Prior to becoming an actor, Jones was a Phelps-Stokes exchange scholar in Niger and taught literature at Long Island University.

He created English-language training programs for the Peace Corps and helped design Harlem Preparatory School, where he headed the English department.

"[4] Jones continued working in film after Night of the Living Dead in Ganja & Hess (1973), Losing Ground (1982), and Beat Street (1984), among others.

After leaving the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, he taught a select group of students privately in Manhattan, by invitation only.

Jones died of cardiopulmonary arrest at Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola, Long Island, New York, on July 22, 1988, aged 51.