For fans who only followed the adventures of Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in his four movies directed by Steven Spielberg, Indy's mother, Anna Mary Jones, is largely a mystery. She was glimpsed in a photo and spoken of by Indy and by his father, Professor Henry Jones (Sean Connery), in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. But the story of Indy's late mother was explored in the TV series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.
The enthusiastic reception Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade's prologue received, wherein River Phoenix portrayed the young Indy coming across the Cross of Coronado and receiving his signature fedora, motivated George Lucas to create a TV series prequel about his globe-trotting archaeologist. The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (AKA Young Indy) premiered on March 4, 1992, and ran for 28 episodes on ABC. Young Indy detailed Henry Jones Jr.'s childhood traveling the world with his parents; Corey Carrier played Indy at ages 9 and 10, Sean Patrick Flanery played Indy from ages 16-21, and George Hall portrayed Indy in his 90s in bookends set in 1992. In addition, Harrison Ford reprised the role and played Indy at age 51 for one episode in season 2.
Naturally, Indy's parents were significant figures during his childhood years. Lloyd Owens played the younger Professor Henry Jones Sr. while Ruth de Sousa portrayed Indy's mother, Anna Mary Jones. Because very little had been established about Anna Jones prior to The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles - father and son debated how well Anna understood Henry's obsession with locating the Holy Grail in Last Crusade - de Sousa was able to establish a great deal about Indy's mother based upon the basic ideas offered by George Lucas. Young Indy established that Anna gave birth to her son on July 1, 1899, in Princeton, New Jersey, and that Indy had a sister named Susie who died at an early age. The infant Indy was looked after in his crib by an Alaskan malamute named Indiana, which was a gift from his mother, and, as an adult, Henry Jones Jr. would famously name himself after the family dog.
Anna was born to a wealthy Virginia family on March 17, 1878, and she fell in love with Oxford University graduate in medieval studies Henry Walton Jones. They married in 1898 and the couple initially lived in New Haven, Connecticut before moving to Princeton, where Henry Jr. was born. Henry Sr. became a professor of medieval literature at Princeton University. Henry pursued his obsession with the Holy Grail, with help from Marcus Brody, and produced books on the subject that led to an invitation to a 2-year lecture tour around the world. Henry, Anna, and young Indy began to travel the world in 1908.
In Italy, Anna nearly cheated on her husband with opera composer Giacomo Puccini; Henry Sr.'s constant absences took a toll on her and she grew attracted to the musician. However, Anna remained faithful and the Jones family continued their adventures, visiting Russia, Greece, and India. In China, Anna stayed at her son's bedside when Henry Jr. nearly died from typhoid fever. After Indy recovered, they visited New Orleans and then the United Kingdom in 1912. At some point that year, Anna contracted scarlet fever, but she kept her illness a secret so as not to worry her husband. Sadly, Anna Mary Jones died from complications from scarlet fever on May 16, 1912, at the age of 34.
In Young Indy, the 93-year-old Indiana Jones remembered his mother Anna as "the sweetest, smartest, most wonderful woman who ever lived". Professor Jones grieved for his wife and was always upset that Anna concealed her illness from him until "all I could do was mourn her". Of course, Anna never got to meet Indy's future wife, Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) or her grandson Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf). In Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Indy admonished Mutt to treat his mother right because you only get one, adding with sadness, "and sometimes for not very long".
