JENNIFER JONES
Name: Jennifer Jones.
Birth name: Phylis Lee Isley
Born: 2 March 1919 Tulsa, Oklahoma
Jennifer Jones (born March 2, 1919) is an Academy Award and Golden Globe-winning
American actress.
Jones was born Phylis Lee Isley in Tulsa, Oklahoma to Phillip R. Isley and Flora
Mae Suber, who toured the Midwest in a traveling tent show they owned and
operated. Jones attended Monte Cassino Junior College in Tulsa and Northwestern
University, where she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority before
transferring to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City in 1938.
It was here she met and fell in love with fellow acting student Robert Walker.
The two were married on January 2, 1939, when Jones was just 19 years old.
They returned to Tulsa for a 13-week radio programme arranged by her father, and
then headed for Hollywood. Isley landed two small roles, first in a 1939 John
Wayne western titled New Frontier, followed by a serial entitled, Dick Tracy's G-Men.
In these two films, she was billed as "Phyllis Isley" (Phyllis now spelled with
two L's). However, when she and Walker failed a screen test for Paramount
Pictures, they decided to return to New York City.
While Walker found steady work in radio programs, Isley worked part-time
modeling hats for the Powers Agency while looking for possible acting jobs. When
she learned of auditions for the lead role of Claudia in Rose Franken’s hit play
of the same name, she presented herself to David O. Selznick’s New York office,
but fled in tears after what she thought was a bad reading. Selznick, however,
overheard her audition and was impressed enough to have his secretary call her
back. Following an interview, she was signed to a seven-year contract. She was
carefully groomed for stardom and given a new name: Jennifer Jones. Director
Henry King was impressed by her screen test as Bernadette Soubirous for The Song
of Bernadette, and she won the coveted role over hundreds of applicants. In 1944,
Jones won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as St.
Bernadette. That year, Jones' friend, Ingrid Bergman, was also a Best Actress
nominee for her work in For Whom the Bell Tolls. Jones apologized to Bergman,
who replied, "No, Jennifer, your Bernadette was better than my Maria." Jones
presented the Best Actress Oscar the following year to Bergman for Gaslight.
Name: Jennifer Jones.
Birth name: Phylis Lee Isley
Born: 2 March 1919 Tulsa, Oklahoma
Jennifer Jones (born March 2, 1919) is an Academy Award and Golden Globe-winning
American actress.
Jones was born Phylis Lee Isley in Tulsa, Oklahoma to Phillip R. Isley and Flora
Mae Suber, who toured the Midwest in a traveling tent show they owned and
operated. Jones attended Monte Cassino Junior College in Tulsa and Northwestern
University, where she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority before
transferring to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City in 1938.
It was here she met and fell in love with fellow acting student Robert Walker.
The two were married on January 2, 1939, when Jones was just 19 years old.
They returned to Tulsa for a 13-week radio programme arranged by her father, and
then headed for Hollywood. Isley landed two small roles, first in a 1939 John
Wayne western titled New Frontier, followed by a serial entitled, Dick Tracy's G-Men.
In these two films, she was billed as "Phyllis Isley" (Phyllis now spelled with
two L's). However, when she and Walker failed a screen test for Paramount
Pictures, they decided to return to New York City.
While Walker found steady work in radio programs, Isley worked part-time
modeling hats for the Powers Agency while looking for possible acting jobs. When
she learned of auditions for the lead role of Claudia in Rose Franken’s hit play
of the same name, she presented herself to David O. Selznick’s New York office,
but fled in tears after what she thought was a bad reading. Selznick, however,
overheard her audition and was impressed enough to have his secretary call her
back. Following an interview, she was signed to a seven-year contract. She was
carefully groomed for stardom and given a new name: Jennifer Jones. Director
Henry King was impressed by her screen test as Bernadette Soubirous for The Song
of Bernadette, and she won the coveted role over hundreds of applicants. In 1944,
Jones won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as St.
Bernadette. That year, Jones' friend, Ingrid Bergman, was also a Best Actress
nominee for her work in For Whom the Bell Tolls. Jones apologized to Bergman,
who replied, "No, Jennifer, your Bernadette was better than my Maria." Jones
presented the Best Actress Oscar the following year to Bergman for Gaslight.