Harold J. Stone


Harold J. Stone was an American stage, radio, film, and television character actor.

Early life and stage career

Stone was born to a Jewish acting family. At age six, Stone debuted on stage with his father, Jacob Hochstein, in the play White Slaves. A graduate of New York University, he attended the University of Buffalo to study medicine, but he soon altered those career plans and decided instead to become a professional actor.
After gaining considerable acting experience in various plays during the 1930s, Stone was finally cast on Broadway, where between 1939 and the early 1950s he appeared in a series of critically acclaimed productions such as One Touch of Venus and Stalag 17. Some of his other Broadway credits include Morning Star, A Bell for Adano, S.S. Glencairn, Abraham Cochrane, Charley's Aunt, and Ring Around the Bathtub. Later in his career, after working extensively in films and television, Stone periodically returned to the stage, where in the 1960s and 1970s he also directed several off-Broadway and Broadway productions, including Ernest in Love and Charley's Aunt.

Film and television

Stone made his motion picture debut in the Alan Ladd film noir classic The Blue Dahlia. He then went on to work in small but memorable roles in such films as The Harder They Fall with Humphrey Bogart, Alfred Hitchcock's The Wrong Man, Somebody Up There Likes Me, The Garment Jungle, The Invisible Boy, Spartacus, The Chapman Report, ', The Greatest Story Ever Told, Girl Happy, The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, The Big Mouth, The Seven Minutes, Mitchell, and Hardly Working.
By 1949, Stone began to work increasingly on television as well as in films. That year he co-starred on the short-lived live television sitcom The Hartmans. He also performed as Jake Goldberg in the comedy-drama The Goldbergs and as Lieutenant Hauser in the crime series The Walter Winchell File. In 1958 he played Rafe Larkin in the episode "The Last Comanchero" on the ABC/Warner Brothers Western series Cheyenne, and the next year he co-starred as a principal investigator in the syndicated series Grand Jury In the 1961–1962 season, Stone appeared three times in Stephen McNally's ABC crime drama '. Then, in 1963, he appeared with Marsha Hunt in the ABC medical drama Breaking Point. In September 1964, he appeared in the Western series Bonanza in the episode "The Hostage". Also in 1964, Stone performed as the character of Greenbriar in the episode "The Fluellen Family" on the action-adventure series Daniel Boone.
In 1969-1970, Stone portrayed Hamilton Greeley in the NBC comedy series My World and Welcome to It. He also played Sam Steinberg on the 1972-1973 CBS comedy Bridget Loves Bernie, and had the role of Charlie on the CBS comedy Joe and Sons.
Stone eventually made more than 150 guest appearances on television series between the 1950s and mid-1980s. Some of those other series are U.S. Marshal, Stagecoach West, The Rifleman, Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, Cimarron City, The Restless Gun, The Alaskans, The Barbara Stanwyck Show, Sugarfoot, The Islanders, The Tall Man, The Roaring 20's, Empire, I Spy, Hogan's Heroes, The Virginian, The Untouchables, , Mr. Novak, The Twilight Zone, Route 66, Have Gun – Will Travel, The Big Valley, Trackdown, Going My Way, Gilligan's Island, Hogan's Heroes, Hawaii Five-O, Mannix, Get Smart, Griff, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Welcome Back Kotter, Three's Company, Barney Miller and Charlie's Angels.

Personal life and death

Stone was married twice. His first wife, Jean, died in 1960. He then married again in 1962 but two years later separated from his second wife. He had two sons and one daughter. In 2005, at age 92, Stone died of natural causes in the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles.

Awards

In 1964, Stone was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for his role in the CBS dramatic series The Nurses.

Filmography