Lewis S. Stone

Lewis Shepard Stone was an American stage and film actor born on November 15, 1879, in Worcester, Massachusetts, the youngest of four children of Philena and Bertrand Stone. His father worked as a boot cutter. Stone received his public education in Worcester before enlisting in the United States Army during the Spanish-American War, where he served as a lieutenant and was later deployed to China to train troops. Following his discharge, he pursued careers in writing and acting.

In the early 1900s, Stone built a reputation as one of the most popular leading men in stock theater in America, holding that position for eight years with the Oliver Morosco Stock Company in Los Angeles. During the summer of 1913, he served as leading man for the season at Elitch Theatre in Denver, Colorado. His Broadway career spanned from 1912 to 1918 and included productions such as Where Poppies Bloom, Nancy Lee, The Brat, Bunny, and Inside the Lines. In 1912, he also appeared in the popular play Bird of Paradise, which starred Laurette Taylor and was later adapted into films in 1932 and 1951.

Stone made his feature film debut in Honor's Altar in 1916, before his stage career was interrupted by service in World War I, during which he held the rank of major in the cavalry. After returning to civilian life, he appeared in First National's 1920 production Nomads of the North as a Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman and took on the title role in the 1922 silent film adaptation of The Prisoner of Zenda. He joined the newly formed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio as a contract player in 1924, a relationship that would last until his death — a span of 29 years, making him the longest-contracted actor at MGM and at any Hollywood studio. During that period he appeared in approximately 100 films for the studio.

Among his notable MGM work, Stone received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in 1929 for his portrayal of Russian Count Pahlen in The Patriot. He appeared in seven films alongside Greta Garbo across both the silent and early sound eras, including Grand Hotel in 1932, in which he played Doctor Otternschlag and delivered the film's closing line. He also played a significant role in the 1933 Garbo film Queen Christina. His performance in the prison drama The Big House advanced his career further, and he took on adventuring roles in The Lost World in 1925 with Wallace Beery and The Mask of Fu Manchu in 1932 with Boris Karloff, as well as a police captain role in Bureau of Missing Persons in 1933.

Beginning in 1937 with You're Only Young Once, Stone originated the role of Judge James Hardy in the Andy Hardy film series starring Mickey Rooney, ultimately appearing as the judge in 14 of the 16 films in the series. Lionel Barrymore had portrayed the character in the first Hardy film, and because Stone died before production began on the final installment, Andy Hardy Comes Home in 1958, the judge's death was written into the script. Stone also appeared with Rooney in the short subject Andy Hardy's Dilemma, which was produced to encourage charitable contributions to the Community Chest. During World War II, Stone, then in his sixties, served as a lieutenant colonel in the California National Guard.

In his personal life, Stone owned a beach house in the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles and in 1930 successfully sued to halt oil drilling in the nearby Venice Beach-Del Ray oil field on grounds of property damage and public nuisance. He also owned a 104-foot luxury schooner yacht named Serena, which was sold in 1937 to Robert Paine Scripps and converted into a research vessel renamed the E. W. Scripps. Stone campaigned for the reelection of President Herbert Hoover in 1932. From 1920 to 1927, he resided at 212 S. Wilton Place in Los Angeles, a property now designated Los Angeles Cultural-Historic Monument number 925.

Stone died on September 12, 1953, in Hancock Park, Los Angeles, at the age of 73, after suffering a heart attack. He was later honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6524 Hollywood Boulevard.