George E. Stone

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George E. Stone (May 18, 1903, Łódź, present-day Poland - May 26, 1967, Woodlands, Los Angeles, California) was a Polish-born actor.

George E. Stone, who was a close friend of writer Damon Runyon, was seemingly born to play characters named Society Max and Toothpick Charlie, and to mouth such colloquialisms as "It is known far and wide" and "More than somewhat." Originally a Broadway "hoofer," Stone made his film bow as "the Sewer Rat" in the Seventh Heaven, a silent film made in 1927. His most prolific film years were 1929 to 1936, during which he showed up in dozens of Warner Brothers "urban" films and backstage musicals, including as the doomed Earle Williams in the 1931 version of The Front Page.

Stone was so closely associated with gangster parts by 1936 that Warners felt obligated to commission a magazine article showing Stone being transformed into a un-gangsterish Spaniard for Anthony Adverse. For producer Hal Roach, Stone played three of his oddest film roles: a self-pitying serial killer in The Housekeeper’s Daughter in 1938, an amorous Indian brave in Road Show in 1940, and Japanese envoy Suki Yaki in The Devil With Hitler in 1942. Stone's most popular role of the 1940s was as "the Runt" in Columbia's Boston Blackie series. In the late '40s, Stone was forced to severely curtail his acting assignments due to failing eyesight. Though he was totally blind by the mid-'50s, Stone's show business friends, aware of the actor's precarious financial state, saw to it that he got TV and film work, even if it meant that his co-stars had to literally lead him by the hand around the set.

Stone, who was known for his child-like voice, had a recurring role on the Perry Mason television series, in which he was given prominent billing as the Court Clerk, a part that required nothing more of him than sitting silently at a desk and occasionally holding a Bible before a witness.