Doreen Jones (24 May 1940 – 19 February 2017)[1] was a Welsh casting director, casting for successful TV dramas including Brideshead Revisited.
She was born in Colwyn Bay, eldest daughter of Geoffrey Jones, a doctor, and his wife Rebecca (née Wright). She was educated at Dollar Academy in Scotland, and afterwards went to a secretarial college in Edinburgh. From 1960 she worked at Associated Television; in 1972 she was appointed casting director at Granada Television, where she became in 1978 head of casting. From 1987 she was freelance.[1][2]
At Granada she cast Brideshead Revisited (1981), with Jeremy Irons and Laurence Olivier; The Ebony Tower (1984) also featured Laurence Olivier. Other dramas include The Good Soldier (1981); early episodes of Prime Suspect, featuring Helen Mirren; Wallander; and The Honourable Woman (2014).[1][2]
In 1997 she was a founding member of the Casting Directors' Guild. She received an Emmy Award for the TV series Elizabeth I (2005).[1][2]
Doreen Jones died in 2017. Derek Granger, producer of Brideshead Revisited, wrote: "Doreen had a sharp instinct for the subtle chemistry that can exist between actors and knew well how players could spark off each other."[2]