Dick Jones

Richard Percy Jones (February 25, 1927 – July 7, 2014), known as Dick Jones or Dickie Jones, was an American actor and singer who achieved success as a child performer and as a young adult, especially in B-Westerns. In 1938, he played Artimer "Artie" Peters, nephew of Buck Peters, in the Hopalong Cassidy film The Frontiersman. He is also known as the voice of Pinocchio in Walt Disney's film of the same name.

Early life Jones was born on February 25, 1927, The son of a newspaper editor, Jones was a prodigious horseman from infancy, having been billed at the age of four as the "World's Youngest Trick Rider and Trick Roper". At the age of six, he was hired to perform riding and lariat tricks in the rodeo owned by western star Hoot Gibson, who convinced young Jones and his parents that he should come to Hollywood.

Career Among his early films are Little Men (1934) and A Man to Remember (1938). Jones appeared as a bit player in several of Hal Roach's Our Gang (The Little Rascals) shorts, including The Pigskin Palooka and Our Gang Follies of 1938 (both from 1937). In 1939, Jones appeared as a troublesome kid, Killer Parkins, in the film Nancy Drew... Reporter. The same year, he appeared with Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington as Senate page Richard (Dick) Jones. In 1940, he had one of his most prominent roles, as the voice of Pinocchio in Disney's animated film of the same name. Jones attended Hollywood High School and at fifteen took over the role of Henry Aldrich on the hit radio show The Aldrich Family. He learned carpentry and augmented his income with jobs in that field. He served in the Army in the Alaska Territory during the final months of World War II.

Jones was cast thereafter in 1954 and 1955 in four episodes of Annie Oakley, another Flying A Production. Autry gave Jones his own series, Buffalo Bill, Jr. (1955), which ran for forty-two episodes in syndication.

Jones's last acting role was as Cliff Fletcher in the 1965 film Requiem for a Gunfighter. In March 2009, he was a guest star at the Williamsburg Film Festival.

Personal life and death Jones married his wife Betty in 1948. Together they had four children; Rick, Jeffrey, Jennifer and Melody.

Filmography

Wonder Bar (1934) as Boy (uncredited) Burn 'Em Up Barnes (1934) as Schoolboy [Chs. 1, 7] (uncredited) Babes in Toyland (1934) as Schoolboy (uncredited) Kid Millions (1934) as Little Boy in Ice Cream Number (uncredited) Strange Wives (1934) as Twin Little Men (1934) as Dolly Life Returns (1935) as Newsboy (uncredited) The Pecos Kid (1935) as Donald Pecos – as a Boy (uncredited) The Call of the Savage (1935, Serial) as Jan Trevor as a Boy [Ch. 1] The Hawk (1935) as Dickie Thomas Queen of the Jungle (1935) as David Worth Jr. as a child Silk Hat Kid (1935) as Jimmy (uncredited) Westward Ho (1935) as Jim Wyatt – as a Child O'Shaughnessy's Boy (1935) as Boy with Sling Shot at Parade (uncredited) Moonlight on the Prairie (1935) as Dickie Roberts Queen of the Jungle (1935) as David Worth as a child The Adventures of Frank Merriwell (1936) as Jimmy McLaw (uncredited) Exclusive Story (1936) as Higgins' Son (uncredited) Sutter's Gold (1936) as 2nd Newsboy (uncredited) Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936) as Ceddie at Age 7 (uncredited) The First Baby (1936) as Ellis Child (uncredited) 36 Hours to Kill (1936) as Little Boy Selling The Garden Beautiful (uncredited) Pepper (1936) as Member of Pepper's Gang (uncredited) Love Begins at 20 (1936) as Boy on Streetcar (uncredited) Daniel Boone (1936) as Master Jerry Randolph The Man I Marry (1936) as Little Boy (uncredited) Wild Horse Round-Up (1936) as Dickie Williams Black Legion (1937) as Buddy Taylor Blake of Scotland Yard (1937) as Bobby Mason Ready, Willing, and Able (1937) as Junior (uncredited) Land Beyond the Law (1937) as Bobby Skinner (uncredited) Smoke Tree Range (1937) as Teddy Page Flying Fists (1937) as Dickie Martin Stella Dallas (1937) as Lee Morrison Renfrew of the Royal Mounted (1937) as Tommy MacDonald Love Is on the Air (1937) as Bill – Mouse's Friend Hollywood Round-Up (1937) as Dickie Stevens The Kid Comes Back (1938) as Bobby Doyle Border Wolves (1938) as Jimmie Benton Land of Fighting Men (1938) as Jimmy Mitchell Love, Honor and Behave (1938) as Boy Playing with Young Ted (uncredited) The Devil's Party (1938) as Joe O'Mara as a Child (uncredited) The Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok (1938) as Buddy A Man to Remember (1938) as Dick Abbott – Age 8–12 Girls on Probation (1938) as Magazine Newsboy – Witness (uncredited) The Frontiersmen (1938) as Artie Peters Woman Doctor (1939) as Johnny Nancy Drew... Reporter (1939) as Killer Parkins Sergeant Madden (1939) as Dennis Madden, as a boy The Man Who Dared (1939) as Bill Carter Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) as Adam Clay as a Boy (uncredited) On Borrowed Time (1939) as Boy in Tree (uncredited) Sky Patrol (1939) as Bobby Landis Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) as Richard "Dickie" Jones, Senate Page Boy (uncredited) Beware Spooks! (1939) as First Boy (uncredited) Destry Rides Again (1939) as Claggett Boy Pinocchio (1940) as Pinocchio / Alexander (voice, uncredited) Virginia City (1940) as Cobby Gill Hi-Yo Silver (1940) as The Boy (uncredited) Maryland (1940) as Lee Danfield – Age 12 (uncredited) Brigham Young (1940) as Henry Kent The Howards of Virginia (1940) as Matt Howard at 12 Knute Rockne All American (1940) as Boy Captain (uncredited) Adventure in Washington (1941) as Abbott The Vanishing Virginian (1942) as Robert Yancey Jr. Mountain Rhythm (1943) as Darwood Gates Alton The Outlaw (1943) as Boy (uncredited) The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944) as Samuel Clemens – age 15 (uncredited) The Strawberry Roan (1948) as Joe Bailey Angel on the Amazon (1948) as George (uncredited) Battleground (1949) as Tanker (uncredited) Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) as Scared Marine (uncredited) Sons of New Mexico (1949) as Randy Pryor Military Academy with That Tenth Avenue Gang (1950) as Richard Reilly (uncredited) The Lone Ranger (1949–1950, TV Series) as Jim Douglas / Jim Redwood Forest Trail (1950) as Mighty Mite Rocky Mountain (1950) as Jim (Buck) Wheat (CSA) Fort Worth (1951) as Luther Wicks The Range Rider (1951–1953) as Dick West The Old West (1952) as Pinto Wagon Team (1952) as Dave Weldon, aka The Apache Kid Last of the Pony Riders (1953) as Johnny Blair Attila (1954) The Bamboo Prison (1954) as P.O.W. Jackie The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954) as Pilot (uncredited) The Wild Dakotas (1956) as Mike McGeehee The Cool and the Crazy (1958) as Stu Summerville Shadow of the Boomerang (1960) as Bob Prince The Devil's Bedroom (1964) as Norm Requiem for a Gunfighter (1965) as Cliff Fletcher (final film role)