Leonard Stone, Actor with Vast Television Credits
In addition to a memorable role in the big-screen musical Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Stone appeared in dozens of series over a career spanning 50 years.
Leonard Stone, an actor who worked widely in film and television over the course of a career spanning half a century died November 2, 2011, in Encinitas, California. He would have turned 88 the following day.
Stone is remembered by many for the role of Sam Beauregard, the father of Violet Beauregard, one of the golden-ticket recipients in the 1971 feature film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
In the film, based on the 1964 Roald Dahl novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Violet (Denise Nickerson) fails to follow the strict rules set down by the titular candymaker (Gene Wilder) and ends up turning into a blueberry.
Other film credits included Getting Straight, Soylent Green and Mame.
But the vast majority of his work came in television. In the 1960s he had a recurring role on the NBC comedy Camp Runamuck, 1970s he had a recurring role on the CBS comedy Alice, and in the 1990s he had a recurring role as a judge on the NBC drama L.A. Law.
In addition, he appeared as a guest performer on dozens of shows, including Kraft Theatre, Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse, Peter Gunn, Surfside 6, The Untouchables, The Rifleman, The Outer Limits, Dr. Kildare, McHale’s Navy, Rawhide, The Donna Reed Show, The FBI, Lost in Space, Then Came Bronson, Nanny and the Professor, The Partridge Family, The Mod Squad, Love, American Style, The Waltons, Mission: Impossible, Adam-12, Hawaii Five-O, Ironside, Kojak, The Six Million Dollar Man, Gunsmoke, Cannon, Eight Is Enough, M*A*S*H, All in the Family, The Dukes of Hazzard, General Hospital, Hill Street Blues, Night Court, Barney Miller, One Day at a Time, Falcon Crest and many others.
His final acting credit came in 2007, in the made-for-television movie Dorothy, starring Diane Keaton.
Stone was born November 2, 1923, in Salem, Oregon. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, after which he studied drama at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. He then moved to Australia, where he joined the traveling theatre production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical, South Pacific.
Later, upon returning to America, he found work in the New York theater, and in 1959 he was nominated for a Tony Award as Best Supporting or Featured Actor for his supporting performance as George Poppett in the musical Redhead, set in London at the time of Jack the Ripper.
Stone is survived by his wife, three daughters, a son and eight grandchildren.