LQ Jones, a character actor and director best known for his appearances in dozens of Western films like The Wild Bunch and Hang ‘Em High, as well as his collaborations with filmmaker Sam Peckinpah, has died aged 94.
Jones died of natural causes at his Hollywood Hills home, surrounded by his family.
Grandson Erté deGarces confirmed the news to .
Born Justice Ellis McQueen Jr in Texas in August 1927, the son of a railroad worker, Jones made his onscreen debut in Raoul Walsh’s 1955 film Battle Cry, from which he adopted his character’s name, Private LQ Jones, as his stage name.
He then began a run of credits in major TV shows in the 1950s and 60s including Cheyenne, Gunsmoke, Laramie, Wagon Train, Lassie, Rawhide, Johnny Ringo, The Big Valley and Perry Mason.
With a career spanning over 50 years, one of his most enduring roles was that of bounty hunter TC in 1969 film The Wild Bunch, directed by Sam Peckinpah, for whom he appeared in several projects.
They first worked together for 1960 TV Western Klondike, before Ride the High Country two years later saw Jones star as one of a set of fighting brothers with Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott.
Jones also acted for Peckinpah in 1965’s Major Dundee and as villains in 1970’s The Ballad of Cable Hogue and 1973’s Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid.
Speaking to in 1976, Jones described himself as Peckinpah’s best friend ‘for about five or six years before I stopped talking to him’.
‘Sam was a genius and I loved him, but he was a basket case. He drove everybody nuts,’ he later said in with Nick Thomas.
During his career he featured in film Hang ‘Em High too, NBC show The Virginian, primetime soap The Yellow Rose and opposite in Martin Scorsese classic Casino.
He played De Niro’s adversary, Clark County Commissioner Pat Webb.
He also acted opposite in his film star days in Love Me Tender and Flaming Star, and reportedly turned down the role of Major T.J. ‘King’ Kong in Stanley Kubrick’s Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb as he was too busy elsewhere.
In the 1970s he appeared in the original Charlie’s Angels TV series, as well as writing and directing post-apocalyptic black comedy A Boy and His Dog in 1975, which went on to become a cult classic.
His final credit was 2006’s A Prairie Home Companion, before which he popped up in two major movies of 1998: The Patriot, with , and as Three-Fingered Jack in The Mask of Zorro.
He married wife Neta S Lewis in 1950, before they divorced in 1973.
He is survived by thier three children, daughter Mindy McQueen, and two sons, Steve Marshall and Randy McQueen.
