[1] According to The New York Times, Jones' "talent and star power drew comparisons with James Dean," and he "seemed poised for stardom before abruptly abandoning his movie career in the late 1960s.

He then joined the Army, but went AWOL, and after serving a sentence in a military prison, he moved to New York City, where he began his acting career.

[2] Jones (having adopted the stage name Christopher) made his Broadway debut on December 17, 1961, in Tennessee Williams's The Night of the Iguana, directed by Frank Corsaro and starring Shelley Winters.

[3] Moving to Hollywood, Jones was cast in the title role of ABC's television series The Legend of Jesse James, which ran for 34 episodes in the 1965–66 season.

Jones's next acting role, was rock star and presidential aspirant Max Frost in the influential cult film Wild in the Streets (1968), co-starring Shelley Winters, Hal Holbrook, and Richard Pryor.

The problems intensified when production of the film took 12 months instead of the expected six, because Lean would wait for the right composition of clouds or the perfect storm to brew.

Unbeknownst to Jones, he was drugged during his filming of Ryan's Daughter by Sarah Miles, according to her first autobiography, A Right Royal Bastard; this caused him to believe he was having a breakdown.

Later, Lean decided to have Julian Holloway re-record all of Jones' lines in post-production, a decision previously taken by Degermark for The Looking Glass War.

Jones returned to California after filming ended, staying for a time in his manager's guest house, the cottage behind 10050 Cielo Drive, where Sharon Tate had been murdered, and abandoned his acting career.