Reluctant Facts About Jennifer Jones, The Unlikely Superstar
They say that to make it in Hollywood, you really have to want it. Well, Jennifer Jones didn’t seem to want fame or even need it—but somehow she got it anyway.
It didn’t hurt that she was under the rigid control of her husband and producer David O. Selznick. It also didn’t hurt that her looks sent audiences into orbit.
But what can a shy, timid individual do when there’s always a camera pointed in her face? It’s enough to drive a girl crazy. And, as we’ll soon see—it almost did.
Jennifer Jones Facts
1. She Slapped Their Face
In Tulsa Oklahoma on March 2, 1919, Flora and Phillip Ross Isley had a baby girl they named Phylis Lee Isley. Her stage name would eventually be Jennifer Jones, which could not have been further away from her birth name.
Changing your name for your acting career is pretty common, but this just seemed like a slap in her parents’ face.
But I guess Jones had good reason to resent mom and dad...
2. She Hit The Road
Jones’s parents were stage actors, and they took their only daughter on the road with them. They owned their own traveling show called the Isley Stock Company and put on shows under a huge tent. It didn’t take long before little Phyllis was joining her parents up on stage. But this lifestyle wouldn't be easy on any child, and it wasn't long before Jones was fed up.
3. She Signed Up
Evidently, life on the road isn't the best way to spend your childhood. Jones eventually had to quit the stage and hit the books. She enrolled in Catholic School and then signed up at Northwestern University.
However, the romance of her earlier life never quite left her, and she just couldn't forget her time under the big tent. I guess bright lights and grease paint were in her blood.
In 1939, she made a big change in her studies: She headed to the Big Apple and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. If she'd known what life had in store for her, maybe she'd have changed her mind.
