By Paul Freeman [October 2012]

From the innocent Laurey in “Oklahoma!” to Lulu, the wronged woman driven to prostitution in “Elmer Gantry,” to the All-American, pop-singing Shirley Partridge, it’s been one memorable role after another.

Shirley Jones is a true rarity - a gifted, versatile actress who sings like an angel and engenders audience empathy every time she appears on stage, television or film.

The lovable performer was raised in Smithton, Pa., population 877. From an early age, her parents, teachers and church recognized her musical and dramatic talents. She studied at the famed Pittsburgh Playhouse. In 1952, at age 18, Jones was crowned “Miss Pittsburgh.”

In New York, she was quickly embraced by the theatre community. Jones was the only singer ever put under personal contract by songwriting greats Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Following a screen test, Jones won out over many of Hollywood’s top young female performers, landing the lead in the 1955 film version of “Oklahoma!” She went on to star in “Carousel,” “April Love” and “The Music Man.” Departing from the wholesome image, Jones portrayed the fallen Lulu in “Elmer Gantry.” Her powerful performance earned her an Academy Award.

Other notable films include “Never Steal Anything Small,” “Two Rode Together,” “The Courtship of Eddie’s Father,” “Bedtime Story” and “The Cheyenne Social Club.”

Jones has also achieved much success on the small screen. Her TV appearances include “Murder She Wrote,” “The Love Boat,” “Melrose Place,” and, of course, her starring role in the hit series “The Partridge Family,” which also featured her stepson, David Cassidy. For her performance in 2006’s TV film “Hidden Places, Jones received an Emmy nomination.

As beloved as ever, she continues to perform in television, theatre, cabaret and film. We spoke with the gracious Ms. Jones prior to her presenting “An Evening of Story & Song” at San Francisco’s The Rrazz Room, Oct. 23-28 [$40-$45; www.therrazzroom.com for information and tickets].

POP CULTURE CLASSICS:
The ‘Evening of Story and Song’ is that a look back at your career?

SHIRLEY JONES:
Yeah, it’s a little of everything. I’ll be singing songs from ‘Oklahoma,’ ‘Carousel,’ ‘The Music Man,’ as well as some Rodgers and Hart stuff. And telling the story of how I got my first job on Broadway. It’s a little of everything about my career.

PCC:
Growing up Pennsylvania, how did the fascination with music and theatre begin?

SHIRLEY JONES:
Well, I was given a gift. I was singing in the church choir at age six. I was born singing. It was something that was given to me. And then I went on and studied, in Pittsburgh. I was raised in this little town, south of Pittsburgh and went on to study singing there. And went to a place called The Pittsburgh Playhouse, when I was in high school, in the summertime, and studied acting and dancing and the whole thing. And loved it all. But, to be very honest with you, I wanted to be a veterinarian. [Laughs]

PCC:
So it didn’t seem like a foregone conclusion that you were going to go into show business?

SHIRLEY JONES:
No, I was entering college to become a vet. And even though I love singing, I thought everybody could sing. It was truly just given to me, you know. And I loved animals. I was an only child. And I raised everything from rats to birds to squirrels to you name it. Had every breed of dog known to man. That’s what I wanted to do. And I was on my way to college to do it and I stopped off in New York City, with my family. I called a pianist that I’d worked with in Pittsburgh. And he said, ‘Listen, Rodgers and Hammerstein are having open auditions for anybody who wants to sing for them.’ They had three shows running on Broadway at that time. And their shows ran so long, they had to keep replacing chorus people all the time.

I’d never been to an open audition of any kind. I didn’t even know who Rodgers and Hammerstein were. I was 18.

PCC:
So you didn’t realize who you were auditioning for?

SHIRLEY JONES:
No. And people were waiting around the block, with their music, to audition for the casting director. And I went in. I wasn’t going to do it. I said, ‘I can’t do it. I’ve never been to one of these.’ But the pianist talked me into it. I sang for the casting director and the casting director said, ‘Could you wait for a few moments? Mr. Rodgers just happens to be across the street.’ He was rehearsing his orchestra for ‘Oklahoma,’ which was about to open at City Center again and go out on a tour. He said, ‘I’d like to have him hear you.’ As I said, I wasn’t sure who Richard Rodgers was. I said, ‘Sure.’ And I waited, he came, I sang for him. He said, ‘Could you wait 20 minutes? I’m going to call my partner Oscar Hammerstein at home and ask him to come and hear you.’ And that was my first audition, anywhere, anytime, anyplace.

PCC:
So at that point, did it immediately seem like destiny and that this was what you were meant to be doing?

SHIRLEY JONES:
Yeah. They gave me a job. I went into ‘South Pacific’ on Broadway.

PCC:
And did they take you under their wing?

SHIRLEY JONES:
Yes, I was put under contract. I was the one and only person ever put under contract to Rodgers and Hammerstein.

PCC:
What were your impressions of them?

SHIRLEY JONES:
Well, they were wonderful. They were my mentors. And then Hammerstein, in particular, was a wonderful man. He had a beautiful farm in Bucks County and I went down there a couple of weekends, met Stephen Sondheim and all of that. And Rodgers, too. They were like fathers to me at that point in time. I did ‘South Pacific,’ then I did a show called ‘Me and Juliet’ for them. And I understudied the lead and got to take over the lead in Chicago. And then they sent me to California to screen test for the lead in the motion picture of ‘Oklahoma.’ That’s how it all happened - very quickly.

PCC:
So doing the screen test for ‘Oklahoma,’ was that daunting? Or were you confident by that point?

SHIRLEY JONES:
I was so new at everything that I thought, ‘Well, I’ll just do the best I can.’ And I didn’t have any great fear. Fortunately, I had a great director doing the screen test, who ended up directing the film. And I did the test with Gordon MacRae, which was fantastic. Normally, they don’t do that. They just have an actor come in and sing with you, who’s not going to be the lead of the movie. And Fred Zinneman was our director. He was wonderful. And I remember, after the test, he said, ‘Miss Jones, have you ever acted in front of a camera before?’ And I said, ‘No.’ He said, ‘Well, don’t change a thing. You’re a natural.’

PCC:
I had read that you’d had a crush on Gordon MacRae, so was that a surreal experience?

SHIRLEY JONES:
Oh, my gosh, he was my hero - the most beautiful voice of all time. He had a radio show called ‘The Teen Timers Club.’ And every Saturday morning, when I was a teenager, I would wake up, particularly, just to hear that show on radio, to hear him sing. So I was a fan. And then to be able to sing with him - pretty great. And he and Sheila became, when I had my first child, Shaun, they were the godparents.

PCC:
And ‘Carousel,’ what kind of experience was that?

SHIRLEY JONES:
Well, that was incredible, too. ‘Carousel,’ for me, is the most beautiful music, I believe, ever written. I open my show with ‘If I Loved You’ and close with ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ in my concert. I love that score so much.

And the picture, Frank Sinatra was supposed to play the lead in ‘Carousel.’ We did everything, the pre-production, the rehearsals and even the pre-recording. We were shooting up at Boothbay Harbor, Maine. And came time to shoot the first scene and he was thrilled to be able to play this role. That’s all he talked about. He said ‘It’s the best male singing role that ever has been.’

And we were shooting in two separate processes - regular CinemaScope and CinemaScope 55. And he arrived on the set and he saw the two cameras. Now everybody knew this. I knew it. The whole cast knew it. He had to have known it. But he said, ‘I signed to do one movie, not two.’ He got back in the car and went back to the airport. And we lost our leading man, after all the pre-production. [Ironically, the producers subsequently discovered a way to shoot in CinemaScope 55 and then convert it to regular CinemaScope. So it was not necessary to shoot two separate versions of each scene.]

PCC:
For you, it must have seemed like a dream come true to be working with Sinatra... and then to have him quit, how did that hit you?

SHIRLEY JONES:
Well, I didn’t know what to do. I was the least hit. It was the producers. The Ephrons [who wrote the screenplay] were producing it - Phoebe and Henry Ephron. He came over to me with tears running down his face and he said, ‘Shirley, where’s Gordon MacRae?’ I said, ‘He’s in Lake Tahoe, doing a night club act with his wife Sheila. He said, ‘Can you get him on the phone?’ He gave me some quarters. And I was sitting on a dock with a pay phone. And I put the quarters in, I got him on the phone, believe it or not. I said, ‘Gordon, how would you like to play Billy Bigelow in ‘Carousel’? He said ‘Give me three days. I have to lose 10 pounds.’ And that’s how he got the part.

PCC:
So it was lucky you were able to get into a comfortable situation. It could have been much more difficult.

SHIRLEY JONES:
Oh, my gosh, yes. Absolutely. And, you know, I don’t think it was the best produced film that we did. But I love the story. I love the score. The whole score, I think is magnificent. ‘Oklahoma’ was actually produced by Rodgers and Hammerstein. They didn’t give it to a studio. We shot some of the scenes at MGM. But all of it was done in Nogales, Arizona. They planted a corn field, built the house and the whole thing. But ‘Carousel’ was 20th Century Fox. And they said, ‘We’re finished with movie productions.’ Rodgers hated California. He hated working in movies. It was not his thing. He was a Broadway man.

After I finished ‘Oklahoma’ and before I did ‘Carousel,’ they sent me out on a tour, a European tour of ‘Oklahoma’ on stage. That’s where I met Jack Cassidy, my husband. He was playing Curly.

PCC:
He was an amazingly charismatic and talented artist.

SHIRLEY JONES:
Very much so. Yes.

PCC:
I had read that you felt he was the most influential figure for you. How so?

SHIRLEY JONES:
Well, yeah, because he had been in show business since he was 14. He lied about his age and was out on the road, singing and dancing at 14 years old, on Broadway. He was eight years older than me. And he’d been around. I was a little kid from a small town. And he was very handsome, very debonair. And very funny, which was more important to me than anything. He had a great sense of humor. And he was such a beautiful singer. I adored his voice. Loved singing with him. And he mesmerized me.

I have a new book coming out, middle of next year, my life story, and, even though he was problematic, that’s for sure, but he was truly the love of my life. He was an incredible person and actor and everything else. He was larger than life.

PCC:
The process of putting together an autobiography, does that put things into a different perspective?

SHIRLEY JONES:
Well, [Laughs] it’s very interesting. There’s a lady from England who’s doing it. She came over from England and I sat with her for 10 days, from like nine in the morning to five in the afternoon, talking, talking, talking. And Simon & Schuster bought the book. So it’s going to be fun. She wanted some real Hollywood dirt from me, you know. And I don’t have a lot of that [Laughs]. I’ve been married all my life, really. But she got what she wanted a few times. [Laughs] All the actors that I’ve worked with... and I’ve worked with a lot of them.

PCC:
You worked with Pat Boone on ‘April Love.’ Was that the point where all the teen girls had a crush on him?

SHIRLEY JONES:
Oh, my gosh, yes. Of course. And he refused to kiss me! The very next movie he did, he kissed the girl.

[Laughs] Were you insulted?

I said, ‘What’s the point of this?’ He said, ‘My wife said it’s not a good idea for me to kiss anyone on the screen. Our religion doesn’t permit it.’ But it changed a little bit after that.

PCC:
Must have been a career move, I guess.

SHIRLEY JONES:
Yeah, exactly. Sure.

PCC:
And what about working with Cagney on ‘Never Steal Anything Small’?

SHIRLEY JONES:
Oh, he was so wonderful. I can’t say enough. He was such an incredible actor. An incredible person. And we became very good friends. He admired Jack, because he was Irish, of course. The two of them got along very well. Although, Jack was a pretty heavy drinker, and so many Irishmen are, as you know. And Cagney didn’t drink, which was interesting. I think he’d had it with people like Pat O’Brien and a few people that he saw what happened to them and so, he was not a big drinker. And a marvelous guy. Oh, the stories he had to tell.

We gave a New Year’s Eve party, Jack and I, and he and his wife came to the party. And I had a pianist there and a lot of different people I had worked with. And people were getting up and singing at the piano. Jack and I did. And I said, to Jimmy, ‘Jim, do you want to sing a song?’ And he said, ‘No, but I’ll do a dance.’ I had to lift up the rug and right in my living room, he danced to ‘Yankee Doodle Dandy.’

PCC:
Then you got to work with three legends on ‘Two Rode Together’ - Jimmy Stewart, Richard Widmark and John Ford.

SHIRLEY JONES:
That’s for sure.

PCC:
What was it like, working with Ford?

SHIRLEY JONES:
He was terrible [Laughs].

PCC:
Too demanding?

SHIRLEY JONES:
No. He didn’t like female actors. He was a man’s man. And this was like the second-to-last film that he directed. And I got no direction. None at all. He was all for the guys, Jimmy Stewart and Richard Widmark and that kind of thing. He wasn’t easy to work with. I must say. Not for me.

PCC:
What about Jimmy Stewart? You were able to work with him twice.

SHIRLEY JONES:
I loved him. I did two films with him. And he was wonderful. He was such an honest actor. And so straight on, as a person, too. And I loved him. We got along very well. We became friends.

PCC:
That second film with him, Gene Kelly directed [‘Cheyenne Social Club’]. Even though it wasn’t a musical, it must have been fun to work with Gene.

SHIRLEY JONES:
Oh, yes. And he was from Pittsburgh, you know. He’s a Pittsburgh boy. So we had such a fun time talking about that. And I was thrilled to work with him. I’d wanted to do a musical with him, because I thought he was so incredibly talented. But just to have an opportunity to work with him was great. And that was a wonderful experience. I love that movie, by the way. It’s one of my favorite things that I’ve done. It’s very funny. I think Henry Fonda is the funniest he’s ever been. He was really hysterical in that movie. And the two of them, I’ve often said, I wish I’d had an acting class come in to watch Henry Fonda and Jimmy Stewart work together. They were college roommates and they came to California together. And they just talked to each other. And, of course, that’s what acting is, when it’s well done. And they just would talk to each other and sometimes just make up the lines. It was great.

PCC:
It’s a film that has really found an audience over the years.

SHIRLEY JONES:
Yeah, I love that movie. I just loved it. It was a funny story. The idea was so funny. And it was fun to do, for me.

PCC:
And ‘Music Man,’ another iconic role for you.

SHIRLEY JONES:
Yeah, that was wonderful. As a matter of fact, I’ve been doing ‘The Music Man’ with my son Patrick. I’m playing Mrs. Paroo now. He plays Professor Hill. And we just closed up in Sacramento. We played up there and got rave, rave notices. Two thousand people, standing ovations every night.

I tell the story about being pregnant during the filming of ‘The Music Man.’ And then we sing together and the place just goes crazy. It’s the 50th anniversary and they’re talking about taking it out on the road now, with the two of us. And then me sort of introducing the show and talking about the movie. And then actually playing Mrs. Paroo in the show.

PCC:
And Robert Preston, such a versatile actor, yet that’s the role everyone remembers.

SHIRLEY JONES:
Oh, yes, he was wonderful in it. You know, Sinatra, again, was supposed to play that part. Warner Brothers did the film. And Warner Brothers wanted Frank Sinatra. They had just about signed him. And then Meredith Wilson came in and said, ‘You don’t do my show unless you use Robert Preston.’ That’s how that happened. And I was thrilled, just thrilled, that I got to work with Preston, because he’d been doing the role for like three years on Broadway. Sometimes, when people get so accustomed to a role and they do it for that length of time, it becomes blasé for them and when they work with other actors, they say things like, ‘Well, we have to do it this way.’ He did none of that, which was so great. It was like he was doing it for the first time. He was great.

PCC:
Working with Ron Howard, did he impress you as a child actor?

SHIRLEY JONES:
Oh, yes. I did two films with him. He was an incredible child actor. And very well behaved. I worked with a lot of child actors who weren’t, who were a problem. He was straight on. And usually the mother is the one that’s on the set. Well, it was his father who was on the set with him and his father was an actor. Rance Howard. And he was on the set every day. And the way he talked to him, the way he treated him, was so wonderful.

PCC:
It must have been fun for you to watch Ron grow into one of the top film directors.

SHIRLEY JONES:
Oh, yes, yes. In my show, I talk about working with him. and a lot of kids I worked with, including almost five years on ‘The Partridge Family.’ But when I talk about Ron, I say, ‘He was such a wonderful child actor, now he’s a giant in the business, producing, directing. Giant!’ And I say, ‘And he won’t get me a job.’

PCC:
[Laughs] It just hasn’t happened yet.

SHIRLEY JONES:
[Laughs] Exactly. Not yet.

PCC:
‘Bedtime Story,’ that was an unusual casting combination - Marlon Brando and David Niven.

SHIRLEY JONES:
It was great. Brando had such a reputation, from other actors, of being so difficult to work with. But, in fact, he was very happy with that picture, because he wanted to play comedy. And people didn’t give him that opportunity. They didn’t think of him as a comic player. And with ‘Bedtime Story,’ he had that kind of part. And he was a big, giant fan of David Niven, which was great. So he was very happy. He liked the director. He liked me. Everybody got along. And, after the day of shooting, we’d just sit and hear stories from David Niven, about his life. And he had written two books by that time. So Brando was very happy during that picture.

But the problem that I had with Brando was that, it was nothing for him to do maybe 40, 50 takes on a scene. He’d say, ‘No, let’s do it again.’ I didn’t understand that.

PCC:
And seeing it become successfully remade as a film and then a Broadway show [‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels’]?

SHIRLEY JONES:
Yeah, I know. Amazing. I couldn’t believe they were going to do that. But actually it did very well. Well, the story was really fun and cute. The fact that they would turn it into a Broadway show was very interesting.

PCC:
With ‘Elmer Gantry,’ did you have an hesitation about tackling that role?

SHIRLEY JONES:
Oh, gosh, no. I was thrilled. My career would have been over, because I was thought of as totally a musical person. And they weren’t making musicals anymore. They were too expensive and the European market was not very receptive anymore. And that was it. And they thought of me as a singer. And they thought, if you were a singer, you weren’t an actor, which I didn’t quite get, but that was the case. And had ‘Gantry’ not happened - and that was Burt Lancaster that did that for me - I would not have had the longevity I’ve had in my career.

PCC:
I guess there was no chance of your being typecast after that role.

SHIRLEY JONES:
No, that was the point. I mean, they still cast me as the nice girl, for the most part, except for ‘Cheyenne Social Club,’ which was great. But at least I had diversity. I was able to do different kinds of roles. And that was what was so great. The Academy Award gave me that, too.

PCC:
Burt Lancaster, it seemed like he was a force of nature.

SHIRLEY JONES:
Oh, he was incredible. He fought for me for that role, because Brooks [Richard Brooks], the writer-director, had somebody else in mind. And he wasn’t thrilled. But they were co-producing it. Burt was co-producing with him. And he fought for me. And that’s how I got the role.

PCC:
Do you remember what went through your mind the night of the Oscars, hearing your name announced?

SHIRLEY JONES:
Well, I was blown away, because I was the least [chuckles]... it was supposed to be Janet Leigh for ‘Psycho.’ And she had won all the other local awards. So I had no idea that I was going to win. It was a shock. I was thrilled. She was the top lady at that point.

PCC:
Did the award have a dramatic effect on your life and career?

SHIRLEY JONES:
Yeah, it gave me the longevity I’ve had in my career. My career was over, pretty much, at that time. It’s because, again, they weren’t making musicals. And I was a singer. And that gave me the opportunity, then, to go in and do all kinds of roles in films.

Then I went back to Broadway with Jack and we did a Broadway show. And I played Vegas several times, the MGM Grand, and my career just went on and on from there.

PCC:
‘The Partridge Family,’ one of your reasons for doing that was so you could be in one place for your kids?

SHIRLEY JONES:
Yes, I wanted to stay home and raise my kids. They were school age by that time, all of them. Making movies, they rarely did them in Hollywood. They would always go on locations, Europe and all over the place, by that point in time. So I was away a lot. I took my kids everywhere, when I could. But it was not easy.

You know, I turned down ‘The Brady Bunch.’ They offered me that first. I said, ‘No.’ First of all, the agents and managers said, ‘Shirley, don’t do a television series, because if it is successful, you’ll be that character for the rest of your life. And your movie career will be in the toilet.’ Well, they were right about that [Laughs]. After I did ‘The Partridge Family,’ my movie career was just about finished. When I turned down ‘The Brady Bunch,’ that was one of the reasons, but also because the role was just a normal mama, taking the roast out of the oven. I wanted a different kind of role. Then, when ‘Partridge’ happened, I said, ‘Wow! I’m the first working mother on television.’ And we had music. And it was very different from everything.

And when they chose David, my stepson to play my son in it... when they cast David, he didn’t know that I was the mother.

PCC:
What were the dynamics there? Did you try to treat him like any other cast member? Were you giving him advice?

SHIRLEY JONES:
Well, he’d been working. They didn’t realize, when they cast David, by the way, that he could sing and play like he did. Nobody was musical in the show. Everybody said, ‘Why doesn’t The Partridge Family play Las Vegas?’ I said, ‘You don’t get it. There is no Partridge Family.’ [Laughs] It was based on The Cowsills and they, of course, were, and are, very talented. But they weren’t actors. Otherwise, they probably would have used them. I don’t play any instrument of any kind and they didn’t realize when they case David that he was as talented as he was.

PCC:
Did it complicate things, working with your stepson?

SHIRLEY JONES:
No, not at all. It was great. We got very close, doing the show, because I was the stepmom and all of that. When he became very big, the number one rock star in the world, he would show up late for the Monday morning rehearsals for the show. And that’s when I said, ‘Listen, I know this is important to you, but you can’t keep people waiting. You can’t do that.’ He was fine after that.

PCC:
What about the relationship between David and his dad? Was it difficult for Jack to handle his son’s massive popularity?

SHIRLEY JONES:
Yeah, it was. Very difficult. He didn’t want David to be a rock star. He wanted David to do Broadway like he had done. And David started on Broadway. And he got in a show and it closed the next day. And he said, ‘No more of that for me.’ And then, of course, after ‘Partridge,’ as you know, he became the top guy. And Jack, it wasn’t that he was jealous of the fact that David was so hot and so well liked. Jack thought it was demeaning, what he was doing. It was a whole different kind of career. And Jack wanted him to be an actor. You know, Jack wanted to be John Barrymore. That was his thing in life. So he thought the kind of thing that David was doing would be short-lived. And, in many ways, Jack was right. A lot of rock stars are finished in a year or two.

PCC:
What about Susan Dey and Danny Bonaduce? What kind of impressions did they make on you?

SHIRLEY JONES:
We had a great time. We all really liked each other. And we all worked very well together. You know, Danny was a little boy that became hard to handle every now and then. [Laughs] As he later became hard to handle for himself. But he was so good at what he did. I mean, you talk about a child actor. His sense of humor, for a little boy, was incredible. And she had been a model and so beautiful. Everybody just seemed to work out perfectly for the show.

PCC:
Your son Patrick succeeding on stage and your son Shaun’s big success in TV and music, it must be really gratifying for you. But had you given them cautionary words?

SHIRLEY JONES:
Oh, yes. I said, ‘I want college graduates.’ But I didn’t get any. No doctors or lawyers. [Laughs]

PCC:
Were you worried about their being able to sustain careers?

SHIRLEY JONES:
Oh, yeah. I still am. Patrick’s 50 years old. And he’s done seven Broadway shows and all of that and very successful. He’s a beautiful singer and all of that. But, you know, it’s very difficult, when you start to age and the work stops coming in, whereas, if you’re in some other kind of business, that may go on forever. So it’s a very difficult business to maintain.

PCC:
And for Shaun, was it a little easier, being able to watch David go through the teen idol phase?

SHIRLEY JONES:
Well, yes. And the fact that he can write has been so important. Shaun is a very successful writer/director/producer now. He’s got three new series probably coming out now. He sold three pilots this year. So that part is great for him. At least he went in other directions, too, where the acting became secondary. And my younger son, Ryan, is an art director/set decorator. So he’s got a daily job every day. So, from that standpoint, it’s great.

PCC:
So they’re all very creative.

SHIRLEY JONES:
Yeah, they are.

PCC:
Did you view it as a challenge, having come from a traditional solid, upbringing, having to raise the kids surrounded by the show business world?

SHIRLEY JONES:
It was very difficult. Very difficult. They were raised in Beverly Hills, because the school system in Beverly Hills was the best public school system in the country at that time. And so, that’s why we moved to Beverly Hills. But, on the other hand, the 16-year-olds were driving Rolls Royces and had hundred-dollar bills in their pockets every minute. So to raise children in the proper way there was not easy.

So by the time they’re 16, they’re saying, ‘We want a car, Mom.’ I said, ‘Okay, get a job and get yourself a car.’ And they did. And then, of course, Shaun said ‘Well, I’ll just go into show business like David did.’

PCC:
It sounded so easy.

SHIRLEY JONES:
That’s right.

PCC:
It must have been a kick for you all to work together on ‘Ruby & The Rockits’ show [multigenerational sitcom that lasted 10 episodes, created by Shaun, starring David and Patrick Cassidy. Shirley Jones appeared as their mom. Ryan also worked on the show.]

SHIRLEY JONES:
Oh, we had such a good time. I was so sorry it didn’t happen, because it was such a good show. And it was such fun to work. Patrick was wonderful in it. Everybody. It was fun for all of us. So I’m surprised it didn’t happen. But you don’t know the business today. You never know what’s going to work.

PCC:
Yet you continue to find interesting roles. It was fun to see you playing Drew Carey’s girlfriend on an arc of his sitcom.

SHIRLEY JONES:
Yeah, that was a lot of fun. I had fun with that.

PCC:
And more recently, you had a plum role in ‘Hidden Places.’ Has it been more challenging to find good parts?

SHIRLEY JONES:
Oh, sure, with age. Comedians, like Cloris Leachman and Betty White, it’s easier for them with age, because they’re comics. And I’m not considered a comedienne. So it’s much harder, from that standpoint. But if you’re funny, you can be funny anywhere, at any age. You know what I mean? So they get most of the roles now, because of that. But you know, I’m going to be 79, so it’s not as easy now. But the fact that I can still sing and I can still go out and talk and do all that, that’s great. I still get movie offers, but most of the time, they’re parts I don’t care about.

PCC:
You’ve seemed to very gracefully make each transition. Some actresses have difficulty going from ingenue to leading lady to mom and grandmother roles. Were those transitions not difficult for you?

SHIRLEY JONES:
No, for some reason, they weren’t. About 10 years ago, they did a two-hour biography of my life. And it’s really an interesting biography. And I was with Patrick last night, at his house, and he was with these producers who are thinking about doing ‘The Music Man,’ taking it out on the road again. They wanted to see my life and my career and everything. And it’s so interesting, Patrick was sitting there watching. And tears were running down his face. And he said, ‘Mom, you are so natural in everything you do. I can’t get over it, for somebody who wasn’t raised in the business.’ And I wasn’t. So I guess it was just a natural instinct for me.

PCC:
Is part of that just having a healthy sense of priorities, too?

SHIRLEY JONES:
I think that’s a major part of it. As Marty [husband Marty Ingels] points out, when I won the Academy Award, I said, ‘This is the most exciting moment of my career,’ instead of saying, ‘It’s the most exciting moment of my life.’

PCC:
The way you’ve described your marriage to Marty, it sounds like an unusual relationship, but one that you’ve really made work over the years.

SHIRLEY JONES:
Oh, yeah, it’ll be 35 years come November. He’s crazy as a loon. He and my kids didn’t get along for quite a while, but they’re back together now, because of the grandkids and all of that. But they said, ‘Mom, why do you choose the kind of men you choose?’ They felt the same way about their father. And I said, ‘The only kind of man, somebody that’ll make me laugh, that’s all I want. As long as I laugh more than I cry, I hang in.’ And that’s the case.

PCC:
Good formula. And the role of grandmother is very important for you.

SHIRLEY JONES:
Yes! I have 12 grandchildren [Laughs].

PCC:
And they’re the next generation of performers?

SHIRLEY JONES:
Yeah, really, they are. They’re all musical. Four or five of them are very musical. It’s amazing. Patrick’s two boys are really musical. They’re writing music, as well. His youngest is 14 and his oldest is 17. And the 14-year-old is truly a genius.

PCC:
You must have a whole new generation of fans with your work on Disney Channel and Nickelodeon shows.

SHIRLEY JONES:
Yeah. I’m doing those. Some of the kids come up to me and say, ‘Oh, I saw you on ‘Good Luck Charlie’!’ I’ve done several of those. And then there’s ‘Grandma’s Boy.’ [the raunchy comedy from Adam Sandler’s production company in which still sexy Shirley has an amorous encounter with the much younger Nick Swardson]. I get a lot of young guys saying, ‘Oh, I loved you in ‘Grandma’s Boy’ [laughs].

PCC:
Yes, that was a surprise seeing you in that one.

SHIRLEY JONES:
I know! We had such a good time making it, though. You know all the guys from Adam Sandler’s company are really talented. They do everything. They write. They act. They direct. They’re all just super-talented people. And fun to be around. We all had a good time. And I loved the part [Laughs].

PCC:
You’ve really invited your fans to enjoy surprises from you throughout your career.

SHIRLEY JONES:
Oh, yeah. Well, that’s what I love. I love playing different characters. It doesn’t have to be the same thing. That’s boring. I love trying new things. Doesn’t mean I’ll succeed always, but the trying is fun for me. I guess I have that instinct.

PCC:
Away from the performing, what’s the perfect quiet moment for Shirley Jones?

SHIRLEY JONES:
I have a house in Big Bear, in the mountains. As my husband said, I sit in a rocking chair on the deck overlooking the lake, with a martini in one hand and a box of See’s candy in the other, talking to a coyote.

PCC:
[Laughs]. Sounds like heaven.

SHIRLEY JONES:
[Laughs] It is heaven.

PCC:
You mentioned the veterinary aspirations. Are you involved with animal rights organizations?

SHIRLEY JONES:
I am. I work for all of them. I’m a big animal nut. If suddenly everything stops, work, in show business, I’ll call my local vet and say, ‘Can I come in and help every day?’ I just have a real thing about animals and always have had.

PCC:
Other projects on the horizon for you, in addition to ‘The Music Man’?

SHIRLEY JONES:
There’s a movie I’ve been offered now and I have to read the script and find if I can work it in. I get those every now and then. The whole month of October, in addition to The Rrazz Room, I start out in Baltimore. I have 15 shows in Baltimore, then I go to Toronto, Canada and have a big show up there, before I come to The Rrazz Room.

PCC:
And is it still as big a kick as ever to play for live audiences.

SHIRLEY JONES:
Oh, sure, yeah, it is. And the fact that, as Marty said and people say, I almost don’t have to sing anymore. I mean, they would rather do a Q&A with me than anything else. [Laughs] I just did a big Q&A at the college two nights ago, out here, and they showed ‘The Music Man’ on a big screen for the students and I did a Q&A. So I enjoy doing that, too.

PCC:
Gazing back at the career, what have been the greatest rewards and what have been the regrets?

SHIRLEY JONES:
I don’t really have any regrets, to be very honest with you, because that’s maybe the kind of person I am, I don’t know. The rewards have always been the roles, the kind of roles that I’ve been given. As I’ve said to my agents and managers and people, ‘If the role is terrible, I want a lot of money. If the role is great, I don’t care about the money.’ And that is the way I feel.

PCC:
With all the amazing things you’ve achieved, any unfulfilled goals that you’re still looking towards?

SHIRLEY JONES:
No. I just take one day at a time.