Shirley Jones (born March 31, 1934)In Smithton Pa.Her father was the owner of the Jones Brewing Company, is an Academy Award-winning singer and actress, perhaps best known for her starring role as "Shirley Partridge," the widowed mother of five children, in the television series The Partridge Family, in which, she played the mother of David Cassidy, who was her real-life stepson. She was born in the Pittsburgh suburb of ] and is of Welsh descent.
An only child, she was named after Shirley Temple. She won a beauty pageant as a teenager and was crowned "Miss Pittsburgh 1952."
Before The Partridge Family, Shirley had already achieved fame as a singer and actress. She starred in many films, including the highly successful musicals Oklahoma!, Carousel, and The Music Man. In a rare "naughty girl" role, she won an Oscar as a prostitute corrupted by Burt Lancaster, who then takes revenge upon him in Elmer Gantry. She attempted a television comeback in 1979 with the family drama Shirley, but the series fared poorley and was canceled after thirteen episodes.
She married actor Jack Cassidy on August 5, 1956, with whom she had 3 sons, Shaun, Patrick and Ryan; David Cassidy became her stepson. Shirley and David both starred in The Partridge Family. Divorcing Cassidy in 1974, she married comic/actor Marty Ingels on November 13, 1977. Despite several separations (she filed, then withdrew a divorce petition in 2002) and amazingly different personalities, they remain married.
Although best known for her movie and television roles, Shirley has an impressive stage résumé, including the musical Maggie Flynn on Broadway and a stellar turn in a rare revival of Noel Coward's operetta Bitter Sweet at the Long Beach Civic Light Opera in 1983. In 2004, Shirley returned to Broadway in a revival of 42nd Street, portraying diva "Dorothy Brock", opposite her son, Patrick Cassidy, the first known time a mother and son starred together on Broadway. In July 2005, Shirley revisited the musical Carousel onstage in Massachusetts portraying Cousin Nettie. Shirley continues to appear in venues nationwide, in concert and in speaking engagements.
She is a registered Republican who appeared at the 1988 Republican Convention and sang the National Anthem. She also sang at the 2003 Christmas Tree Lighting in Washington, D.C., at George W. Bush's request.
Grandma's Boy (2006)
