L. Q. Jones

Jones was born in Beaumont in southeastern Texas, the son of Jessie Paralee (née Stephens) and Justus Ellis McQueen Sr., a railroad worker.[3] After serving in the United States Navy from 1945 to 1946, Jones attended Lamar Junior College (now Lamar University) and then studied law at the University of Texas at Austin from 1950 to 1951.[4] He worked as a stand-up comic, briefly played professional baseball and football, and even tried ranching in Nicaragua before turning to acting after corresponding with his former college roommate, Fess Parker.[4] At the time, in 1954, Parker was already in Hollywood working in films and on television. Jones is a practising Methodist and a registered Republican.[3]

Jones made his film debut in 1955 in Battle Cry, credited under his birth name Justus McQueen.[5] His character's name in that film, however, was "L. Q. Jones", a name he liked and decided to adopt as his stage name for all of his future roles as an actor.[4] In 1955, he was cast as "Smitty Smith" in three episodes of Clint Walker's ABC/Warner Brothers western series, Cheyenne, the first hour-long western on network television.

Jones appeared in numerous films in the 1960s and 1970s. He became a member of Sam Peckinpah's stock company of actors, appearing in his Klondike series (1960–1961), Ride the High Country (1962), Major Dundee (1965), The Wild Bunch (1969), The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970), and Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid (1973).

Jones was frequently cast alongside his close friend Strother Martin, most memorably as the posse member and bounty hunter "T. C." in The Wild Bunch. Jones also appeared as recurring characters on such western series as Cheyenne (1955), Gunsmoke (1955), Laramie, Two Faces West (1960–1961), and as ranch hand Andy Belden in The Virginian (1962). That same year (1962) Jones appeared as Ollie Earnshaw, a rich rancher looking for a bride on Lawman in the episode titled "The Bride."

He was cast in the military drama series Men of Annapolis, on the CBS western Johnny Ringo, and on the NBC western Jefferson Drum. He made two guest appearances on Perry Mason, including the role of con artist and murder victim Charles B. Barnaby in "The Case of the Lonely Heiress" (1958) and as Edward Lewis in "The Case of the Badgered Brother" (1963). He appeared in Hawaii Five-O, season 1, episode 15, in 1968. He also appeared in an episode of The A-Team titled "Cowboy George" and two episodes of The Fall Guy as Sheriff Dwight Leclerc. In 1971, Jones appeared as Belden in The Men From Shiloh (the final season rebranding of The Virginian) episode titled "The Town Killer."

Other films include Men in War (1957), The Naked and the Dead (1958), Flaming Star (1960), Cimarron (1960), Hell Is for Heroes (1962), Hang 'Em High (1968), Stay Away, Joe (1968), The Brotherhood of Satan (1971), which he co-produced and wrote, Attack on Terror: The FBI vs. the Ku Klux Klan (1975) Lone Wolf McQuade (1983), Casino (1995), The Edge (1997), The Mask of Zorro (1998), and A Prairie Home Companion (2006).

Jones directed, produced, and wrote the screenplay for A Boy and His Dog.[6]

• Humphreys, Justin (2006). "L. Q. Jones". Names You Never Remember, With Faces You Never Forget : Interviews with the Movies' Character Actors (softcover) (First ed.). Albany, GA: BearManor Media. pp. 144–171. ISBN 978-1-62933-094-5.

• L.Q. Jones at IMDb
• L. Q. Jones at Aveleyman.com
• “Turning 90, L.Q. Jones reflects on Hollywood journey”, The Spectrum, August 15, 2017. (Retrieved 2018-07-05.)