Harold J. Stone (born Harold Hochstein, March 3, 1913 – November 18, 2005) was an American stage, radio, film, and television character actor.

Early life and stage career

Stone was born an only child into 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 was forced to drop out to support his mother and fell back on acting. 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 (1939), A Bell for Adano (1944), S.S. Glencairn (1947), Abraham Cochrane (1963), Charley's Aunt (1970), and Ring Around the Bathtub (1971).

Film and television

Stone made his motion-picture debut in the Alan Ladd film noir classic The Blue Dahlia (1946). He then went on to work in small but memorable roles in such films as The Harder They Fall (1956) with Humphrey Bogart, Alfred Hitchcock's The Wrong Man (1956), Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), The Garment Jungle (1957), The Invisible Boy (1957), Spartacus (1960), The Chapman Report (1962), X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes (1963), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), Girl Happy (1965), The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967, as Frank Nitti), The Big Mouth (1967), the Danish film The Olsen Gang in a Fix (1969), The Seven Minutes (1971), Mitchell (1975), and Hardly Working (1980). 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 Bros. 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 Target: The Corruptors!. 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 (1975-1976). 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, The Virginian, The Untouchables, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Mr. Novak, The Twilight Zone, Route 66, Have Gun – Will Travel, The Big Valley, Trackdown (three episodes), Going My Way, Gilligan's Island, Hogan's Heroes (three episodes), Hawaii Five-O, Mannix, Get Smart, Griff, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Welcome Back Kotter, Three's Company, Barney Miller (three episodes) and Charlie's Angels.

Personal life and death

Stone was married twice. His first wife, Jean, died in 1960. He married again in 1962, but two years later separated from his second wife. He had two sons and one daughter. Stone died on November 18, 2005, at age 92, from natural causes at the Motion Picture and Television Retirement Home 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

Selected Television appearances