Carolyn Jones Biography

Actress. Born Carolyn Baker on April 28, 1929, in Amarillo, Texas. Best known for her portrayal of the gothic matriarch Morticia on The Addams Family, she started out in the theater. At the age of fifteen, she signed up for acting classes at the Pasadena Community Playhouse. It was at a playhouse production she caught her first big break. An agent saw her perform and signed her to her first movie role. She first appeared with William Holden in The Turning Point (1952). Other early film roles included appearances in House of Wax (1953), The War of the Worlds (1953), The Tender Trap (1955), and The Bachelor Party (1957). Jones received an Academy Award nomination for her work on The Bachelor Party. She appeared in more than 30 films during her career.

Along with films, Jones made numerous appearances on television. She played parts on Dragnet, Playhouse 90, Colgate Comedy Hour, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Wagon Train, Batman, and Wonder Woman among others. But it was the role as the caring, slightly creepy Morticia on The Addams Family that garnered her the most attention. It was based in part on the cartoons of Charles Addams and depicted the adventures of a ghoulish family living in a rundown mansion, much to the horror and confusion of their neighbors. Audiences delighted in watching Morticia and her wacky, macabre husband, Gomez (played by John Astin), handle the day-to-day challenges of raising their children and managing their extremely odd household. The show ran from only 1964 to 1966, but it continued to be shown on television for many years after on syndication.

Jones married three times. Her first marriage was to producer Aaron Spelling in 1953. The pair divorced in 1964. Four years later she married composer-arranger Herbert Green, but they were divorced in 1977. Jones wed actor Peter Bailey-Britton in 1981. She died of cancer on August 3, 1983, in Los Angeles, California.

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