T. C. Jones

Thomas Craig "T. C." Jones (October 26, 1920 – September 25, 1971) was an American female impersonator, actor, and dancer who from the mid-1940s to the late 1960s performed on stage, in nightclubs, films, and on television. He was known chiefly in the entertainment industry for his imitations in full costume of many famous actresses and other women, including Tallulah Bankhead, Mae West, Judy Garland, Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Édith Piaf, and Carmen Miranda. In 1959, the American magazine Time described Jones as "probably the best female impersonator since vaudeville's late famed Julian Eltinge".

Early life and education T. C. Jones was born in 1920 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Prior to his entertainment career, he attended Bethany College in West Virginia to study for the Campbellite ministry, but midway through his education there he was "bitten by the acting bug" after spending one summer performing in plays in a stock company. That stage experience convinced him to leave Bethany and return to Pennsylvania to enroll in drama school at Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh. During times when he was not being cast in additional plays, Jones served as an assistant stage manager. This position afforded him many opportunities to observe and study closely the speech patterns, mannerisms, and costume choices of a variety of actresses. Soon he began imitating those performers and impressing his theatre colleagues with his talent for mimicry, so much so that they encouraged him to display those abilities to audiences.

By 1946 Jones began working professionally in New York as a female impersonator, first with the Provincetown Players in Greenwich Village. Cast as "Fat Fanny", he performed his first impersonations on stage in the Players' production of E. E. Cummings' play Him. where he presented and refined his impersonations of stars such as Tallulah Bankhead, Katharine Hepburn, Édith Piaf, Claudette Colbert, and Bette Davis. Jones's performances, especially his portrayal of Bankhead, attracted the attention of theatrical producer Leonard Sillman, who cast him in New Faces of 1956, a revue directed by Paul Lynde. Jones in the revue entered the stage by descending a staircase to the tune "Isn't She Lovely" and, as Bankhead, acted as mistress of ceremonies. The show proved to be a hit, running for 220 performances. The following year Jones starred in Mask and Gown, another Broadway revue. Jones toured with Mask and Gown nationally and internationally, but it was unsuccessful.

Jones in the latter half of the 1950s appeared in regional theatrical productions, including The Man Who Came to Dinner.

Jones also performed in several Hollywood films during that period. He appears in a male role opposite Jayne Mansfield in the 1963 sex comedy Promises! Promises!, in the role of Henry with Mamie Van Doren in the 1964 comedy 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt, as Mrs. Terry in the 1968 thriller The Name of the Game Is Kill!, and in dual male/female roles as Mr. and Mrs. Ace in The Monkees' 1968 satirical musical Head.

Despite his additional work in films and on television, Jones in the 1960s continued his regular stage and nightclubs shows. The Los Angeles Times, for example, announces the following in its August 6, 1965 edition: "Wardrobe and wigs valued at more than $100,000 will be worn by T. C. Jones, female impersonator, when he opens Tuesday in his one-man revue, 'That Was No Lady,' at the Ivar Theatre."

Personal life and death Jones in the 1950s married Connie S. Dickson, a former actress and competitive fencer, who owned a chain of beauty parlors in San Francisco. She, in fact, met Jones for the first time when he visited one of her parlors in search of a new wig for his performances.