Tommy Lee Jones

Thank you my friend Maj Marty Hogan for making us aware that September 15 is the anniversary of the birth of American actor Tommy Lee Jones who is best known for his roles in Men in Black, The Fugitive, No Country for Old Men and Lincoln.
Tommy Lee Jones is a wonderful actor. I especially appreciate his performance in the Men and Black movie series.
Images:
1. 1980 Tommy Lee Jones in Coal Miner's Daughter', 'Nashville Lady' (1980).
2. 1960s young Tommy Lee Jones
3. Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith, Men in Black.

Background from imdb.com/name/nm0000169/bio
"Tommy Lee Jones Biography
Overview Mini Bio | Spouse (3) | Trade Mark (5) | Trivia (41) | Personal Quotes (16) | Salary (5)

Overview
Born September 15, 1946 in San Saba, Texas, USA
Nicknames TLJ; Tom
Height 6' (1.83 m)

Mini Bio
Tommy Lee Jones was born in San Saba, Texas, the son of Lucille Marie (Scott), a police officer and beauty shop owner, and Clyde C. Jones, who worked on oil fields. Tommy himself worked in underwater construction and on an oil rig. He attended St. Mark's School of Texas, a prestigious prep school for boys in Dallas, on a scholarship, and went to Harvard on another scholarship. He roomed with future Vice President Al Gore and played offensive guard in the famous 29-29 Harvard-Yale football game of '68 known as "The Tie." He received a B.A. in English literature and graduated cum laude from Harvard in 1969.

Following college, he moved to New York and began his theatrical career on Broadway in "A Patriot for Me" (1969). In 1970, he made his film debut in Love Story (1970). While living in New York, he continued to appear in various plays, both on- and off-Broadway: "Fortune and Men's Eyes" (1969); "Four on a Garden" (1971); "Blue Boys" (1972); "Ulysses in Nighttown" (1974). During this time, he also appeared on a daytime soap opera, One Life to Live (1968) as Dr. Mark Toland from 1971-75. He moved with wife Kate Lardner, granddaughter of short-story writer/columnist Ring Lardner, and her two children from a previous marriage, to Los Angeles.

There he began to get some roles on television: Charlie's Angels (1976) (pilot episode); Smash-Up on Interstate 5 (1976); and The Amazing Howard Hughes (1977). While working on the movie Back Roads (1981), he met and fell in love with Kimberlea Cloughley, whom he later married. More roles in television--both on network and cable--stage and film garnered him a reputation as a strong, explosive, thoughtful actor who could handle supporting as well as leading roles. He made his directorial debut in The Good Old Boys (1995) on TNT. In addition to directing and starring in the film, he co-wrote the teleplay (with J.T. Allen). The film, based on Elmer Kelton's novel, is set in west Texas where Jones has strong family ties. Consequently, this story of a cowboy facing the end of an era has special meaning for him.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Maria Vitale < [login to see] >

Spouse (3)
Dawn Jones (19 March 2001 - present)
Kimberlea Cloughley (30 May 1981 - 23 March 1996) ( divorced) ( 2 children)
Kate Lardner (31 December 1971 - 9 February 1978) ( divorced)

Trade Mark (5)
Deadpan delivery
Known both on-screen and off-screen for his crusty, cranky persona
Often plays hard-edged but sarcastic law enforcement and military officers
Often plays real-life historical figures (Thaddeus Stevens, Howard Hughes, Gary Gilmore, Ty Cobb, Oliver Lynn, Clay Shaw)
Deep gravelly voice with thick Texas accent

Trivia (41)
1. Never took an acting class.
2. He and Al Gore were roommates while the two were students at Harvard University. The two remain close friends.
3. Part time cattle rancher, owns 3,000-acre ranch near San Antonio, TX.
4. Plays polo and raises polo ponies. His team won the U.S. Polo Association's Western Challenge Cup in 1993. Invites Harvard University's best polo players to his ranch to practice each fall.
5. Father's name was Clyde C. Jones -- he did not have a middle name, just an initial.
6. Father, with Kimberlea Cloughley, of Austin Leonard Jones (born November 9, 1982) and Victoria Jones (born September 3, 1991).
7. Real-life son, Austin Leonard Jones, played his son, Tommy, in Screen Two: Double Image(1986).
8. According to author Erich Segal, Jones and his then Harvard roommate Al Gore, were the models for the character of Oliver in Love Story (1970).
9. Injured after falling from horse during polo match. [October 1998]
10. Writes most of his own most memorable lines in films: The Fugitive (1993)... when Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) tells Marshal Gerard, "I didn't kill my wife," Gerard replies, "I don't care!" Under Siege (1992)... William Strannix's speech after he loses his mind: "Saturday morning cartoons... This little piggy... " Eyes of Laura Mars (1978) ... John Neville's revealing speech at the end of the movie.
11. Ten days after graduating from Harvard, he landed his first role in the Broadway production of "A Patriot for Me" (with Maximilian Schell), which closed after 49 performances. He got his agent after giving a letter of introduction to actress Jane Alexander. His story of how he found an agent and a Broadway job so quickly was written about in an issue of "Ripley's Believe It or Not".
12. Good friends with: Al Gore, Willie Nelson, Gary Busey, Oliver Stone Robert Duvall, and Will Smith.
13. His ex-wife, Kate Lardner, is Ring Lardner's granddaughter.
14. Speaks Spanish fluently.
15. He is a first cousin of Boxcar Willie, a famous country singer.
16. Owns the movie rights to Cormac McCarthy's controversial novel "Blood Meridian," which many consider unfilmable.
17. Born on the exact same day as filmmaker and good friend Oliver Stone.
18. Was the studio's original (and preferred) choice to play Snake Plisken in John Carpenter's Escape from New York (1981). The studio was reluctant to cast Kurt Russell, who ultimately got the part, because of his previous work.
19. Has worked twice with actresses playing Katharine Hepburn. In The Amazing Howard Hughes (1977), he played Howard Hughes opposite Tovah Feldshuh as Hepburn. In The Missing (2003), his daughter is played by Cate Blanchett, who played Hepburn in The Aviator (2004)--another biopic about Hughes.
20. Is the only Texan to have played fellow Texan Howard Hughes. Leonardo DiCaprio (The Aviator (2004)), Jason Robards (Melvin and Howard (1980)) and Terry O'Quinn (The Rocketeer (1991)) were born in California, Illinois and Michigan, respectively.
21. Is an avid San Antonio Spurs fan.
22. Played Howard Hughes in The Amazing Howard Hughes (1977) and later appeared in Batman Forever (1995), which was filmed inside the hangar of Hughes' "Spruce Goose.".
23. Jones was also a resident of Midland, Texas, and attended the same high school as the former First Lady Laura Bush.
24. An eighth-generation Texan, he has English, as well as some Scots-Irish (Northern Irish) and Scottish, ancestry. He has also stated that he has Cherokee Native American roots, but it is not clear if this ancestry has been documented (all of his grandparents and great-grandparents were listed as "White" on United States Censuses).
25. An animated caricature of him appeared in an episode of the animated series adaptation of Men in Black (1997) alongside an animated caricature of his MIB co-star Will Smith, set against a scene parodying another hit film starring Smith, Independence Day (1996).
26. Is an avid polo player. He even bought a house in a polo country club in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
27. In Batman Forever (1995), his character of "Two-Face" flips a coin to see if his victims should live or die. Twelve years later he played a sheriff in No Country for Old Men (2007) pursuing an assassin who kills random victims by asking them to call a coin toss.
28. Mother was Lucille Marie Scott.
29. Had a younger brother, born 3 years after the actor, who died in infancy.
30. Became friends with Al Gore when they were roommates at Harvard University, and he was asked to host the Nobel Peace Prize concert for Gore.
31. At the 2000 Democratic National Convention, he presented the nominating speech for Al Gore as the Democratic Party's nominee for President of the United States.
32. Was set to star in Everybody's All-American (1988) in 1982, but the studio backed out partly because they did not believe that Jones was leading man material. Jones has said that he found it all amusing. Dennis Quaid got the part when Taylor Hackford took over the project.
33. Was set to star in Savior (1998), but had to back out due to other commitments.
34. Has been friends with actor Tom Berenger since they were both on One Life to Live(1968).
35. The longest he has gone without an Oscar nomination is 14 years, between The Fugitive(1993) and In the Valley of Elah (2007).
36. As of 2014, has appeared in six films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Love Story (1970), Coal Miner's Daughter (1980), JFK (1991), The Fugitive (1993), No Country for Old Men (2007) and Lincoln (2012). Only No Country for Old Men (2007) won in the category.
37. First of three actors whose Oscar-winning roles were inspired by the works of Victor Hugo. The character of Lt. Gerard in The Fugitive (1993) was modeled after Inspector Javert in Les Miserables. Anne Hathaway won her Oscar for playing Fantine in Les Misérables(2012). Heath Ledger won his Oscar for playing the Joker in The Dark Knight (2008), which was inspired by the character Gwynplaine from The Man Who Laughs (1928). He and Hathaway have also both had roles in the Batman film series: Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises (2012), while Jones appeared in Batman Forever(1995) as Harvey Dent/Two-Face, a character also appearing in The Dark Knight (2008).
38. Accepted the Texas Legend Award during the Texas Film Hall of Fame Awards ceremony held on March 12, 2015 in Austin, Texas.
39. Played Paul in Billy Joel's Piano Man music video.
40. He has worked with 8 directors who have won a Best Director Oscar: Oliver Stone, Tony Richardson, William Friedkin, Clint Eastwood, Ron Howard, Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, and Steven Spielberg.
41. He was originally cast as Luke Hobbs in Fast Five (2011), but the role was given to Dwayne Johnson.

Personal Quotes (16)
1. Somebody's gonna give you some money to perform a job, you do your best to make 'em a good hand...
2. It's no mean calling to bring fun into the afternoons of large numbers of people. That too is part of my job, and I'm happy to serve when called on.
3. My thanks to the Academy for the very finest, greatest award that any actor can ever receive. The only thing a man can say at a time like this is -- I am not really bald.
4. I do not have a sense of humor of any recognizable sort.
5. [on how he learned to direct] I've worked with more than 50 directors and I've paid attention since day one. That's pretty much been my education, apart from studying art history and shooting with my own cameras. I've seen 50 different sets of mistakes and 50 different ways of achieving. You just leave the bad part out.
6. I really enjoyed a remark that Howard Hawks once made. He said the most important thing is not to ask an actor to do anything he can't do. Same thing goes for horses.
7. [on working with famous movie stars] I feel pretty lucky. Those guys, they know my name. They know who I am. Not bad for a little Indian boy. Not bad.
8. You just look for good parts and good stories and a good company to work with. Characters with no integrity are just as interesting as characters with lots of integrity.
9. I love cinema, and I love agriculture.
10. [regarding the furor over the violence in Natural Born Killers (1994)] Those who say that a work of art is an invitation to violent anti-social behavior are not very bright.
11. It's been said, truthfully, that every actor has a moment in every year, at least, when he knows for sure that he'll never work again. That's a more or less humorous way to point to the insecurity that comes with the job. I think that's why [Laurence Olivier] said, "If you have any choice at all, don't be an actor".
12. I bear no resemblance to Douglas MacArthur whatsoever. But a campaign hat, some aviator glasses and a corncob pipe go a long way.
13. [on Will Smith] Will is more generous than anyone, and he spreads joy. He walks into a studio, walks onto a set, and he makes certain that everybody's happy. He can't help himself.
14. Harrison [Harrison Ford] is probably the best physical actor working today. I don't simply mean hanging on to the hood of a Nazi truck as it zooms around the desert. He has a way of running that's quite articulate. He uses his body very, very well.
15. [observation, 2014] The quality of one's emotional life changes over the years, doesn't it? But the basic instincts and desires, greed and hope, seem to remain constant. In the larger scope of things, there's a sense of fulfillment to living a creative life. So I guess that's what keeps me going.
16. [on his film, The Homesman (2014)] I don't even know what a western is. I'm interested in making films about the history of my country. I think 'western' means the story has horses and big hats. That's about as descriptive as the term can be. What I'm trying to indicate is that I don't think in terms of genre. And yet I will admit that I've made three movies that had horses and big hats, so there must be something there.

Salary (5)
1. Men in Black (1997) 2. $7,000,000
3. U.S. Marshals (1998) 4. $10,000,000
5. Men in Black II (2002) 6. $20,000,000 + gross %
7. The Hunted (2003) 8. $17,000,000
9. No Country for Old Men (2007) 10. $10,000,000

No Country for Old Men - Interview with Tommy Lee Jones (2007)
"Academy Award-winning actor Tommy Lee Jones reacts to the positive reviews of his performances in "No Country for Old Men" and "In the Valley of Elah."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uENN4pKeBLk

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I do enjoy his movies... but it seems the newer stars coming up don't have what the older generation had...

Great actor, like him in all the MIB movies