| Milburn Stone | |
|---|---|
 Milburn Stone played the role of Dodge City doctor Galen "Doc" Adams on the CBS-TV series "Gunsmoke". | |
| General Actor Information | |
| Birthname: | Hugh Milburn Stone |
| Born: | July 5, 1904 |
| Birthplace | Burrton, Harvey County, Kansas, U.S. |
| Died | June 12, 1980 (aged 75) |
| Death Location | La Jolla, California, U.S. |
| Occupation/ Career: |
Actor/writer/director |
| Years active: | 1919-1975 |
| Known for: | Role as Doc Adams on Gunsmoke as well as long career in films and TV |
| Appearances/Series information | |
| Appeared on: | Gunsmoke (TV series) |
| Episode(s) appeared in: |
604 in series (Seasons 1-20) |
| Appears as: | Galen "Doc" Adams |
Milburn Stone (born July 5, 1904-died June 12, 1980; aged 75) was an American actor and is best known from his role as Doc Adams, appearing in every season of the long-running CBS-TV series Gunsmoke. He was related to actress Madge Blake who starred on the comic ABC-TV Batman series as Aunt Harriet Cooper.
Early life and career[]
Stone was born in Burrton, Kansas, to Herbert Stone and the former Laura Belfield.[1] There, he graduated from Burrton High School, where he was active in the drama club, played basketball, and sang in a barbershop quartet. Stone's brother, Joe Stone, says their uncle Fred Stone, was a versatile actor who appeared on Broadway and in circuses).[2]
Stone's brother, Joe, was a writer who was the author of scripts for three episodes of Gunsmoke.[3]
Stone was a cousin of the character actress Madge Blake.[4]
Although Stone had a congressional appointment to the United States Naval Academy, he turned it down, choosing instead to become an actor with a stock theater company headed by Helen Ross.[1]
Career[]
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 1939 he played Stephen Douglas in the movie Young Mr, Lincoln with Henry Fonda and Ward Bond. In 1939 he appeared in When Tomorrow Comes as head busboy (uncredited). 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 also in 1943. Signed by Universal Pictures in 1943, in the films 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 1944, he portrayed a Ration Board representative in the Universal-produced public service film Prices Unlimited for the U.S. Office of Price Administration and the Office of War Information. One of his film roles was a radio columnist in the Gloria Jean-Kirby Grant musical I'll Remember April. He made such an impression in this film that Universal Studios gave him a starring role (and a similar characterization) in the 1945 serial The Master Key. The same year, he was featured in the Inner Sanctum murder mystery The Frozen Ghost. In 1953, Stone appeared as Charlton Heston's sidekick in Arrowhead, a Western also featuring Brian Keith and Katy Jurado.
In 1955, one of CBS Radio's hit series, the Western Gunsmoke, was adapted for television and recast with different actors for various reasons (William Conrad was judged too obese to play Matt Dillon on camera, Georgia Ellis wasn't viewed as quite telegenic enough to portray Kitty on television, etc.). Howard McNear, the radio Doc Adams (who later played Floyd the barber on television's The Andy Griffith Show), 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 briefly 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.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Television Western Players, 1960–1975: A Biographical Dictionary,Television Western Players, 1960–1975: A Biographical Dictionary (en) pp. 397–398. McFarland (2017). ISBN 9781476628561.
- ↑ Correspondence from Milburn Stone's brother, Joe Stone. gunsmokenet.com (January 23, 1998).
- ↑ Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2003: Film, Television, Radio, Theatre, Dance, Music, Cartoons and Pop Culture,Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2003: Film, Television, Radio, Theatre, Dance, Music, Cartoons and Pop Culture (en). McFarland (2004). ISBN 9780786417568.
- ↑ Beccy Tanner (August 20, 2012). Madge Blake stood out in small roles.
External Links[]
Milburn Stone at the Internet Movie Database- Milburn Stone at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
