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Industry News
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Shirley Jones
She would work on Television in programs like "Playhouse 90". With a screen image comparable to "peaches 'n' cream", Shirley wanted a darker role to change her image. In 1960, she would be cast as the vengeful prostitute in the Richard Brooks dramatic film 'Elmer Gantry'. With a brilliant performance against an equally brilliant Burt Lancaster, Shirley would win the Oscar for Supporting Actress. But the public wanted the good Shirley so she was cast as Marion, the librarian, in the successful musical 'The Music Man (1962)'. Robert Preston had played the role on Broadway and his performance along with Shirley was magic. Shirley would again work with little Ronny Howard in 'The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963)'. But the movies changed in the 60's and Shirley's image did not fit so she would see her movie career stop in 1965. There was always nightclubs, but Shirley would be remembered by another generation as Shirley Partridge in the Television Series "The Partridge Family". While the success of the show would do more for her stepson, teen idol David Cassidy, it would keep her name and face in the public view for the four years that the series ran. Never mind the clothes, the show still plays in reruns. After the show ended, Shirley would spend the rest of the 70's in the land of Television movies. The 1975 Television movie "The Lives of Jenny Dolan (1975)" would be made as a pilot for a series that was not picked up. In 1979, Shirley would appear in a comedy show called "Shirley", but the show would be off the air the next year. Shirley would appear infrequently in the 80's and would appear in video's extolling fitness and beauty at the end of the decade.
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