William "Billy" Frank Jones, better known as Christopher Jones, was an American character actor born on August 18, 1941, in Jackson, Tennessee. He was known for his striking resemblance to the late James Dean and shared a similar background, but his interest in the arts began with drawing, which earned him an Art school scholarship in his teens.
Jones's enjoyment of movies led him to study filmed performances, particularly those of James Dean and Elvis Presley, whom he considered his first idol. After serving briefly in the United States Army, where he went AWOL to visit Dean's family in Fairmount, Indiana, Jones studied painting in New York City and began acting classes.
Befriended by Frank Corsaro, who had also been a friend of Dean's, Jones adopted the stage name Christopher and made his Broadway debut on December 17, 1961, in Tennessee Williams's The Night of the Iguana, directed by Corsaro and starring actress Shelley Winters. Winters introduced Jones to Susan Strasberg, an actress and the daughter of Method acting progenitor Lee Strasberg.
Jones went on to study at Strasberg's Actors Studio and despite personal friction between Lee and himself, he married Susan in 1965. The couple had a daughter, Jennifer Robin Jones, in 1966. Moving to Hollywood, Jones was cast in the title role of an ABC television series, The Legend of Jesse James, which ran for thirty-four episodes in the 1965-1966 season.
When the series ended, he accepted the role of Strasberg's lover/husband in the movie Chubasco. The marriage did not long survive the filming, for the couple divorced in 1968. Jones's next acting job was as rock star and Presidential wannabe Max Frost in the 1968 cult classic Wild in the Streets, which propelled him to the peak of his stardom.
He appeared later that same year with Yvette Mimieux in the sex comedy Three in the Attic. Jones also became friends with actress Sharon Tate and her husband Roman Polanski. He claimed later to have had an affair with Tate while she was pregnant with Polanski's child and to have had a premonition of her death before she was murdered by members of the Manson family.
