LQ Jones, a veteran character actor whose career spanned seven decades, died of natural causes at his home in the Hollywood Hills on Saturday. He was 94 years old.
Jones’s death was confirmed by his grandson, Erté deGarces. DeGarces shared that Jones died surrounded by his family.
Born Justice Ellis McQueen on August 19, 1927, in Beaumont, Texas, Jones attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he met Sue Lewis, his wife of 23 years. The two divorced in the 1970s.
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McQueen adopted his stage name, LQ Jones, with his first film role in Raoul Walsh’s 1955 film “Battle Cry,” a name he would carry throughout his acting career. His last role was in 2006 in Robert Altman’s last film, “A Prairie Home Companion.”
Jones collaborated with several of the most established directors in mid-20th century Hollywood, including Walsh, Don Siegel on “An Annapolis Story” and Mervyn LeRoy on “Toward the Unknown.” He was also a regular supporting actor in action westerns from Sam Peckinpah, with roles in “The Wild Bunch,” “Ride the High Country,” “Major Dundee,” “The Battle of Cable Hogue,” and “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.” in “The Mask of Zorro” by Martin Campbell, “The Patriot” by Roland Emmerich and “Casino” by Martin Scorsese.
In addition to amassing 60 film acting credits throughout his career, Jones was a regular in the world of television. He appeared mostly in Western series such as “Gunsmoke”, “The Virginian”, “Wagon Train”, “Rawhide”, “The Rifleman”, “Have Gun-Will Travel” and “The Big Valley”.
Jones’s career also extended beyond screen acting, producing four independent feature films in his lifetime. He produced, directed and wrote the 1975 feature film “A Boy and His Dog,” an adaptation of Harlan Ellison’s novel of the same name. Jones began the project as executive producer, but took over writing and directing as other collaborators failed.
A post-apocalyptic black comedy, “A Boy and His Dog” follows a teenager and his telepathic dog as they fight for survival in the American Southwest in 2024, a time when radioactive fallout is taking over the world. Starring a young Don Johnson and Peckinpah alum Jason Robards, the film has become a cult classic over the years, and Jones claims director George Miller cited it as an influence for his “Mad Max” series. “.
Jones is survived by his sons, Randy McQueen and Steve Marshall, and his favorite daughter, Mindy McQueen.
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