Henry Jones gives small parts distinct personalities through a droll, swooping voice and an aptitude for making ordinary people unsettling. We value his precision, especially when he has only a few minutes to establish who someone is.
Fi1m perspective
Listen to Henry Jones as the coroner in Vertigo (1958): four minutes are enough to hear why he was so useful in a small part. His droll, swooping voice gives an official figure a disconcerting individuality. We found the monologue unsettling because that distinctive delivery keeps the coroner from sounding like a neutral source of information. It is a precise piece of supporting acting, and a good reason to pay attention whenever Jones turns up.
An earlier marker is The Bad Seed (1956), in which he plays the sinister janitor Leroy Jessup, a role he had originated on Broadway in 1954. It makes sense that an actor so comfortable giving ordinary occupations an unpleasant edge should have taken that part successfully from stage to screen. His later parts include the bike salesman in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). Ministers, judges, janitors and clerks recur in his work; these are people a story might otherwise hurry past.
Alfred Hitchcock has James Stewart and Kim Novak to carry the painful fascination at the centre of Vertigo, and Jones does not need to compete with them. His droll delivery can be funny without making the person speaking seem harmless. The film's mystery is far-fetched and some journeys drag, but his brief appearance needs no such allowance. We would be cautious about treating a memorable cameo as proof that an actor should have been a leading man; Jones gives us plenty to value at this length.
He plays Sims in Stephen Frears's The Grifters (1990), a late appearance in a career of supporting work across film, television and the stage. We recommend that cruel, funny crime drama chiefly for Anjelica Huston's disturbing force, with the reservation that John Cusack struggles beside her. It would be excessive to recommend it principally for Jones. For a first encounter with his work, start with Vertigo and pay attention to the coroner.
Biography
Henry Jones (also credited as Henry Burk Jones) was an American character actor of stage, film and television. Born on 1 August 1912, he died on 17 May 1999 in Los Angeles. He made his Broadway debut in a 1938 production of Hamlet and later originated the role of handyman Leroy Jessup in The Bad Seed on stage, reprising it in the 1956 film.
Jones appeared in more than 180 films and television productions. He is known for his role as the coroner in Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958), as well as appearances in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Arachnophobia (1990), Dick Tracy (1990) and The Grifters (1990). On television he had roles in series including The Twilight Zone (1959), Phyllis and MacGyver. He won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for Sunrise at Campobello.
