Dickie Jones obit

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Dick Jones dies at 87; actor who provided voice of Disney's Pinocchio

Actor Dick Jones appeared in more than 100 films and television shows in his long career, but he is best known by far for a role in which he was not seen on screen. At about 10, when he was known as Dickie, Jones was chosen by Walt Disney to be the voice of Pinocchio in the classic 1940 animated film.

At the time, it wasn't common for children to voice roles in animated movies. "They started off with adults, and when Walt first heard the ones trying to act like kids, he said no," Jones said in "The Making of Pinocchio," a 2009 documentary.

Actor Dick Jones is shown behind the scenes during the production of "Pinocchio," about 1939. Jones was 10 when he was chosen by Walt Disney to be the voice of Pinocchio. The actor died Monday at his home in Northridge. He was 87.

Disney wanted a real youngster for the part of the wooden character who wanted to be a real boy, and Jones' voice entered animation history.

Jones, 87, died Monday night after a fall at home in Northridge, said his son, Rick Jones. The cause of death has not been determined. Jones' preteen voice and performance was a spectacular fit for the character, said Mike Gabriel, an artist and director on several recent Disney animated films. "He's just unbelievably lovable and likable in his innocence, in his excitement about everything," Gabriel said of Jones' performance. "You just fall in love with that little guy the minute he starts talking."

But Jones was anything but naive about Hollywood, even at that young age. He had already acted in several films, and he didn't always like what he saw.

Richard Percy Jones was born Feb. 25, 1927, in McKinney, Texas. His father was a newspaperman and his mother was a bit of a stage mother. By the time he was about 5, Jones was performing at rodeos, billed as the world's youngest trick rider and roper.

His big show-business break came when movie cowboy Hoot Gibson saw him perform at a rodeo in Dallas. "Hoot told my mother the famous words, 'That kid ought to be in pictures,'" Jones said in a 1984 Los Angeles Times interview. "She said, 'Whoopee!' and away we went to Hollywood."

His first movie appearance, uncredited, was in the musical number "Goin' to Heaven on a Mule" in the 1934 Al Jolson film "Wonder Bar," in which he appeared in blackface. He worked almost steadily, often in westerns.

He was in a variety of big pictures, including "Stella Dallas" (1937), "Young Mr. Lincoln" (1939), "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939) and "Destry Rides Again" (1939). He was also in some "Our Gang" shorts. But he wasn't much enjoying the acting life. "I didn't like going to school on the set. I wanted to get back to the public school," he said. "I wanted to be a real boy."

He called some of his fellow young actors "Hollywood phonies." Worse, some were becoming addicted to drugs. "I don't know how I didn't get on it, but I didn't," he told Leonard Maltin in a 2008 interview. "I didn't make many close friends."

The voicing of "Pinocchio," which took place over about a year and a half, was more enjoyable, in part because he got along well with adult actor Cliff Edwards, playing Jiminy Cricket. At times Jones' lip movements were filmed in close-up to help guide animators working on the character. For the musical number "Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee," he was dressed in costume and filmed as he danced, also as a reference for animators.

The most difficult sequence was when Pinocchio had to speak while under the sea. "They had a real problem trying to make me sound like I was underwater," he said in the Times interview. He was even subjected, briefly, to an infamous interrogation technique.

"They had me lie on a table and poured water in my mouth while I tried to read the dialogue — I almost drowned." The problem was finally solved by the use of a rotating gadget while he spoke.

It was the biggest role of his movie career. He was drafted into the Army in 1944, and after his discharge he appeared in several more films. In the 1950s, his career got a boost in early television, with roles on shows such as "The Lone Ranger" and Annie Oakley, and he played the title role in the 1955 "Buffalo Bill Jr." series.

But late in the decade, when landing roles became tough, he started to get involved in real estate. "He didn't want to do commercials," Rick Jones said. "So he said, 'The heck with it,' and got himself a regular job."

Jones founded a real estate agency. His last acting roles in the 1960s included episodes of "The Blue Angels" and "Wagon Train."

In addition to his son Rick, Jones is survived by his wife of 66 years, Betty; son Jeffrey, sisters Jennafer Jones and Melody Hume; six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Filmography

    Wonder Bar (1934) as Boy (uncredited)

    Burn 'Em Up Barnes (1934) as Schoolboy [Chs. 1, 7] (uncredited)

    Babes in Toyland (1934) as Schoolboy (uncredited)

    Kid Millions (1934) as Little Boy in Ice Cream Number (uncredited)

    Strange Wives (1934) as Twin

    Little Men (1934) as Dolly

    Life Returns (1935) as Newsboy (uncredited)

    The Pecos Kid (1935) as Donald Pecos – as a Boy (uncredited)

    The Call of the Savage (1935, Serial) as Jan Trevor as a Boy [Ch. 1]

    The Hawk (1935) as Dickie Thomas

    Queen of the Jungle (1935) as David Worth Jr. as a child

    Silk Hat Kid (1935) as Jimmy (uncredited)

    Westward Ho (1935) as Jim Wyatt – as a Child

    O'Shaughnessy's Boy (1935) as Boy with Sling Shot at Parade (uncredited)

    Moonlight on the Prairie (1935) as Dickie Roberts

    Queen of the Jungle (1935) as David Worth as a child

    The Adventures of Frank Merriwell (1936) as Jimmy McLaw (uncredited)

    Exclusive Story (1936) as Higgins' Son (uncredited)

    Sutter's Gold (1936) as 2nd Newsboy (uncredited)

    Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936) as Ceddie at Age 7 (uncredited)

    The First Baby (1936) as Ellis Child (uncredited)

    36 Hours to Kill (1936) as Little Boy Selling The Garden Beautiful (uncredited)

    Pepper (1936) as Member of Pepper's Gang (uncredited)

    Love Begins at 20 (1936) as Boy on Streetcar (uncredited)

    Daniel Boone (1936) as Master Jerry Randolph

    The Man I Marry (1936) as Little Boy (uncredited)

    Wild Horse Round-Up (1936) as Dickie Williams

    Black Legion (1937) as Buddy Taylor

    Blake of Scotland Yard (1937) as Bobby Mason

    Ready, Willing, and Able (1937) as Junior (uncredited)

    Land Beyond the Law (1937) as Bobby Skinner (uncredited)

    Smoke Tree Range (1937) as Teddy Page

    Flying Fists (1937) as Dickie Martin

    Stella Dallas (1937) as Lee Morrison

    Renfrew of the Royal Mounted (1937) as Tommy MacDonald

    Love Is on the Air (1937) as Bill – Mouse's Friend

    Hollywood Round-Up (1937) as Dickie Stevens

    The Kid Comes Back (1938) as Bobby Doyle

    Border Wolves (1938) as Jimmie Benton

    Land of Fighting Men (1938) as Jimmy Mitchell

    Love, Honor and Behave (1938) as Boy Playing with Young Ted (uncredited)

    The Devil's Party (1938) as Joe O'Mara as a Child (uncredited)

    The Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok (1938) as Buddy

    A Man to Remember (1938) as Dick Abbott – Age 8–12

    Girls on Probation (1938) as Magazine Newsboy – Witness (uncredited)

    The Frontiersmen (1938) as Artie Peters

    Woman Doctor (1939) as Johnny

    Nancy Drew... Reporter (1939) as Killer Parkins

    Sergeant Madden (1939) as Dennis Madden, as a boy

    The Man Who Dared (1939) as Bill Carter

    Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) as Adam Clay as a Boy (uncredited)

    On Borrowed Time (1939) as Boy in Tree (uncredited)

    Sky Patrol (1939) as Bobby Landis

    Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) as Richard "Dickie" Jones, Senate Page Boy (uncredited)

    Beware Spooks! (1939) as First Boy (uncredited)

    Destry Rides Again (1939) as Claggett Boy

    Pinocchio (1940) as Pinocchio / Alexander (voice, uncredited)

    Virginia City (1940) as Cobby Gill

    Hi-Yo Silver (1940) as The Boy (uncredited)

    Maryland (1940) as Lee Danfield – Age 12 (uncredited)

    Brigham Young (1940) as Henry Kent

    The Howards of Virginia (1940) as Matt Howard at 12

    Knute Rockne All American (1940) as Boy Captain (uncredited)

    Adventure in Washington (1941) as Abbott

    The Vanishing Virginian (1942) as Robert Yancey Jr.

    Mountain Rhythm (1943) as Darwood Gates Alton

    The Outlaw (1943) as Boy (uncredited)

    The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944) as Samuel Clemens – age 15 (uncredited)

    The Strawberry Roan (1948) as Joe Bailey

    Angel on the Amazon (1948) as George (uncredited)

    Battleground (1949) as Tanker (uncredited)

    Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) as Scared Marine (uncredited)

    Sons of New Mexico (1949) as Randy Pryor

    Military Academy with That Tenth Avenue Gang (1950) as Richard Reilly (uncredited)

    The Lone Ranger (1949–1950, TV Series) as Jim Douglas / Jim

    Redwood Forest Trail (1950) as Mighty Mite

    Rocky Mountain (1950) as Jim (Buck) Wheat (CSA)

    Fort Worth (1951) as Luther Wicks

    The Old West (1952) as Pinto

    Wagon Team (1952) as Dave Weldon, aka The Apache Kid

    Last of the Pony Riders (1953) as Johnny Blair

    Attila (1954)

    The Bamboo Prison (1954) as P.O.W. Jackie

    The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954) as Pilot (uncredited)

    The Wild Dakotas (1956) as Mike McGeehee

    The Cool and the Crazy (1958) as Stu Summerville

    Shadow of the Boomerang (1960) as Bob Prince

    The Devil's Bedroom (1964) as Norm

    Requiem for a Gunfighter (1965) as Cliff Fletcher (final film role)