John Christopher Jones in Nathan the Wise at Classic Stage Company in 2016
(© Richard Termine)
John Christopher Jones, an actor’s actor who was a founding member of Shakespeare & Company, died Monday, September 15 after a long battle with Parkinson’s.
Jones’s notable Broadway credits include Simon Gray’s Otherwise Engaged, directed by Harold Pinter, David Rabe’s Hurlyburly, Jose Quintero’s revival of The Iceman Cometh starring Jason Robards, The Goodbye Girl, Beauty and the Beast (as Cogsworth), Democracy, Heartbreak House, and many others.
A regular off-Broadway, his credits range from Picasso At The Lapin Agile and Fuddy Meers to classic titles like Nathan the Wise and The Seagull.
His translations of The Cherry Orchard and A Month in the Country ran at Classic Stage Company; the former won a Lortel Award for Best Revival. His translations also include Chekhov’s The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, and Platonov, as well as Büchner’s Woyzeck and Leonce and Lena.
At Shakespeare & Company, Jones performed the roles Troilus, Antipholus of Ephesus, Hal, Proteus, Mercutio, Macbeth, Cloten, Lavatch, Gravedigger, Grumio, Elbow, and Porter.
Diagnosed with Parkinson’s in March 2003, Jones worked throughout his illness; his recent appearances include episodes of Evil and New Amsterdam.
He was featured in the inspiring documentary Me to Play, which followed him and fellow actor Dan Moran, who also lived with Parkinson’s, as they rehearsed and performed Samuel Beckett’s Endgame at Classic Stage. He and Moran—who died in 2024—first met in 1995, when they shared a dressing room during the Broadway revival of A Month in the Country.
Jones’s survivors include his wife, MaryBeth Coudal, and their three children.