RIP Dean Jones

Posted: 9/2/15 at 4:14pm

RIP Dean Jones. He passed away on Tuesday from Parkinson's disease. The Company OBCR will always be one of my favorites.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/dean-jones-dead-disney-actor-819867

Updated On: 9/2/15 at 04:14 PM

[gcal]

Posted: 9/2/15 at 4:32pm

Here he is singing Being Alive during the recording session for Company.

 

[Gothampc]

Posted: 9/2/15 at 4:39pm

So sad to hear this.  He was a huge presence in the entertainment of my childhood.

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 9/2/15 at 4:42pm

The footage from the recording of the Company cast album remains one of the greatest artifacts in musical theatre history. What gems.

 

Rest in peace, Mr. Jones.

[1971FolliesFan]

Posted: 9/2/15 at 4:57pm

This is a great loss, such a tragedy. Truly very sorry to hear of it. 

 

Mr. Jones may you rest in peace. 

[Gothampc]

Posted: 9/2/15 at 5:00pm

"The footage from the recording of the Company cast album remains one of the greatest artifacts in musical theatre history."

That documentary is one of the crown jewels. And thankfully, it's available for everyone to experience rather than tucked away in some library with a "Do Not Touch" sign on int.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 9/2/15 at 5:05pm

Art thou referring to Lincoln Center Goth?

[Fantod]

Posted: 9/2/15 at 5:20pm

Very tragic. A true Broadway legend.

[JayG 2]

Posted: 9/2/15 at 5:27pm

The best Bobby I've seen... and that includes quite a few who followed him through the years- and many of them I liked, but Jones was the definitive.  

[MVintheheartland]

Posted: 9/2/15 at 5:31pm

That video made me tear up. I hung out with the theater nerds in high school when it came out, have the (vinyl) album, the script, and know all the words. 

Gotta say that's one of Sondheim's best, and great song by Dean Jones.

[sabrelady]

Posted: 9/2/15 at 5:43pm

His version of Being Alive still stands as the standard all others are measure by. Perhaps equaled but never surpassed.

( also a fabboo Disney comedian) 

What wonderful memories he left behind.

G*d Bless.

[TweetyPie2]

Posted: 9/2/15 at 5:49pm

I wonder if that "Company" video isn't out of print. I looked on Amazon recently, and copies of the DVD are for sale for over $200. I have a VHS tape of it that I bought during the 2002 Sondheim Celebration at the Kennedy Center. Wish I had bought a DVD, but I don't think I had a DVD player at the time.

[TweetyPie2]

Posted: 9/2/15 at 5:53pm

Mr Roxy said: "Art thou referring to Lincoln Center Goth?"

Goth is referring to the D.A. Pennebaker documentary "Company: Original Cast Album."
 

 

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/2/15 at 6:36pm

Dean Jones's hairy chest launched me into homosexual puberty.

 

But I prefer to let his words speak for themselves.  

 

"If you want a job, do what I did: work for other people for 50 years, but the odds of you getting swallowed up by the blasphemous godless, decadent, deadly spirit of today's show business are thousands to one."

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 9/2/15 at 7:16pm

MV, the DVD is out of print.

 

In the past 50 years has here been another actor who had one major lead in a Broadway musical (we'll charitably ignore Into the Light,) a role he played officially for *one month* and yet is so identified in so many people's minds with Broadway and specifically with that role?

[DAME]

Posted: 9/2/15 at 7:30pm

Sorry to hear of his passing.  As a child I crushed big time on him in the Herbie movies.  

[jemjeb2]

Posted: 9/2/15 at 9:10pm

Marian The Librarian said: "RIP Dean Jones. He passed away on Tuesday from Parkinson's disease. The Company OBCR will always be one of my favorites.

 

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/dean-jones-dead-disney-actor-819867

Had the chance to work with him once -very nice man. His Bobby IS the definitive one. I have to say though, much as I am grateful that the documentary on the making of the OCR exists, I can't stand the way much is filmed. The shooting of "Being Alive" is exceptionally atrocious. Do we really need to stare at the actor's tonsils in giant closeup for almost the entire song? I would guess that even during a recording session an actor is visually performing somewhat with his whole body - arms, hands maybe at least. I felt robbed of seeing that and a little uncomfortable just staring in closeup at the performer's face for the entire number. That said - what a performance!

 

"

 

[evic]

Posted: 9/2/15 at 9:44pm

He sounded as impressive at the 25th anniversary concert.  Vids are on youtube.  He was a natural-charming, seemed nice.....RIP

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/2/15 at 9:46pm

He didn't like the gays getting married tho.  

[devonian.t]

Posted: 9/3/15 at 9:25am

One of my guiltiest pleasures: Blackbeard's Ghost

[aj88]

Posted: 9/3/15 at 9:46am

He was one of those rare celebrities who embraced Republican sensibilities. Despite that, I always enjoyed him as a kid in those cheesy Disney animal movies like Million Dollar Duck and The Ugly Dachshund and then I also grew up loving Beethoven, in which he played such a great villain (honestly a brilliant casting choice).

Of course, I fell in love with Company. It was the first Sondheim show I discovered and also the only one I truly loved right from the start. I am so happy he stayed with the show long enough to be recorded on the album plus we got that amazing documentary out of it. 

May he RIP.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 9/3/15 at 10:36am

I was just thinking about the Beethoven when I heard the news. I remember when we watched it once it came out on VHS and my dad remarking that 20 years ago Dean Jones would have absolutely been playing Charles Grodin's role. I was surprised to look up their respective ages and see that Charles Grodin is only four years younger than Dean Jones.

And I had The Ugly Dachshund that we recorded off of the Disney Channel. I loved that movie!

And of course, like others have stated, he is still the comparison point for me for ever other Bobby in Company, just based on the cast recording alone.

[Geoff]

Posted: 9/3/15 at 11:11am

In its obituary, the New York Times includes the following sentence:  "Although he was replaced by Larry Kert, Mr. Jones agreed to record the original cast album, leaving him indelibly associated with the show, which won the 1971 Tony Award for best musical."  This implies that Larry Kert was already performing the part at the time of the cast recording.  Is that correct?  If so, does anyone know how long he had been out of the show by the time it was recorded?  Thanks.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 9/3/15 at 12:41pm

Dean was still with the show.  Larry went on from May 28 1970--a little over a month after Dean.  The cast album had already been recorded. 

[Geoff]

Posted: 9/3/15 at 2:35pm

Thanks!