Christopher Jones, one of Thrush’s “test tube” killers in a fourth-season Man From U.N.C.L.E. episode
Former actor Christopher Jones has died at 72 from complications of cancer, ACCORDING TO AN OBITUARY IN THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.
The obituary focuses on credits such as Wild in The Streets and Ryan’s Daughter that were part of a “brief but dazzling career.” But given he mostly worked in the 1960s, Jones was drawn into the world of spy entertainment.
On television, he was the title character of The Test Tube Killer Affair, the second episode of the final season of The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
The story centers on efforts by Thrush, the villainous organization of the show, to develop so-called perfect killers, bred for the task from a young age. Such killers have been conditioned to turn their emotions on and off as necessary.
Jones’s character, Greg Martin, kills a number of people, including three U.N.C.L.E. agents and one of his fellow “test tube killers” who has been judged to be “defective.” Martin is to blow up a dam in Greece to demonstrate the effectiveness of the Thrush project. The episode is a prime example of a much darker tone U.N.C.L.E. had in its final season.
Jones also starred in The Looking Glass War, a 1969 film directed and scripted by Frank Pierson, based on a 1965 John Le Carre novel.
UPDATE: After re-watching The Test Tube Killer, Greg Martin’s death toll was five: U.N.C.L.E. agent Miguel (pre-credits sequence), fellow “test tube” student No. 7 (Act I), an employee of the Athens airport (Act II) and two U.N.C.L.E. agents in a helicopter (Act IV). He also unsuccessfully tries to kill U.N.C.L.E. agents Solo and Kuryakin in Act I and Act III.
Filed under: The Other Spies | Tagged: Christopher Jones, Frank Pierson, John Le Carre, The Hollywood Reporter, The Looking Glass War, The Man From U.N.C.L.E, The Other Spies, The Test Tube Killer Affair, TV spy shows |
The Spy Command 
Jones always remained something of a mystery for me. Here is a guy who should have had a major career but Jones casting in Ryan’s Daugher (and perhaps an affair with Sharon Tate) proved his undoing. Ryan’s Daughter is one of those films that is a guilty pleasure for me; however, it should have been a much smaller film. The subject matter doesn’t support the bloated production, but Lean was convinced he made epics only after Kwai. While it brought Jones a higher profile at the time he was more Wild in the Streets than Ryan’s Daugher. No surprise that he and Lean didn’t get along. Only one credit after Daughter 26 years later??? What really happened there?
He was note perfect – no pun intended – in Wild In The Streets. A pity his career didn’t go further.