Allan Jones

Allan Jones was an American actor and tenor best remembered as the romantic lead actor in Hollywood film musicals.

Jones, of Welsh ancestry, was born in Old Forge, Pennsylvania and raised in Scranton Pennsylvania. His father and grandfather were coal miners, and he worked in coal mines early in his adult life. He left that occupation to study voice at New York University. In an interview in 1973, Jones recalled that his father and grandfather were musically talented: "My father had a beautiful tenor voice. So did my grandfather...Grandfather taught violin, voice and piano when he could. My father sang every chance he could get and realized his ambition through me."

Jones appeared on Broadway a few times, including 1933's Roberta and the short-lived 1934 revival of Bitter Sweet after debuting in Boccacio in 1931, and starred in many film musicals during the 1930s and 1940s. The best-known of these were the original film version of Show Boat (1936), and The Firefly (1937) in which he sang what would become his signature song: "The Donkey Serenade".

Jones recorded prodigiously throughout his career, primarily for RCA Victor. His 1938 recording of "The Donkey Serenade" ranks third among all-time sales of single records by RCA Victor.

Jones continued performing until the 1980s, starring in stage productions of Man of La Mancha, Paint Your Wagon, Guys and Dolls and Carousel. In 1980, he appeared on the TV show The Love Boat with his son Jack Jones, as Jack's estranged father.

He also bred and raised race horses on his ranch in California.

With the Marx Brothers
Jones is probably best remembered today as the romantic lead in the first two films the Marx Brothers starred in for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer: A Night at the Opera (1935) and A Day at the Races (1937), filling the straight-man role opened by the departure of Zeppo Marx from the team.

Personal Life
Jones was married four times, to Marjorie Buel, Irene Hervey, Maria Villavincie, and Mary Florsheim (granddaughter of Milton S. Florsheim, founder of Florsheim Shoes).

American pop singer Jack Jones is his son with Hervey.