--- name: "Sam J. Jones" canonical: "https://film.one/person/sam-j-jones" fi1m_id: "sam-j-jones" imdb_id: "nm0429207" tmdb_id: 33321 wikidata_id: "Q1498498" roles: ["Actor"] born: "12 August 1954" reviewed_on_fi1m: 1 average_as: "actor" average_over: 1 updated: "2026-10-04T04:35:18.074300+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Sam J. Jones ## Identity Sam J. Jones - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/sam-j-jones - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** sam-j-jones - **IMDb ID:** nm0429207 - **TMDB ID:** 33321 - **Wikidata ID:** Q1498498 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_J._Jones, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1498498, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0429207/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/33321 Actor. Born 12 August 1954 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 12 August 1954, Chicago, Illinois, United States - **Also known as:** Samuel Gerald Jones - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_J._Jones, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1498498, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0429207/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/33321 ## Fi1m on Sam J. Jones > Sam J. Jones played one part the world remembers, and played it as a blank: a handsome quarterback saying his lines rather than meaning them. That turned out to be roughly what *Flash Gordon* needed, and he has spent the decades since making a living from it. The throne room in *Flash Gordon* (1980) is where Sam J. Jones makes sense. An ordinary quarterback with no powers, a football under his arm, takes on the household of a galactic emperor with a running play while Dale and Zarkov cheer from the sidelines and the court look on, appalled. We laughed, loudly and without irony, and the laugh depends on Jones. The joke needs a man who does not seem to know he is in on it, and he is that man: open-faced, square, entirely sincere about a thing nobody around him is taking seriously. Elsewhere in Mike Hodges's film he is the hole in the middle. He is handsome and willing, and he says his lines rather than meaning them, while Max von Sydow plays Ming dead straight on the other side of the frame and wins every exchange. Some of that flatness may not be his: there are reports that he fell out with the producer during the shoot and that lines were dubbed afterwards. Whatever the cause, the film works around him rather than through him, and we gave it 70 for the design, for von Sydow and for the noise, not for its hero. The career that followed is the one you would predict from the shape of the man. Six foot three, a former Marine who played football in the service, he had come to *Flash* straight from a debut in Blake Edwards's *10* (1979), and casting directors went on seeing what Hodges saw. There was a regular part in *Code Red* (1981) and the title role in *The Highwayman* (1988), then guest spots and lower-budget action films through the 1980s and 1990s. By the early 2000s the work had thinned enough that he retrained and spent time in private security. Then Seth MacFarlane put him in *Ted* (2012) and *Ted 2* (2015), as himself, and a new audience learned his name from a man sending it up. The documentary *Life After Flash* (2017), directed by Lisa Downs and with Jones as executive producer, tells the rest. He has been asked often enough whether he minds being one role, and his answer is plain: "Why would I disown Flash Gordon? I'm only here because of Flash Gordon." That is the right answer, and it is also a fair account of his acting. He was never going to give you a man thinking; he could give you a man charging, which is what a comic strip asks for. Watch the throne room and the football and you will see the one scene in which the actor and the film want the same thing. Watch him in the *Ted* films and you will see a man who has worked out, late and cheerfully, that the blankness was the part. ## Biography Sam J. Jones, also credited as Samuel Gerald Jones, is an American actor. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1954 and grew up in Sacramento, California, where he attended Mira Loma High School. He served in the United States Marine Corps before beginning his acting career. Jones made his screen debut in the 1979 film *10*. He is best known for playing the title role in the 1980 science-fiction film *Flash Gordon*. His other credits include guest appearances in television series such as *The A-Team* (1983), *Baywatch* (1989), *Walker, Texas Ranger* (1993) and *Stargate SG-1* (1997), as well as cameo roles as himself in *Ted* (2012) and *Ted 2* (2015). In 2026 he appeared as a contestant on the reality series *The Great American Road Rally: Celebrity Edition*. *Sources: imdb.com, en.wikipedia.org.* ## On Fi1m (1) - *Flash Gordon* (1980), Fi1m 70, as Flash Gordon — [page](https://film.one/film/flash-gordon.md) ## Complete filmography (76) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Roswell Delirium* (2025), as Mr. Leonard - *Surge of Power: Where There's Smoke* (2024), as Ace - *An Unlikely Angel* (2022), as Buck Hanson - *Decapitarium* (2021), as Dean Usher - *The Silent Natural* (2019), as Jacob Hoy - *Axcellerator* (2019), as Brink - *Fury of the Fist and the Golden Fleece* (2018), as Flash/Man with the Golden Fleece - *Ted 2* (2015), as Sam J. Jones - *Ted* (2012), as Sam Jones - *ReVamped* (2007), as Jake Hardcastle - *Flash Gordon* (2007), series, as Krebb - *Redemption* (2002), as The Brick - *Psychotic* (2002), as Dr. Donald - *Down 'n Dirty* (2001), as Stanton James - *Dead Sexy* (2001), as Rackles - *Van Hook* (2001), as Uncle Dwayne - *Gangland* (2001), as Sgt. Richards - *L.A. Heat* (1999), series, Actor - *Hollywood Safari* (1998), series, as Troy Johnson - *T.N.T.* (1998), as Greel - *Evasive Action* (1998), as Convict - *Earth Minus Zero* (1997), as Marshal Heller - *Stargate SG-1* (1997), series, as Aris Boch - *Where Truth Lies* (1996), as James - *American Tigers* (1996), as Sergeant Major Ransom - *American Strays* (1996), as Exterminator - *Baja Run* (1996), as Carl Brubaker - *R.I.O.T.: The Movie* (1996), as Jimmy O'Brien - *Pacific Blue* (1996), series, as Rolf - *The Killer Inside* (1996), as Steve Davis - *Ray Alexander: A Menu for Murder* (1995), Actor - *Ballistic* (1995), as Braden - *Fists of Iron* (1995), as Tyler Green - *Texas Payback* (1994), as Louis Gentry - *Hard Vice* (1994), as Joe - *Diagnosis: Murder* (1993), series, as Lt. 'Buck' Denton - *Thunder in Paradise* (1993), as David Kilmer - *Lady Dragon 2* (1993), as Reb - *South Beach* (1993), as Billy - *Fist of Honor* (1993), as Fist Sullivan - *Da Vinci's War* (1993), as Jim Holbrook - *Walker, Texas Ranger* (1993), series, as Tommy Williams / Samuel J. Bodine, Mick Stanley - *Expert Weapon* (1993), as Janson - *Maximum Force* (1992), as Michael Crews - *Renegade* (1992), series, as Earl Lyons, Nicky Griffin - *The Hat Squad* (1992), series, as Victory Smith - *Night Rhythms* (1992), as Jackson - *The Other Woman* (1992), as Mike Florian - *Silk Stalkings* (1991), series, Actor - *P.S. I Luv U* (1991), series, Actor - *Shades of L.A.* (1990), series, Actor - *Driving Force* (1990), as Steve - *In Gold We Trust* (1990), as Jeff Slater - *One Man Force* (1989), as Pete - *L.A. Takedown* (1989), as Jimmy - *Baywatch* (1989), series, Actor - *Trigon Fire* (1989), as Dr. James Ford - *Whiteforce* (1988), as Johnny Quinn - *Silent Assassins* (1988), as Sam Kettle - *Under the Gun* (1988), as Mike Braxton - *The Highwayman* (1987), series, as The Highwayman - *Jane and the Lost City* (1987), as Jungle Jack Buck - *The Spirit* (1987), as Spirit / Denny Colt - *My Chauffeur* (1986), as Battle - *Jungle Heat* (1985), as Gordon - *This Wife for Hire* (1985), as Tommy Sellers - *1st & Ten* (1984), series, as Johnny Valentine - *Hunter* (1984), series, as Lance Lane - *No Man's Land* (1984), as Eli Howe - *Hardcastle and McCormick* (1983), series, Actor - *The A-Team* (1983), series, as Eric - *Code Red* (1981), series, as Chris Rorchek - *Flash Gordon* (1980), as Flash Gordon — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/film/flash-gordon.md) - *Stunts Unlimited* (1980), as Bo Carlson - *10* (1979), as David Hanley - *The Incredible Journey of Doctor Meg Laurel* (1979), as Roy ## Gallery - ![Sam J. Jones](https://film.one/media/person/93862/gallery-8810740a2e72.jpg) Sam J. Jones — Super Festivals from Ft. Lauderdale, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Sam_J._Jones_%2830810249013%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Sam J. Jones](https://film.one/media/person/93862/gallery-f9db444c4cff.jpg) Sam J. Jones — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### Other awards — 0 won, 1 nominated - Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor 1981: Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor (nominated), for *Flash Gordon* *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/sam-j-jones