Milburn Stone
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hugh Milburn Stone (July 5, 1904 – June 12, 1980) was an American actor, best known for his role as "Doc" (Dr. Galen Adams) on the CBS Western series Gunsmoke.
Stone was born in Burrton, Kansas, to Herbert Stone and the former Laura Belfield. There, he graduated from Burrton High School, where he was active in the drama club, played basketball, and sang in a barbershop quartet.
His brother, Joe, was a writer who was the author of scripts for three episodes of Gunsmoke.
In 1919, Stone debuted on stage in a Kansas tent show. He ventured into vaudeville in the late 1920s, and in 1930, he was half of the Stone and Strain song-and-dance act. His Broadway credits include Around the Corner (1936) and Jayhawker (1934).
In the 1930s, Stone came to Los Angeles, California, to launch his own screen career. He was featured in the "Tailspin Tommy" adventure serial for Monogram Pictures. In 1940, he appeared with Marjorie Reynolds, Tristram Coffin, and I. Stanford Jolley in the comedy espionage film Chasing Trouble. That same year, he co-starred with Roy Rogers in the film Colorado in the role of Rogers' brother-gone-wrong.
Stone appeared uncredited in the 1939 film Blackwell's Island. Stone played Dr. Blake in the 1943 film Gung Ho! and a liberal-minded warden in Monogram Pictures' Prison Mutiny in 1943. Signed by Universal Pictures in 1943, in the film Captive Wild Woman (1943), Jungle Woman (1943), Sherlock Holmes Faces Death [Captain Pat Vickery], (1944), he became a familiar face in its features and serials.
In 1955, one of CBS Radio's hit series, the Western Gunsmoke, was adapted for television and recast with experienced screen actors. Howard McNear, the radio Doc Adams, was replaced by Stone, who gave the role a harder edge consistent with his screen portrayals. He stayed with Gunsmoke through its entire television run, with the exception of 7 episodes in 1971, when Stone required heart surgery and Pat Hingle replaced him as Dr. Chapman. Stone appeared in 604 episodes through 1975, often shown sparring in a friendly manner with co-stars Dennis Weaver and Ken Curtis, who played, respectively, Chester Goode and Festus Haggen.
In June 1980, Stone died of a heart attack in La Jolla. He was survived by his second wife, the former Jane Garrison, a native of Hutchinson, Kansas, who died in 2002. Stone had a surviving daughter, Shirley Stone Gleason (born circa 1926) of Costa Mesa, California, from his first marriage of 12 years to Ellen Morrison, formerly of Delphos, Kansas, who died in 1937. He was buried at the El Camino Memorial Park in Sorrento Valley, San Diego.
In 1968, Stone received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Drama for his work on Gunsmoke.
For his contribution to the television industry, Milburn Stone has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard. In 1981, Stone was inducted posthumously into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. After his death, he left a legacy for the performing arts in Cecil County in northeastern Maryland, by way of the Milburn Stone Theatre in North East, Maryland.
Acted in
Hollywood Classic Special
2010
When the West Was Fun: A Western Reunion
1979
as Self
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts
1973
as Self
The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour
1969
as Self
Drango
1957
as Col. Bracken
Gunsmoke
1955
as Doc
The Private War of Major Benson
1955
as Maj. Gen. Wilton J. Ramsey
Smoke Signal
1955
as Sergeant Miles
White Feather
1955
as Commissioner Trenton
The Long Gray Line
1955
as John Pershing
Black Tuesday
1954
as Father Slocum
Climax!
1954
as Mr. Dale
The Siege at Red River
1954
as Sgt. Benjamin 'Benjy' Guderman
Arrowhead
1953
as Sandy MacKinnon
Second Chance
1953
as Edward Dawson (uncredited)
Pickup on South Street
1953
as Detective Winoki
The Sun Shines Bright
1953
as Horace K. Maydew
Invaders from Mars
1953
as Army Capt. Roth
Behind Southern Lines
1952
The Savage
1952
as Cpl. Martin
The Atomic City
1952
as Insp. Harold Mann
Dragnet
1951
The Racket
1951
as Member of Craig's Team (uncredited)
Roadblock
1951
as Ray Egan
Flying Leathernecks
1951
as Fleet CIC Radio Operator (uncredited)
Racket Squad
1951
The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
1951
Operation Pacific
1951
as Ground Control Officer (uncredited)
The Fireball
1950
as Jeff Davis
Branded
1950
as Dawson
Snow Dog
1950
as Dr. F. J. McKenzie
No Man of Her Own
1950
as Plainclothesman
Calamity Jane and Sam Bass
1949
as Abe Jones
Sky Dragon
1949
as Pilot Tim Norton
The Green Promise
1949
as Rev. Benton
The Judge
1949
as Martin Strang
Train to Alcatraz
1948
as Bart Kanin
Heading for Heaven
1947
as Elwood Harding
Killer McCoy
1947
as Henchman (uncredited)
Michigan Kid
1947
as Lanny Slade
Killer Dill
1947
as Maboose
Buck Privates Come Home
1947
as Announcer
Danger Woman
1946
as Gerald King
Inside Job
1946
as District Attorney Sutton
Her Adventurous Night
1946
as Cop #1
Strange Conquest
1946
as Bert Morrow
The Spider Woman Strikes Back
1946
as Mr. Moore
Little Giant
1946
as Prof. Watkins (uncredited) (voice)
Smooth as Silk
1946
as John Kimble
The Scarlet Horseman
1946
as Narrator
Little Miss Big
1946
as Father Lennergan
The Daltons Ride Again
1945
as Parker W. Graham
The Royal Mounted Rides Again
1945
as Brad Taggart
Strange Confession
1945
as Stevens
The Beautiful Cheat
1945
as Lucius Haven
On Stage Everybody
1945
as Fitzgerald
The Frozen Ghost
1945
as George Keene
Swing Out, Sister
1945
as Tim Colby
The Master Key
1945
as Agent Tom Brant
I'll Remember April
1945
as Willie Winchester
Enemy Bacteria
1945
as Doctor
She Gets Her Man
1945
as 'Tommy Gun' Tucker
Jungle Woman
1944
as Fred Mason
Twilight on the Prairie
1944
as Gainsworth
The Great Alaskan Mystery
1944
as Jim Hudson
Moon Over Las Vegas
1944
as Jim Bradley
Hi, Good Lookin'!
1944
as Gib Dickson
Hi, Good Lookin'!
1944
as Bill Eaton
Prices Unlimited
1944
Weird Woman
1944
Phantom Lady
1944
as District Attorney (voice) (uncredited)
Gung Ho!
1943
as Cmdr. Blake
The Mad Ghoul
1943
as Sgt. Macklin
Corvette K-225
1943
as Canadian Captain
Sherlock Holmes Faces Death
1943
as Capt. Pat Vickery
Destroyer
1943
as Radioman (uncredited)
Get Going
1943
as Mr. Tuttle
Captive Wild Woman
1943
as Fred Mason
Keep 'Em Slugging
1943
as Duke Redman
You Can't Beat the Law
1943
as Frank Sanders
Silent Witness
1943
as Racketeer Joe Manson
Eyes in the Night
1942
as Detective Pete (Uncredited)
Invisible Agent
1942
as German Sergeant (uncredited)
Rubber Racketeers
1942
as Angel
Pacific Rendezvous
1942
as Hotel Desk Clerk
Reap the Wild Wind
1942
as Lieutenant Farragut
Frisco Lil
1942
No Hands on the Clock
1941
as FBI Agent
Death Valley Outlaws
1941
as Jeff
The Great Train Robbery
1941
as Duke Logan
The Phantom Cowboy
1941
as Stan Borden
Give Us Wings
1940
as Tex Austin
The Great Plane Robbery
1940
as Krebber
Colorado
1940
as Don Burke - alias Capt. Donald Mason
Public Deb No. 1
1940
as Reporter
Buyer Beware
1940
as Fredericks (uncredited)
American Portrait
1940
as George
Lillian Russell
1940
as Jack - Reporter
An Angel from Texas
1940
as 'Pooch' Davis
Johnny Apollo
1940
as Reporter (uncredited)
Enemy Agent
1940
as Meeker
Framed
1940
as Mathew Mattison
Chasing Trouble
1940
as Pat Callahan
The Big Guy
1939
as Publicity man (uncredited)
Charlie McCarthy, Detective
1939
as Joe Felton
Nick Carter, Master Detective
1939
as Krebs - 2d hurt worker
Crashing Thru
1939
as Delos Harrington
Fighting Mad
1939
as Cardigan
Danger Flight
1939
as Skeeter
Sky Patrol
1939
as Skeeter Milligan
Tropic Fury
1939
as Thomas E. Snell (as Milburne Stone)
When Tomorrow Comes
1939
Stunt Pilot
1939
as 'Skeeter' Milligan
Young Mr. Lincoln
1939
as Stephen A. Douglas (uncredited)
Blind Alley
1939
as Nick
Mystery Plane
1939
as Skeeter Milligan
Society Smugglers
1939
as Peter Garfield
Tail Spin
1939
as Kansas City Mechanic (Uncredited)
King of the Turf
1939
as Taylor
Made for Each Other
1939
as Newark Official (uncredited)
Blackwell's Island
1939
as Max (uncredited)
California Frontier
1938
as Mal Halstead
Paroled from the Big House
1938
as Commissioner Downey
Wives Under Suspicion
1938
as Kirk
Sinners in Paradise
1938
as T.L. Honeyman
Port of Missing Girls
1938
as Jim Benton
Mr. Boggs Steps Out
1938
as Burns
Federal Bullets
1937
as Tommy Thompson, Federal Agent
Music for Madame
1937
as Detective (Uncredited)
Youth on Parole
1937
as Ratty
Atlantic Flight
1937
as Henry Wadsworth Schultz
The 13th Man
1937
as Jimmy Moran
Blazing Barriers
1937
as Joe Waters
The Wildcatter
1937
as Ed
Wings Over Honolulu
1937
as Telephone Operator
They Gave Him a Gun
1937
as Defense Attorney (uncredited)
Swing It Professor
1937
as Lou Morgan
A Doctor's Diary
1937
as Fred Clark
The Accusing Finger
1936
as Convict
Two in a Crowd
1936
as Kennedy (uncredited)
Murder with Pictures
1936
as Operator (uncredited)
The Three Mesquiteers
1936
as John
China Clipper
1936
as Radio Operator
The Princess Comes Across
1936
as American Reporter (uncredited)
Rendezvous
1935
as Carter's Aide (uncredited)
Cheers of the Crowd
1935
as Reporter (uncredited)