LOS ANGELES — Dean Jones, whose boyish good looks and all-American manner made him Disney’s favorite young actor for such lighthearted films as “That Darn Cat!” and “The Love Bug,” died of Parkinson’s disease in Los Angeles on Tuesday. He was 84.
Publicist Richard Hoffman announced Jones’ passing on Wednesday.
Jones’ long association with The Walt Disney Co. began after he received an unexpected call from Walt Disney himself, who praised his work on the TV show “Ensign O’Toole,” noting it had “some good closing sequences.” Jones, himself a former Navy man, played the title role in the 1962 sitcom.
Jones puzzled over Disney’s remark until it occurred to him that “Ensign O’Toole” preceded Disney’s own Sunday night show on NBC, and he realized Disney probably only watched each episode’s ending.
Two years later, Jones heard from Disney again, offering him a role in “That Darn Cat!” opposite ingénue Hayley Mills.
It would the first of 10 Disney films Jones would make.
“I see something in them that is pure form. Just entertainment. No preaching,” he told the Los Angeles Times.
“The Love Bug” was the most successful. Jones played a struggling race-car driver who acquires a Volkswagen named Herbie that wins races for him.
Over the course of his career, he appeared in 46 films, on television and in five Broadway shows.
