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 (1921).
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 (1931),
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.
Man's Desire(1919)
All the Brothers Were Valiant(1953)as Capt. Holt
The Prisoner of Zenda(1952)as The Cardinal
Scaramouche(1952)as Georges de Valmorin
Talk About a Stranger(1952)as Mr. Wardlaw
Just This Once(1952)as Judge Samuel Coulter
Some of the Best(1944)as Self - Commentator
Screen Snapshots, Series 22, No. 7(1943)as Self - Rose Bowl Parade Spectator
Compression(1995)as Self
Extraordinary Women(2011)as Self
Garbo(2005)
Checking Out: Grand Hotel(2004)as Self - At the premiere
