Milburn Stone
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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.
Known for
Climax!
Mr. Dale
Dragnet
Gunsmoke
Doc
The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
White Feather
Commissioner Trenton
The Fireball
Jeff Davis
Arrowhead
Sandy MacKinnon
Fighting Mad
Cardigan
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts
Self
Invisible Agent
German Sergeant (uncredited)
Tropic Fury
Thomas E. Snell
The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour
Self
I'll Remember April
Willie Winchester
Roadblock
Ray Egan
Buyer Beware
Fredericks (uncredited)
Give Us Wings
Tex Austin
The Big Guy
Publicity man (uncredited)
Society Smugglers
Peter Garfield
Killer McCoy
Henchman (uncredited)
Framed
Mathew Mattison
Crashing Thru
Delos Harrington
Michigan Kid
Lanny Slade
Heading for Heaven
Elwood Harding
Racket Squad
Blind Alley
Nick
Young Mr. Lincoln
Stephen A. Douglas (uncredited)
Branded
Dawson
Wives Under Suspicion
Kirk
Danger Flight
Skeeter
China Clipper
Radio Operator
Hi, Good Lookin'!
Bill Eaton
Hi, Good Lookin'!
Gib Dickson
Death Valley Outlaws
Jeff
They Gave Him a Gun
Defense Attorney (uncredited)
Mystery Plane
Skeeter Milligan
The Beautiful Cheat
Lucius Haven
Little Giant
Prof. Watkins (uncredited) (voice)
The Three Mesquiteers
John
Snow Dog
Dr. F. J. McKenzie
The Phantom Cowboy
Stan Borden
Sky Dragon
Pilot Tim Norton
Colorado
Don Burke - alias Capt. Donald Mason
The Savage
Cpl. Martin
Little Miss Big
Father Lennergan
Get Going
Mr. Tuttle
The Frozen Ghost
George Keene
Danger Woman
Gerald King
The 13th Man
Jimmy Moran
Invaders from Mars
Army Capt. Roth
Second Chance
Edward Dawson (uncredited)
Two in a Crowd
Kennedy (uncredited)
Prices Unlimited
The Racket
Member of Craig's Team (uncredited)
The Scarlet Horseman
Narrator
Reap the Wild Wind
Lieutenant Farragut
The Long Gray Line
Captain John J. Pershing
Nick Carter, Master Detective
Krebs - 2d hurt worker
Phantom Lady
District Attorney (voice) (uncredited)
Gung Ho!
Cmdr. Blake
Pickup on South Street
Detective Winoki
The Judge
Martin Strang
Black Tuesday
Father Slocum
Flying Leathernecks
Fleet CIC Radio Operator (uncredited)
No Man of Her Own
Plainclothesman
The Princess Comes Across
American Reporter (uncredited)
Smoke Signal
Sergeant Miles
Jungle Woman
Fred Mason
The Private War of Major Benson
Maj. Gen. Wilton J. Ramsey
Operation Pacific
Ground Control Officer (uncredited)
Made for Each Other
Newark Official (uncredited)
The Master Key
Agent Tom Brant
Destroyer
Radioman (uncredited)
Wings Over Honolulu
Telephone Operator
Sherlock Holmes Faces Death
Capt. Pat Vickery
The Sun Shines Bright
Horace K. Maydew
Drango
Col. Bracken
Eyes in the Night
Detective Pete (Uncredited)
Weird Woman
Pacific Rendezvous
Hotel Desk Clerk
Public Deb No. 1
Reporter
When the West Was Fun: A Western Reunion
Self
Her Adventurous Night
Cop #1
Buck Privates Come Home
Announcer
Rendezvous
Carter's Aide (uncredited)
Calamity Jane and Sam Bass
Abe Jones
Charlie McCarthy, Detective
Joe Felton
Tail Spin
Kansas City Mechanic (Uncredited)
When Tomorrow Comes
Head Busboy (uncredited)
The Siege at Red River
Sgt. Benjamin 'Benjy' Guderman
The Atomic City
Insp. Harold Mann
Johnny Apollo
Reporter (uncredited)
She Gets Her Man
'Tommy Gun' Tucker
No Hands on the Clock
FBI Agent
Corvette K-225
Canadian Captain
A Doctor's Diary
Fred Clark
Swing Out, Sister
Tim Colby
Train to Alcatraz
Bart Kanin
The Accusing Finger
Convict
Lillian Russell
Jack - Reporter
Smooth as Silk
John Kimble (District Attorney)
The Great Train Robbery
Duke Logan
The Spider Woman Strikes Back
Mr. Moore
The Mad Ghoul
Sgt. Macklin
Youth on Parole
Ratty
Blackwell's Island
Max (uncredited)
Moon Over Las Vegas
Jim Bradley
Murder with Pictures
Operator (uncredited)
Inside Job
District Attorney Sutton
The Royal Mounted Rides Again
Brad Taggart
California Frontier
Mal Halstead
Keep 'Em Slugging
Duke Redman
Captive Wild Woman
Fred Mason
The Green Promise
Rev. Benton
The Wildcatter
Ed
Rubber Racketeers
Angel
The Great Alaskan Mystery
Jim Hudson
Strange Confession
Stevens
An Angel from Texas
'Pooch' Davis
Stunt Pilot
'Skeeter' Milligan
Chasing Trouble
Pat Callahan
The Daltons Ride Again
Parker W. Graham
Sinners in Paradise
T.L. Honeyman
Silent Witness
Racketeer Joe Manson
Sky Patrol
Skeeter Milligan
Mr. Boggs Steps Out
Burns
Music for Madame
Detective (Uncredited)
Cheers of the Crowd
Reporter (uncredited)
Frisco Lil
Port of Missing Girls
Jim Benton
On Stage Everybody
Fitzgerald
Killer Dill
Maboose
Blazing Barriers
Joe Waters
Enemy Bacteria
Doctor
Strange Conquest
Bert Morrow
You Can't Beat the Law
Frank Sanders
Swing It Professor
Lou Morgan
Behind Southern Lines
King of the Turf
Taylor
Twilight on the Prairie
Gainsworth
The Great Plane Robbery
Krebber
Paroled from the Big House
Commissioner Downey
Enemy Agent
Meeker
Atlantic Flight
Henry Wadsworth Schultz
American Portrait
George
Federal Bullets
Tommy Thompson, Federal Agent