L.Q. Jones

Biography

L. Q. Jones (August 19, 1927 – July 9, 2022) was an American character actor and film director, known for his work in the films of Sam Peckinpah.

Jones was born in Beaumont in southeastern Texas, the son of Jessie Paralee (née Stephens) and Justus Ellis McQueen Sr., a railroad worker. After serving in the United States Navy from 1945 to 1946, Jones attended Lamar Junior College (now Lamar University) and then studied law at the University of Texas at Austin from 1950 to 1951. He worked as a stand-up comic, briefly played professional baseball and football, and even tried ranching in Nicaragua before turning to acting after corresponding with his former college roommate, Fess Parker. At the time, in 1954, Parker was already in Hollywood working in films and on television. Jones is a practicing Methodist and a registered Republican.

Jones made his film debut in 1955 in Battle Cry, credited under his birth name Justus McQueen. His character's name in that film, however, was "L. Q. Jones", a name he liked and decided to adopt as his stage name for all of his future roles as an actor. In 1955, he was cast as "Smitty Smith" in three episodes of Clint Walker's ABC/Warner Brothers western series, Cheyenne, the first hour-long western on network television.

Jones appeared in numerous films in the 1960s and 1970s. He became a member of Sam Peckinpah's stock company of actors, appearing in his Klondike series (1960–1961), Ride the High Country (1962), Major Dundee (1965), The Wild Bunch (1969), The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970), and Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid (1973).

Jones was frequently cast alongside his close friend Strother Martin, most memorably as the posse member and bounty hunter "T. C." in The Wild Bunch. Jones also appeared as recurring characters on such western series as Cheyenne (1955), Gunsmoke (1955), Laramie, Two Faces West (1960–1961), and as ranch hand Andy Belden in The Virginian (1962). That same year (1962) Jones appeared as Ollie Earnshaw, a rich rancher looking for a bride on Lawman in the episode titled The Bride.

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