Allan Jones (actor)

Jones died of lung cancer at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City in June 1992, at age 84.

Jones continued performing until the 1980s, starring in stage productions of Man of La Mancha, Paint Your Wagon, Guys and Dolls, and Carousel. In December 1980, Jones appeared on an episode of the ABC-TV series The Love Boat also starring his son Jack Jones as his estranged son and Dorothy Lamour as his wife and Jack's mother.

In an interview in 1973, Jones recalled that his father and grandfather were musically talented: "My father had a beautiful tenor voice. So did my grandfather...Grandfather taught violin, voice, and piano when he could. My father sang every chance he could get and realized his ambition through me."

In 1940, Jones moved to Universal Pictures for two musicals: The Boys from Syracuse, with the stage score by Rodgers and Hart, and One Night in the Tropics with a score by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields, which was also the screen debut of Abbott and Costello. After these two films, he slipped to leads in several "B" musicals, at Paramount and Universal, including a reunion with his A Night at the Opera co-star Kitty Carlisle in Larceny with Music (1943). The same year, he made a guest appearance, as himself, in the Olsen and Johnson musical Crazy House, where he again performed "The Donkey Serenade".

In the mid-1940s, Jones and pianist Frankie Carle starred in the Old Gold Show on CBS radio.

Jones recorded prodigiously throughout his career, primarily for RCA Victor. His 1938 recording of "The Donkey Serenade" ranks third among the all-time best-selling single records issued by RCA Victor.

His appearance in A Night at the Opera was well received, and as a result, he won the coveted role of Gaylord Ravenal in the 1936 film version of Show Boat (opposite Irene Dunne) over such screen musical favorites as Nelson Eddy and John Boles. It was Jones's most distinguished screen portrayal, in which, under the direction of James Whale, he displayed fine dramatic acting ability, as well as his obvious singing talent.

Jones made a brief appearance in the 1936 Nelson Eddy–Jeanette MacDonald film Rose Marie, singing music from Charles Gounod's Romeo et Juliette and Giacomo Puccini's Tosca, but according to Merchant of Dreams, Charles Higham's biography of Louis B. Mayer, Eddy, who apparently considered Jones a rival and a potential threat, asked that most of Jones's footage in Rose Marie be cut, including his rendition of the great Puccini aria E lucevan le stelle, and MGM agreed to Eddy's demand. Jones's final film for MGM was Everybody Sing (1938) opposite Judy Garland and Fanny Brice, in which he introduced the pop standard "The One I Love".

Jones was married four times. His wives included Hervey, Maria Villavincie, and Mary Florsheim (granddaughter of Milton S. Florsheim). He was married to actress Irene Hervey from 1936 to 1957. American pop singer Jack Jones is their son.

Jones is best remembered as the male romantic lead actor in the first two films in which the Marx Brothers starred for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, A Night at the Opera (1935) and A Day at the Races (1937), as well as the film musicals Show Boat (1936) and The Firefly (1937), in which he introduced what became his signature song, "The Donkey Serenade".

Jones appeared on Broadway a few times, including 1933's Roberta and the short-lived 1934 revival of Bitter Sweet after debuting in Boccacio in 1931.

Jones starred in many film musicals during the 1930s and 1940s. The best-known of these were the original film version of Show Boat (1936) and The Firefly (1937) where he first performed what became his signature song: "The Donkey Serenade". Jones is best remembered today as the romantic lead opposite Kitty Carlisle and Maureen O'Sullivan, respectively, in the first two films in which the Marx Brothers starred forr Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM): A Night at the Opera (1935) and A Day at the Races (1937), filling a straight-man role opened by the departure of Zeppo Marx from the team.

Allan Jones (October 14, 1907 – June 27, 1992) was an American actor and tenor.