Henry Burk Jones

 Henry Burk Jones (August 1, 1912 – May 17, 1999)

Early in his career, he performed with the Hedgerow Theatre near Philadelphia. His first Broadway appearance was in Maurice Evans's 1938 Hamlet. During World War II, he served in the army and was cast in Irving Berlin's This is the Army. Jones is remembered for his role as handyman Leroy Jessup in the movie The Bad Seed (1956), a role he originated on Broadway. Other theater credits included My Sister Eileen, The Time of Your Life, They Knew What They Wanted, The Solid Gold Cadillac, and Sunrise at Campobello, for which he won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play, and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Performance in a Drama. Jones appeared in more than 180 films and television shows. His screen credits included The Girl Can't Help It, 3:10 to Yuma, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, Cash McCall, The Bramble Bush, Rascal, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Dirty Dingus Magee, Support Your Local Sheriff, and Support Your Local Gunfighter, among others.

On television, Jones' best-remembered role was as the title character's father-in-law in the 1970s sitcom Phyllis. Jones also appeared on Appointment with Adventure, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Investigators, The Eleventh Hour, Bewitched, Night Gallery, Emergency!, The Mod Squad, Daniel Boone with Fess Parker, Gunsmoke, The Twilight Zone, Thriller, Adam-12, The Doris Day Show, Father Knows Best, The Dukes of Hazzard, Flo, and Magnum, P.I. with Tom Selleck, among others. Jones was married twice, and had two children with his second wife. Jones died in UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, at age 86 from complications from injuries suffered in a fall at his home in Santa Monica, California.