American actor who achieved some success as a child and as a young adult especially in BWesterns and in television The son of a Texas newspaper editor Jones was a prodigious horseman from infancy billed at the age of four as the Worlds Youngest Trick Rider and Trick Roper At the age of six he was hired to perform riding and lariat tricks in the rodeo owned by western star Hoot Gibson Gibson convinced young Jones and his parents that there was a place for him in Hollywood and the boy and his mother went west Gibson arranged for some small parts for the boy whose good looks energy and pleasant voice quickly landed him more and bigger parts both in lowbudget Westerns and in more substantial productions In 1940 he had one of his most prominent although invisible roles as the voice of Pinocchio 1940 in Walt Disneys animated film of the same name Jones attended Hollywood High School and at 15 took over the role of Henry Aldrich on the hit radio show The Aldrich Family He learned carpentry and augmented his income with jobs in that field He served in the Army in Alaska during the final months of World War II Gene Autry who before the war had cast Jones in several Westerns put him back to work in films and particularly in television on programs produced by Autrys company Now billed as Dick Jones the handsome young man starred as Dick West sidekick to the Western hero known as The Range Rider 1951 in a TV series that ran for 76 episodes in 1951 and for decades in syndication Then Autry gave Jones his own series Buffalo Bill Jr 1955 which ran for 40 episodes Jones continued working in films throughout the 1950s then retired and entered the business world Date of Death 7 July 2014 Northridge Los Angeles California
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