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Isaac “Ike” Jones was a film producer who was the first Black graduate of the UCLA Film School. Jones is also recognized as the first Black producer of a major motion picture.
Jones died this month in Los Angeles at an assisted-living facility. Jones was born on December 23, 1929 in Santa Monica, Calif. In high school and college, he was a standout football player who played the end position.
He was drafted out of UCLA in 1953 by the Green Bay Packers, but turned down the offer to pursue his filmmaker dreams. Jones worked for production companies that created projects for Harry Belafonte and Burt Lancaster. As reported by the Press-Herald, he also ran Nat King Cole’s Kell-Cole Productions, which put together the singer’s live performances.
In 1966, Jones served as the producer for the 1966 film A Man Called Adam starring Sammy Davis Jr. in the lead role. Jones used that film to stake his claim as the first Black film producer of a major production.
Jones married to white actress Inger Stevens in 1961, a union the pair kept hidden to protect their careers.
The couple thought that Hollywood would have frowned upon an interracial relationship at the time. Stevens starred in the ’60’s TV series The Farmer’s Daughter.
It came out that the two were married after Stevens died of an apparent suicide in 1970. Jones’ last known credit was the 1978 TV mini-series A Woman Called Moses starring Cicely Tyson as Harriet Tubman.
According to reports, Jones was planning to make a comeback before his health become too poor. He suffered a stroke recently and had congestive heart failure. Jones was 84.
