Let me explain for a moment. If I have my facts straight, Shirley (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0429250/bio) was told (http://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/shirley-jones/) that if she accepted the mom role in The Partridge Family, her movie career (https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/shirley-jones-talks-giving-up-a-movie-career-for-her-kids-being-a-republican-in-hollywood) would die as a result. To make a long story short, in all seriousness, has Shirley Jones acted in any noteworthy big-screen movies since? It seems like today, she's pretty much known only (https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:RrC65GgXBgcJ:https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-2008-04-17-shirley-story.html+&cd=31&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us) for having been Mrs. Partridge even though she's an Oscar winner. In fairness, you can easily argue that Shirley's career as a top-tier movie star was already winding down (https://premierespeakers.com/shirley-jones/bio) prior to The Partridge Family in 1970.

One argument that I read on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vnxgylafhbk&lc=UgwbDd97FmsU65TnE2l4AaABAg) pondered what Shirley could have achieved with her career had she not married Jack Cassidy. She had the voice the looks and the acting chops to become a major force in Hollywood. But that marriage was in the commentator's eyes, a major distraction and veered her off her career path.

Shirley’s “movie career” in the five years or so prior to The Partridge Family was pretty non distinguished. She was lucky to get the show. How could The Partridge Family ruin a movie career that had already significantly declined?

Shirley’s “movie career” in the five years or so prior to The Partridge Family was pretty non distinguished. She was lucky to get the show. How could The Partridge Family ruin a movie career that had already significantly declined?

Well, I did note in my last sentence in the first paragraph that you could also argue that her movie career was admittedly already significantly in the decline prior to The Partridge Family. If you look at her three year working career (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0429250?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0) up until The Partridge Family, there were two features that went nowhere and mostly TV work. I'm just forwarding what Shirley's "people" were apparently telling her at the time. I'm guessing that television in those days, was still considered a step down or not as prestigious as film work.