Sam J. Jones

Samuel Gerald Jones, known professionally as Sam J. Jones, is an American actor and former football player. He is known for playing the title character in the 1980 film Flash Gordon and for starring in the short-lived TV series The Highwayman (1987–1988).

Early life Sam J. Jones was born in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in Sacramento, California. In 1972, after high school, Jones enlisted in the United States Marine Corps where he played American football. With service in the Corps completed, he moved to Seattle with the ambition of joining the Seahawks but was turned down. Instead, in 1976, he played for their practice team, the Flyers, as a semi-professional.

To supplement his income, Jones also began modeling. Starting in 1975, he appeared full-frontal nude under the alias Andrew Cooper III as the centerfold for a photo-spread in the June issue of Playgirl magazine. He also starred in TV commercials for a sporting goods store in Seattle before finally moving to Los Angeles in 1977.

Career Jones made his first film appearance in the 1979 romantic comedy film 10. His appearance in 10 allowed him to beat Kurt Russell and Arnold Schwarzenegger for his most famous role, that of Flash Gordon in the 1980 film of the same name. Jones' hair was dyed blonde for this role. The film was moderately successful at the box office grossing $27.1 million in North America, and $22 million in the UK, double its $20 million budget. However, a falling-out between Jones and producer Dino De Laurentiis led to the scrapping of a planned film trilogy.

After the release of Flash Gordon, Playgirl reprinted his 1975 nude photo spread in its January 1981 issue, this time using his real name. He went on to play Chris Rorchek in the TV series Code Red (1981–1982). He had guest roles in other TV shows including The A-Team, Hunter, and Riptide. In 1987, he played the lead role in a TV movie adaptation of Will Eisner's comics character The Spirit. He also played the title character in the short-lived NBC sci-fi series The Highwayman. In the late 1980s and early 1990s he portrayed Johnny Valentine on the HBO series 1st & Ten.

Jones starred in the 1986 theatrical release My Chauffeur and the straight-to-video movies Jungle Heat (1985), Jane and the Lost City (1987), Under the Gun (1988), Silent Assassins (1988), Whiteforce (1988), Driving Force (1989) and One Man Force (1989). In the 1990s, Jones had roles in films including In Gold We Trust (1990), Maximum Force (1992), Fist of Honor (1993), Hard Vice (1994), Enter the Shootfighter (1995), Texas Payback (1995), The Killer Inside (1996), Earth Minus Zero (1996), Baja Run (1996) and American Tigers (1996), and guest roles in the TV shows Baywatch, Diagnosis Murder and Walker: Texas Ranger.

In 2001, Jones was cast in Animal Planet's family series Hollywood Safari as park ranger Troy Johnson. He appeared in "Deadman Switch", an episode of the television series Stargate SG-1. In 2002, Jones retrained and when he is not acting or working autograph booths on the ComicCon circuit, he is a high-end security professional in San Diego, protecting executives traveling to Mexico. In his words "I became a security professional 15 years ago. My wife looked at me and said, 'You've been waiting for the phone to ring. The phone isn't ringing. We have kids. There's the door. Don’t come back until you're providing.' That's why I walked away from labels years ago. Actor? I'm a working man. Whatever it takes to provide, I'm a working man".

In 2007, Jones played the prisoner Krebb in the Sci Fi Channel original television series Flash Gordon. He also had extended cameos (as himself, with his blond Flash Gordon hairstyle) in both the 2012 comedy film Ted and its 2015 sequel Ted 2. Jones then starred in, and served as an executive producer of, Life After Flash, a crowdfunded feature-length documentary about Flash Gordon. The documentary, which chronicles the original film's production and cult following through interviews with fans and members of its cast and crew, including Melody Anderson, Brian Blessed, Peter Wyngarde, Mark Millar, Robert Rodriguez, Stan Lee and Brian May, also explores how Jones' falling-out with De Laurentiis impacted his life and career.

Personal life Jones married Lynn Eriks in 1982; they had two children and divorced in 1987. Following the divorce from Eriks, he married Myrtille Blervaque, a French actress he met when he was filming Jane and the Lost City in Mauritius. They were married in Nevada on August 15, 1987, and divorced three years later. He married Ramona Lynn Jones on June 26, 1992; they have three children.

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Notes 1979 10 David Hanley 1980 Flash Gordon Flash Gordon 1985 Jungle Heat Gordon 1986 My Chauffeur "Battle" Witherspoon 1987 Jane and the Lost City Jack "Jungle Jack" Buck 1988 Under the Gun Mike Braxton Silent Assassins Sam Kettle Whiteforce Johnny Quinn 1989 Driving Force Steve O'Neill One Man Force Pete Trigon Fire James Ford 1990 In Gold We Trust Jeff Slater 1992 Maximum Force Michael Crews The Other Woman Mike Florian Direct-to-video Night Rhythms Jackson Direct-to-video 1993 DaVinci's War Jim Holbrook Fist of Honor "Fist" Lady Dragon 2 Reb South Beach Billy Thunder in Paradise David Kilmer Direct-to-video Expert Weapon Janson 1994 Hard Vice Joe 1995 Ballistic Braden Karate Tiger 8: Fists of Iron Tyler Green Texas Payback Louis Gentry 1996 Where Truth Lies James American Strays The Exterminator The Killer Inside Steve Davis R.I.O.T.: The Movie Jimmy O'Brien Direct-to-video Earth Minus Zero Marshal Heller Baja Run Carl Brubaker American Tigers Sergeant Major Ransom 1997 T.N.T. Greel 1998 Evasive Action Convict 2000 Down 'n Dirty Stanton James 2001 Dead Sexy Rackles Direct-to-video Gangland Sergeant Richards Van Hook Uncle Dwayne 2002 Cold Sweat "Mondo" Direct-to-video Psychotic Donald Westlake Redemption "The Brick" Direct-to-video 2007 Revamped Jake Hardcastle Direct-to-video 2012 Ted Himself 2015 Ted 2 Himself 2017 Head Games Spokesman Short film 2018 Fury of the Fist and the Golden Fleece Flash / Man With The Golden Fleece 2019 One of the Good Ones Billy Axcellerator Brink The Silent Natural Jacob Hoy 2021 Edgar Allan Poe's Decapitarium Dean Usher 2022 An Unlikely Angel Buck

Television Year Title Role Notes 1980 Stunts Unlimited Bo Carlson TV movie 1981–1982 Code Red Chris Rorchek 17 episodes 1984 The A-Team Eric Episode: "Semi-Friendly Persuasion" No Man's Land Eli Howe TV movie Hunter Lance Lane Episode: "The Hot Grounder" Riptide Rick Beeber Episode: "Be True to Your School" 1985 Hardcastle and McCormick Grant Miller Episode: "Too Rich and Too Thin" This Wife for Hire Tommy Sellers TV movie 1986 1st & Ten Johnny Valentine 6 episodes 1987 The Spirit Spirit / Denny Colt TV movie 1987–1988 The Highwayman The Highwayman 10 episodes 1989 L.A. Takedown Jimmy TV movie 1991 Shades of L.A. B.J. Makowski 2 episodes P.S. I Luv U Luke Episode: "I'd Kill to Direct" 1992 The Hat Squad Victory Smith Episode: "Pilot" 1993 Key West Commander Beauregard Richards Episode: "The Greening" Cobra Sergeant Clay Miller / Royce 2 episodes Baywatch Ken Jordan 2 episodes 1993–1995 Renegade Haggerty / Nicky Griffin / Earl Lyons 3 episodes 1993–1997 Walker, Texas Ranger Mick Stanley / Tommy Williams / Samuel J. Bodine 2 episodes 1994 Thunder in Paradise David Kilmer 2 episodes 1995 Diagnosis: Murder Lieutenant "Buck" Denton Episode: "Sea No Evil" Ray Alexander: A Menu for MurderBobby Deval TV movie 1996 Pacific Blue Rolf Episode: "Burnout" 1997 Conan the Adventurer General Knorr Episode: "The Ruby Fruit Forest" 1998–2001 Hollywood Safari Troy Johnson 23 episodes 1999 L.A. Heat Randy Harden / Sullivan 2 episodes Silk Stalkings Sidney 2 episodes Stargate SG-1 Aris Boch Episode: "Deadman Switch" 2001 Black Scorpion "Space Case" Episode: "Photo Finish" 2007 Flash Gordon Krebb Episode: "Revelations"

Video games Year Title Role Notes 1993 Return to Zork Blind Bowman