot episode);
Smash-Up on Interstate 5 (1976) (TV); and
The Amazing Howard Hughes (1977) (TV). While working on the
movie Back Roads, he met and fell in love with Kimberlea
Cloughley, whom he later married. More roles in television--both on
network and cable--stage and film garnered him a reputation as a
strong, explosive, thoughtful actor who could handle supporting as well
as leading roles. He made his directorial debut in
The Good Old Boys (1995) (TV) on TNT. In addition to directing
and starring in the film, he co-wrote the teleplay (with
J.T. Allen). The film, based on Elmer Kelton's novel, is
set in west Texas where Jones has strong family ties. Consequently,
this story of a cowboy facing the end of an era has special meaning for
him.
Tommy Lee Jones trivia
- Never took an acting class.
- He and Al Gore (I) were roommates while the two were students at
Harvard University. The two remain close friends.
- Part time cattle rancher, owns 3,000-acre ranch near San Antonio, TX.
- Plays polo and raises polo ponies. His team won the U.S. Polo
Association's Western Challenge Cup in 1993. Invites the Harvard's best
polo players to his ranch to practice each fall.
- Father's name was Clyde C. Jones -- he did not have a middle name, just
an initial.
- Father, with Kimberlea Cloughley, of Austin Leonard Jones
(born November 9, 1982) and Victoria Jones (II) (born September
3, 1991).
- Real-life son, Austin Leonard Jones, played his son, Tommy, in
Yuri Nosenko, KGB (1986) (TV).
- According to author Erich Segal, Jones and his then Harvard
roommate Al Gore (I), were the models for the character of
Oliver in Love Story.
- (30 October 1998) Injured after falling from horse during polo match.
- Writes most of his own most memorable lines in films:
The Fugitive... when Richard Kimble
(Harrison Ford (I)) tells Marshal Gerard, "I didn't kill my
wife," Gerard replies, "I don't care!" Under Siege...
William Strannix's speech after he loses his mind: "Saturday morning
cartoons... This little piggy... " Eyes of Laura Mars ...
John Neville's revealing speech at the end of the movie.
- Ten days after graduating from Harvard, he landed his first role in the
Broadway production of "A Patriot for Me" (with
Maximilian Schell), which closed after 49 performances. He got
his agent after giving a letter of introduction to actress
Jane Alexander (I). His story of how he found an agent and a
Broadway job so quickly was written about in an issue of "Ripley's
Believe It or Not".
- Good friends with: Al Gore (I), Willie Nelson,
Gary Busey, Oliver Stone (I) and Robert Duvall.
- His ex-wife, Kate Lardner (I), is Ring Lardner's
granddaughter.
- Speaks Spanish fluently.
- He is a first cousin of Boxcar Willie, a famous country singer.
- Owns the movie rights to Cormac McCarthy's controversial novel
"Blood Meridian," which many consider unfilmable.
- Born on the exact same day as filmmaker and good friend
Oliver Stone (I).
- Was the studio's original (and preferred) choice to play Snake Plisken
in John Carpenter (I)'s Escape from New York. The
studio was reluctant to cast Kurt Russell (I), who ultimately
got the part, because of his previous work.
- Has worked with two "Katharine Hepburns." In
The Amazing Howard Hughes (1977) (TV), he played Hughes opposite
Tovah Feldshuh as Hepburn. In The Missing (2003/I), his
daughter is played by Cate Blanchett, who played Hepburn in
The Aviator--another biopic about
Howard Hughes (I).
- Is the only Texan to have played fellow Texan Howard Hughes (I).
Leonardo DiCaprio (The Aviator), Jason Robards
(Melvin and Howard) and 'Terry OQuinn
(The Rocketeer) were born in California, Illinois, and
Michigan, respectively.
- Is an avid San Antonio Spurs fan.
- Played Howard Hughes (I) in
The Amazing Howard Hughes (1977) (TV) and later appeared in
Batman Forever, which was filmed inside the hangar of
Hughes' "Spruce Goose.".
- Jones was also a resident of Midland, Texas, and attended the same high
school as the future First Lady Laura Bush.
- An eighth-generation Texan, he has a Cherokee Native American
grandparent, and is mostly of Welsh ancestry.
- An animated caricature of him appeared in an episode of the animated
series adaptation of Men in Black alongside an animated
caricature of his MIB co-star Will Smith (I), set against a
scene parodying another hit film starring Smith,
Independence Day.
- Is an avid polo player. He even bought a house in a Polo Country club in
Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- In Batman Forever (1995), his character of Two-Face flips a coin to see
if his victims should live or die, where twelve years later he plays a
sheriff in No Country For Old Men (2007), who chases an assassin that
kills random victims by asking them to call in a coin toss.
- Mother was Lucille Marie Scott.
- Had a younger brother, born 3 years after the actor, who died in
infancy.
- Became friends with Al Gore when they studied at Harvard and was asked
to host the Noble Peace Prize concert for Al Gore.
- At the 2000 Democratic National Convention, he presented the nominating
speech for Al Gore as the Democratic Party's nominee for President of
the United States.
- Was set to star in Everybodys All-American in 1982, but
the studio backed out partly because they did not believe that Jones
was leading man material. Jones has said that he found it all amusing.
Dennis Quaid got the part when Taylor Hackford took over
the project.
- Was set to star in Savior, but had to back out due to
other commitments.
- Has been friends with actor Tom Berenger since they were both on
One Life to Live.
Tommy Lee Jones quotes
- Somebody's gonna give you some money to perform a job, you do your best
to make 'em a good hand...
- It's no mean calling to bring fun into the afternoons of large numbers
of people. That too is part of my job, and I'm happy to serve when
called on.
- My thanks to the Academy for the very finest, greatest award that any
actor can ever receive. The only thing a man can say at a time like
this is -- I am not really bald.
- I do not have a sense of humor of any recognizable sort.
- "I've worked with more than 50 directors and I've paid attention since
day one. That's pretty much been my education, apart from studying art
history and shooting with my own cameras. I've seen 50 different sets
of mistakes and 50 different ways of achieving. You just leave the bad
part out." [on how he learned to direct]
- I really enjoyed a remark that Howard Hawks once made. He said the most
important thing is not to ask an actor to do anything he can't do. Same
thing goes for horses.
- I feel pretty lucky. Those guys, they know my name. They know who I am.
Not bad for a little Indian boy. Not bad. - on working with famous
movie stars
- You just look for good parts and good stories and a good company to work
with. Characters with no integrity are just as interesting as
characters with lots of integrity.
- I love cinema, and I love agriculture.
- Those who say that a work of art is an invitation to violent anti-social
behavior are not very bright. (Spoken in light of the furor over
Natural Born Killers)