Most people know Tommy Lee Jones for his role as Agent K in MIB or as an officer in either US Marshals or The Fugitive, as Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerrad. However, Jones has played many different roles throughout his acting career.
Tommy Lee Jones was born September 15, 1946, in San Saba, Texas to Clyde C. Jones and Lucille Marie Jones. (An interesting side note is that in fact Jones' father had no real middle name, it was just C. ) Clyde was an oil-field worker, while his mother was at times a school teacher, policewoman and beautician.
Jones did not have a normal childhood, he went through several problems that many say gave him great determination. His parents were married and divorced twice, while his father was not always there for him. In fact when he was home, he often abused Tommy.
When Jones became a teenager, his father left for Libya and made plans to have his son join him. Tommy Lee did not want to leave the United States, so he studied hard and received a scholarship to St. Mark's School in Texas.
While in high school, Jones became a talented football player and also a good student. After graduation, he received a scholarship to attend Harvard. For the four years at Harvard, his roomate was Al Gore, the future Senator, Vice-President and Presidential Canidate. Jones was the starting right guard for the football team and played in the famours 29-29 tie with rival Yale. He was named to the A.P. All-American, All-Ivy, and All-East teams. However he was not picked up by any NFL teams upon graduating.
While at Harvard, he became involved in the production of The Caine Mutiny Court Marital and decided he would become an actor. After college, he moved to New York to pursue that dream. Jones found several off-Broadway jobs and also appeared as Dr. Mark Toland on One Life to Live from 1971 to 1975.
Jones made his feature film debut in Love Story based on Erich Segal's book. Many people believe that Jones was in fact playing himself as the book is supposed to be based on two Harvard roomates, Al Gore and Tommy Lee Jones.
After having a hard time finding leading roles in Broadway, he moved out to Hollywood. His first lead role in a Hollywood movie was in Jackson County Jail, produced by Roger Carman. (His first big screen lead was in a little known film, Eliza's Horoscope, which was made by a Canadian film company.
Besides being a great actor, Jones is a championship polo player and a dedicated rancher. He owns a 3,000 acre ranch in his birthplace and every year invites the best polo players from his alma mater.
Actor Filmography
- "One Life to Live" (1968)
- Love Story (1970)
- Eliza's Horoscope (1970)
- Life Study (1973)
- Charlie's Angels (1976)
- Smash-Up on Interstate 5 (1976)
- Jackson County Jail (1976)
- The Amazing Howard Hughes (1977)
- Rolling Thunder (1977)
- The Betsy (1978)
- Eyes of Laura Mars (1978)
- Coal Miner's Daughter (1980)
- Barn Burning (1980)
- Back Roads (1981)
- The Executioner's Song (1982)
- The Rainmaker (1982)
- Nate and Hayes (1983)
- The River Rat (1984)
- Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1985)
- The Park Is Mine (1986)
- Black Moon Rising (1986)
- Yuri Nosenko, KGB (1986)
- Broken Vows (1987)
- Stranger on My Land
- April Morning (1988)
- Gotham (1988)
- Stormy Monday (1988)
- "Lonesome Dove" (1989)
- The Package (1989)
- Fire Birds
- JFK (1991)
- Under Seige (1992)
- Heaven & Earth (1993)
- House of Cards (1993)
- The Fugitive (1993)
- Blown Away (1994)
- The Client (1994)
- Natural Born Killers (1994)
- Blue Sky (1994)
- Cobb (1994)
- The Good Old Boys (1995)
- Batman Forever (1995)
- Volcano (1997)
- Men In Black (1997)
- U.S. Marshals (1998)
- Small Soldiers (1998)
- Double Jeopardy (1999)
- Space Cowboys (2000)
- Men In Black II (2002)
- The Hunted (2002)
Filmography was taken from imdb.com and biography from several other websites, including http://members.aol.com/lukoch2/ and http://www.starpulse.com/Actors/Jones,_Tommy_Lee/index.html