Samuel Gerald Jones, known professionally as Sam J. Jones, is an American actor. He has arguably become best known for having played the title characters in the 1980 film Flash Gordon and in the short-lived TV series The Highwayman.
Early life
Jones was born in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in Sacramento, California. In 1972, after high school, Jones enlisted in the United States Marine Corps where he played American football. With service in the Corps completed, he moved to Seattle with the ambition of joining the Seahawks but was turned down. Instead, in 1976, he played for their practice team, the Flyers, as a semi-professional. In parallel and to supplement his income, Jones also began modelling. Starting in 1975, he appeared in full-frontal nude under the alias "Andrew Cooper III" as the centerfold for a photo-spread in the June issue of Playgirl magazine. He also starred in TV commercials for a local sporting goods store in Seattle before finally moving to Los Angeles in 1977.
Career
Jones made his first film appearance in the 1979 romantic comedy film10. His appearance in 10 allowed him to beat Kurt Russell and Arnold Schwarzenegger for his most famous role, that of Flash Gordon in the 1980 film of the same name. Jones bleached his hair blonde for this role. The film was moderately successful at the box office grossing $27.1 million in North America, and $22 million in the UK: double its $20 million budget. However, a falling out between Jones and the producers helped to scrap the planned trilogy. After the release of Flash Gordon, Playgirl reprinted his 1975 photo-spread in its January 1981 issue, this time using his real name. He went on to play Chris Rorchek in the TV series Code Red. He had guest roles in other TV shows including The A-Team, Hunter, and Riptide. In 1987, he played the lead role in a TV adaptation of Will Eisner's comics character The Spirit. He also played the title character in the short-lived NBC sci-fi series The Highwayman. In the late 1980s and early 1990s he portrayed Johnny Valentine on the HBO series1st & Ten. Jones starred in the 1986 theatrical release My Chauffeur and the straight-to-video movies Jungle Heat, Jane and the Lost City, Under the Gun, Silent Assassins, Whiteforce, Driving Force, and One Man Force. In the 1990s, Jones had roles in films including In Gold We Trust, Maximum Force, Fist of Honor, Hard Vice, Enter the Shootfighter, Texas Payback, The Killer Inside, Earth Minus Zero, Baja Run and American Tigers, and guest roles in the TV shows Baywatch, Diagnosis Murder and . In 2001, Jones was cast in Animal Planet's family series Hollywood Safari as a park ranger. He appeared in "Deadman Switch", an episode of the television series Stargate SG-1. in 2002, Jones retrained and, when he is not acting or working autograph booths on the ComicCon circuit, he works as a high-end security professional in San Diego, protecting traveling executives to Mexico. In his words "I became a security professional 15 years ago. My wife looked at me and said, 'You've been waiting for the phone to ring. The phone isn't ringing. We have kids. There's the door. Don’t come back until you’re providing.' That’s why I walked away from labels years ago. Actor? I'm a working man. Whatever it takes to provide, I'm a working man". In 2007, he played the prisoner Krebb in the Sci Fi Channeloriginal television seriesFlash Gordon. He also had extended cameos in both the 2012 comedy filmTed and its 2015 sequel, Ted 2. In 2019, Life After Flash, a feature-length documentary starring Jones, directed by Lisa Downs & produced by Ashley Pugh, was released worldwide. Life After Flash not only celebrates the 1980 classic featuring interviews with cast, crew and fans including Melody Anderson, Brian Blessed, Peter Wyngarde, Mark Millar, Robert Rodriguez, Stan Lee and Brian May, but also explores the aftermath of when star Sam J Jones went up against one of the most powerful producers in Hollywood: Dino De Laurentiis.
Personal life
Jones married Lynn Eriks in 1982; they had two children and divorced in 1987. He married Ramona Lynn Jones on June 26, 1992; they have three children.
