Biography for
Ezra Stone More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

2 December 1917, New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA

Date of Death

3 March 1994, Perth Amboy, New Jersey, USA (road accident)

Birth Name

Ezra Chaim Feinstone

Mini Biography

An an actor, producer, director, writer, teacher and lecturer who covered all of the important mediums in one way or another, Ezra Stone will be forever known for introducing the likable but awkward, chaos-inducing adolescent Henry Aldrich on stage and radio. Stone's cracking voice would become a a familiar sound in living rooms for well over a decade. He would become permanently identified with the eternal teen despite the fact that he would attain various degrees of success in other avenues of entertainment.

Born on December 2, 1917, in New Bedford Massachusetts, Stone was born Ezra Chaim Feinstone, the son of Solomon Feinstone, a chemist, teacher and philanthropist, and the former Rose Meadow. He made his debut at age 6 in a play entitled "Phosphorus and Suppressed Desires" for the YMHA players in Philadelphia. He also toured with the National Junior Theatre of Washington, D.C. in 1931-1932 before graduating from the Oak Lane Country Day School of Temple University in 1934. He studied for the stage at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and made his New York debut playing seven roles in the musical revue "Parade" in 1935. Although the ebullient teen built up his young marquee name with such popular comedies as "Room Service," "Three Men on a Horse" and "Brother Rat," he found his real pot of gold winning the stage role of Henry Aldrich in "What a Life" in 1938. More riches came his way on Broadway with the role of Dromio in "The Boys from Syracuse" and Arthur Lee in "See My Lawyer." 21 at the time, Stone started playing the teenage Henry on radio in 1939. Each week for a healthy 13 years, the disaster-prone youth was summoned into millions of homes to the eternal lament of his long-suffering mother: "Hen-reeee! Henry Aldrich!" -- which was invariably followed by Henry's anguished reply: "Coming Mother!" By 1941 "The Aldrich Family" was rated among the "top ten" programs alongside Jack Benny and Bob Hope's popular shows. As for films, Stone never got it in gear and can only be witnessed as a prime support in the "B" movie Those Were the Days! (1940) as Allie Bang, although he did play a cameo as himself, Sgt. Ezra Stone, in the feature film version of This Is the Army (1943). He had appeared in the stage play a year before. WWII intervened in 1942 but Stone managed to incorporate his life's passion into his military duties by directing and appearing in a number of U.S. Army Special Service productions. On October 5, 1942, he married actress/director/teacher Sara Seegar. They had two children, Josef and Francine.

Following the war Stone focused on writing and directing. During TV's 'golden age' he not only wrote sketches for the sitcom "The Aldrich Family" (1949), which ran for four seasons, but also for shows starring TV's funniest: Danny Thomas, Milton Berle, Fred Allen and Martha Raye. At around the same time he directed a number of Broadway productions including "Me and Molly," the farcical "At War with the Army," which also featured his wife, and "Wake Up, Darling." In the 60s Stone directed sitcoms, making the rounds on such TV sets as "Petticoat Junction," "The Munsters," "Lost in Space" and "The Flying Nun." He and wife Sara were married for 48 years until her death in 1990. Four years later, the icon of "old time" radio was fatally injured in a one-vehicle road accident in New Jersey at age 76.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net

Spouse

Sara Seegar

(5 October 1942 - 12 August 1990) (her death) 2 children

Trivia

Trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, he later was the founder and executive director of the postgraduate professional center of the AADA and taught at the American Theatre Wing's Professional Training Program from 1946 to 1958.

During Stone's WWII military duty, which started in 1942, the role of teenage Henry Aldrich on the popular 1939-1953 radio serial was played by another actor--Norman Tokar, who later spent many years as a director at Disney--who actually was a teenager (19) and who had been Stone's longtime understudy. After a few others voiced the role, Stone resumed the voice in 1945 following his discharge and continued until 1952, when Robert Ellis finished out the role into 1953.

Profiled in "Old Time Radio Memories" by Mel Simons (BearManor Media).

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Radio at 1634 Vine Street in Hollywood, California.

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