Caro Jones, a prolific casting director for more than four decades, died September 3, 2009, in Los Angeles following a 14-year battle with multiple myeloma. She was 86.
Over the course of her career, Jones cast more than 1,000 television shows, pilots, made-for-TV movies and miniseries. She also worked on such renowned feature films as Oscar winners Save the Tiger and Rocky, both directed by John Avildsen
Jones began her career in New York City as an assistant casting director for the live television production The United States Steel Hour.
On the dramatic anthology series, which ran from 1953-63 on ABC and CBS, Jones was involved in giving work to many performers who went on to major success, including Johnny Carson, Carroll O’Connor, Geraldine Page, Rip Torn, George C. Scott, Colleen Dewhurst, Patty Duke, Telly Savalas, Gene Hackman, Martin Sheen, William Shatner and Sidney Pollack.
Upon relocating to Los Angeles, Jones found work at Paramount Television, where she cast such series as Love, American Style and Mannix.
As casting director for Filmways Television, she was in charge of pilots and such productions as The Debbie Reynolds Show, Green Acres, Petticoat Junction and The Beverly Hillbillies. She also cast the Filmways movies What’s the Matter With Helen? and Fuzz.
She then established her own company. In addition to casting such features as The Karate Kid and Back to School, she oversaw casting on the miniseries The Martian Chronicles, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy and others.
Active in numerous professional organizations, Jones was a member and governor of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and a charter member of the Casting Society of America and Women in Film.
In 1994, she was given the CSA’s Hoyt Bowers Award for outstanding contribution to her profession, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’ Margaret Herrick Library now houses the Caro Jones Collection of Scripts and Production Notebooks.
Jones is survived by two grandchildren, a brother, two nieces and their families.