Many remember her as Shirley Partridge, the widowed mother of five and the leader of a singing group called The Partridge Family. She co-starred with her stepson, David Cassidy.
Shirley Jones went to her first Broadway audition at the recommendation of her voice teacher. She went to New York with $100 and vowed if she did not succeed she would return to Pennsylvania and become a veterinarian.
In New York she auditioned for the casting director for Rodgers and Hammerstein. The casting director was so impressed he called in Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein. Shirley Jones became the first and only singer to be put under personal contract with the songwriters.