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Judd Jones, an actor, singer and dancer, died peacefully with friends at his bedside at his home in Manhattan on March 9. He was 79 years old. Born and raised in Montgomery, Alabama, Jones arrived in New York in 1954 with stars in his eyes and a tremendous desire to sing professionally.
His booming bass baritone voice had been nurtured in the U.S. Army. He was assigned to a USO and loved being on stage. “I knew that I could hold an audience,” he said. “So when I got out of the Army, I headed for New York City.”
He found a job in an acting studio and one of the first people he met was Chita Rivera, who told him, “If you want to make it on Broadway, you can't just sing. You have to learn to act and dance.”
Jones took her advice. He toured for five years as Chino in West Side Story. He performed in plays and musicals on Broadway, Off Broadway, in regional theater and with the Lincoln Center Repertory Company. He appeared in The Royal Hunt of the Sun, My One and Only, The Fantastics, Tambourines to Glory, Finian’s Rainbow, Kiss Me Kate, Two Gentlemen of Verona and King Lear, among many other productions.
His one-man shows celebrated the life and work of Paul Robeson and the great Vaudeville performer Bert Williams. Jones also taught, coached and mentored many young actors.
After a moving Black History Month reading from Martin B. Duberman’s slave chronicle “In White America,” a sobbing young girl apologized to the white-haired Jones for his years of suffering. “Oh, my dear, I’m not that old,” he said. “I am an actor and I have lived a wonderful life in New York City.”
Judd Jones is survived by his brother Edward Jones of Huntsville, Alabama. He is mourned by his many friends, neighbors and the far-flung clan of Joneses.
A memorial service led by Brian Stokes Mitchell and Keith David will be held on Sunday, April 10, at 6 pm in the Good Shepherd Faith Church at 152 West 66th Street in Manhattan. A reception will follow in Jones’s apartment at 140 West End Avenue at 66th Street.
Contributions may be made on Judd Jones’s behalf to the Actors Fund, the New York Public Library's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and the Association of Tenants of Lincoln Towers.
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