b. 19 August 1873, Valmont, Colorado, USA, d. 6 March 1959, Hollywood, California, USA. While still a child Stone joined the circus, then played in medicine shows with minstrel troupes, and worked in all manner of theatres. He even crossed the Atlantic Ocean to appear in British music halls. He developed a song and dance act built around his limber and comedic skills. In 1894 he teamed up with David Montgomery and soon their song and dance double act was making nationwide tours of Keith circuit vaudeville theatres. For a number of years they were headliners before appearing on Broadway in The Girl From Up There (1901), a show they then played in London the following year. It was in 1903 that Montgomery and Stone had their greatest success. This was in the Broadway production of The Wizard Of Oz in which Montgomery played The Tin Man while Stone was The Scarecrow. After a long Broadway run, the show toured extensively. Other hit Broadway shows in which they appeared include The Red Mill (1906), in which the duo sang Victor Herbert’s ‘The Streets Of New York’, The Old Town (1909), The Lady Of The Slipper (1912) and Chin-Chin (1914).
Montgomery and Stone retained their standing as one of the country’s best and most popular song and dance double acts until Montgomery’s sudden death in 1917, after which Stone embarked upon a solo career. He took the title role in Jack O’ Lantern (1917) and was in Tip Top (1920). He made some silent films including The Goat (1918), Under The Top, Johnny Get Your Gun (both 1919), Duke Of Chimney Butte (1921), Billy Jim (1922) and Broadway After Dark (1924). Injuries received in a plane crash in 1928 caused him to abandon some of his more extreme acrobatic dance routines. He continued to appear in films, playing in Alice Adams (1935), as the father of Katharine Hepburn’s lead character, The Trail Of The Lonesome Pine, My American Wife (both 1936), Life Begins In College (1937) and The Westerner (1940). He also appeared in the theatre into the mid-40s, appearing on Broadway in a 1945 revival of You Can’t Take It With You. His daughters, Dorothy, Carol and Paula, all became actresses.