Shirley You're Joking

Is it possible? Shirley Jones turns 79 today (some sources say 80, but I don't believe them).

A beauty who could sing, she started in Broadway musicals and so impressed Rodgers and Hammerstein that they chose her to play the lead in the film versions of Oklahoma! and Carousel.  She'd go on to star in other musicals, such as The Music Man, as well as comedies like The Courtship Of Eddie's Father and even dramas like Elmer Gantry, for which she won an Oscar.

She may be best known today for the sitcom The Partridge Family, where she's the mother of a musical brood (and where real-life stepson David Cassidy plays her TV son).





She and David Cassidy were the only members of the Partridge Family to actually sing (and none of them played instruments--that was top LA studio musicians).  I doubt Shirley sings in the following video, but what the heck, it demonstrates what the show was about.