Lewis Shepard Stone (November 15, 1879 - September 12, 1953) was an American actor.
Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, Stone's hair grew gray by the time he was twenty. He fought in the Spanish-American War, then returned to a career as a writer. He soon began acting, but his career was interrupted by World War I. By then he had a white-haired, distinguished appearance, and began appearing in roles which matched his demeanor.
Stone was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1929 for The Patriot. After that, he appeared in several movies with Greta Garbo. His appearance in the highly-successful prison film The Big House furthered his career, and he starred with some of the biggest names in Hollywood in the 1930s, such stars as Norma Shearer, John Gilbert, Ramón Novarro, Clark Gable, and Jean Harlow. He played adventurers in the dinosaur epic The Lost World (1925) with Wallace Beery and The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932) with Boris Karloff, and a police captain in Bureau of Missing Persons (1933).
In 1937, Stone assayed the role which would become his most famous, that of Judge Hardy in the Mickey Rooney "Andy Hardy" series. Stone appeared as the judge in fifteen movies, beginning with You're Only Young Once.
Stone died in Beverly Hills, California on September 12, 1953. Reportedly, he suffered a heart attack while chasing away some neighborhood kids who were throwing rocks at his garage. A photo published in Kenneth Anger's Hollywood Babylon shows Stone's body immediately after the incident.
He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6524 Hollywood Blvd.
By the time that he was 20, Lewis Stone had turned prematurely grey. He enlisted to fight in the Spanish American War and when he returned, he returned to be a writer. This turned to acting and he began to appear in films during the middle teens. His career was again interrupted by war as he served in the cavalry during World War I. After the war, he returned to films and quickly graduated to lead roles. With his distinguished look and grey hair, he was able to play the roles of well mannered romantic men. In 1921, Lewis starred in 'Don't Neglect Your Wife'. In the next year, he starred with Alice Terry, who played the heroine, and Ramon Novarro in 'The Prisoner of Zenda (1922)' and 'Scaramouche (1923)'. In 1924, Metro merged into the new MGM where Lewis remained for the rest of his career. He was busy over the next few years and garnered an Academy Award nomination for 'The Patriot (1928)'. In 1928, he appeared in the first of a series of pictures with Greta Garbo. In 'A Woman of Affairs (1928)' he played the older Doctor, a friend of the family. But two years later in 'Romance (1930)', he played her lover. Lewis made the transition from silent to sound with 'The Trial of Mary Dugan (1929)' which starred Norma Shearer. Sound did not cause Lewis any problems and he continued to be busy with his roles as the distinguished lead. 'The Big House (1930)' was highly successful for MGM and he appeared in other popular movies such as 'The Phantom of Paris (1931)' with John Gilbert and 'Red-Headed Woman (1932)' with Jean Harlow. He appeared with Garbo in 'Inspiration (1931)', 'Mata Hari (1932)', 'Grand Hotel (1932)' and 'Queen Christina (1933)'. In the late 30s he took on a role for which he was long remembered - the role of Judge James Hardy who had a son named Andy. Judge Hardy was the father audiences wanted in the late 30s early 40s. He was kind, intellectual, fair and as patient as he had to be with Andy, played by Mickey Rooney. This series occupied most of his screen time until it ended and he did slow down during the late 40s. In the 50s he continued to appear in a number of pictures including remakes of the two he had made 30 years before with Alice Terry. He suffered a heart attack and died in 1953 after appearing in over 200 films.
