Justice Ellis McQueen, Jr. was born on August 19, 1927 in
Beaumont, Texas. The tall, sandy haired, mustachioed actor adopted the name of
the character he portrayed in his first film, “Battle Cry” (1955). LQ Jones,
with his craggy, gaunt looks, first appeared in minor character roles in plenty
of WWII films including “The Young Lions” and the “The Naked and the Dead”
(both 1958). However in 1962 he teamed up with maverick director Sam Peckinpah
for the first of Jones' five appearances in Sam’s films. “Ride the High Country”
(1962) saw Jones play one of the lowlife Hammond brothers. Next he appeared
alongside Charlton Heston in “Major Dundee” (1965), than Peckinpah cast him,
along with his real-life friend Strother Martin, as one of the scummy,
murderous bounty hunters in “The Wild Bunch” (1969). Such was the chemistry
between Jones and Martin that Peckinpah teamed them again the following year in
“The Ballad of Cable Hogue” (1970), and Jones' final appearance in a Peckinpah
film was in another western, “Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid” (1973). Two
years later Jones directed the cult post-apocalyptic film “A Boy and His Dog”
(1975) starring a young Don Johnson. He has continued to work in Hollywood, and
as the lines on his craggy face have deepened, he turns up more frequently as
crusty old westerners, especially in multiple TV guest spots. He turned in an
interesting performance as a seemingly good ol' boy Nevada cowboy who was
actually a powerful behind-the-scenes player in state politics who leaned on
Robert De Niro's Las Vegas mob gambler in Martin Scorsese's violent and
powerful “Casino” (1995). LQ appeared in only one Euro-western: “The Hunting
Party” (1971) as Hog Warren. Today we celebrate LQ Jones 85th
birthday.
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