Trivia

Was one of Sam Peckinpah's favorite actors.

Is a former horse and cattle rancher.

Profiled in "Names You Never Remember, With Faces You Never Forget" by Justin Humphreys (BearManor Media).

Attended the University of Texas at Austin in the late 1940s, after his military service, where he studied Law. His roommate for a while was Fess Parker.

The first hour-long TV western, Cheyenne (1955), starred Clint Walker and Jones played his sidekick, Smitty. He was dropped after three episodes, and Cheyenne went the rest of the way alone.

Was adept at portraying a wide range of character roles, both sympathetic to villainous, and comedic to dramatic.

For Casino (1995), Martin Scorsese had him write his own dialogue (or rather, rearrange it) since Scorsese didn't know exactly how a Texan would speak . . . he wanted Jones to make the role his own.

Was a guest at the 2012 Memphis Film Festival's "A Gathering of Guns 4: A TV Western Reunion" at the Whispering Woods Hotel and Conference Center in Olive Branch, MS.

Served in the US Navy.

Named directors Martin Scorsese and Raoul Walsh as two men who knew all about movies, and never stopped talking about them.

Adopted his screen name after the character he played on Battle Cry (1955). In that movie he is credited as Justus E. McQueen, his actual name.

His last picture with Sam Peckinpah was Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973), about which he always had mixed feelings. After that he became a director himself on A Boy and His Dog (1975), and then mostly appeared on episodic television until the 1990s.

That his character dies in A Prairie Home Companion (2006) puts him on a list of notable actors whose very last movie role in a theatrical release portrays a character who dies. Examples of others on that list include John Wayne in The Shootist (1976), Edward G. Robinson in Soylent Green (1973), and Ethel Barrymore in Johnny Trouble (1957).