Shirley Mae Jones (born March 31, 1934) is an American actress and singer. She starred as wholesome characters in a number of well-known musical films, such as Oklahoma!, Carousel, and The Music Man. Ironically, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing a "bad girl" in Elmer Gantry. For younger fans, she is probably best known as Shirley Partridge, the widowed mother of five children in the television series The Partridge Family, co-starring her real-life stepson David Cassidy..