Actor Christopher Jones Dead at 72 – Starred in WILD IN THE STREETS and RYAN’S DAUGHTER

His star burned briefly but bright. Christopher Jones was a counterculture cult hero in the James Dean mold, starring in WILD IN THE STREETS (1968) as Max Frost, the 22-year old rock star millionaire president of the United States who locks up everyone over 30. The same year he played Paxton Quigley in THREE IN THE ATTIC, a hit about free love in the swinging sixties costarring Yvette Mimieux and Judy Pace. The big studios took notice and David Lean cast him as the romantic lead in the big-budget drama RYAN’S DAUGHTER (1970). It was on the set of this epic that Jones reportedly suffered a nervous breakdown. His part had to be dubbed and he suddenly dropped out of show biz after only a handful of credits. Quentin Tarantino approached him in 1996 and offered him the role of Zed in PULP FICTION, but Jones turned him down (Zed would be played by Peter Greene). He made a final screen appearance in 1996 crime comedy  MAD DOG TIME opposite Richard Dreyfuss. In his later years Jones had a career as an artist and sculptor. He died Friday of Cancer at age 72.

From THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER:

Christopher Jones, an heir apparent to James Dean who starred in such films as The Looking Glass War and Ryan’s Daughter before quitting show business at the height of his brief but dazzling career, has died. He was 72. Jones, who also toplined the Samuel Z. Arkoff cult classic Wild in the Streets (1968) and played the title character in the ABC series The Legend of Jesse James, died Friday at Los Alamitos (Calif.) Medical Center of complications from cancer, Paule McKenna told TheHollywood Reporter. McKenna had four children with Jones……….

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