Shirley Mae Jones (born March 31, 1934) is an American singer and actress of stage, film and television. In her six decades of show business, she has starred as wholesome characters in a number of well-known
musical films, such as
Oklahoma! (1955),
Carousel (1956), and
The Music Man (1962). She won the
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing a vengeful prostitute in
Elmer Gantry (1960). She played the lead role of Shirley Partridge, the widowed mother of five children, in the musical
situation-comedy television series
The Partridge Family (1970–74), which co-starred her real-life stepson
David Cassidy, son of
Jack Cassidy.