Get a closer look at some of Hollywood's perfect pairs.

Hollywood Power Couples

Get a closer look at some of Hollywood&#39;s perfect pairs.

Take a peek at the biggest new and returning series coming to your screens in 2025, including new seasons of "Reacher" and "The White Lotus"

IMDb's Guide to TV in 2025

Take a peek at the biggest new and returning series coming to your screens in 2025, including new seasons of &quot;Reacher&quot; and &quot;The White Lotus&quot;

Character actor Milburn Stone, the beloved "Doc Adams" on TV's long-running western classic Gunsmoke (1955), was born in Kansas on July 5, 1904. Acting must have been in his blood as the nephew of Broadway comedian Fred Stone for Milburn left home as a teenager to find work with touring repertory troupes. Emulating his famous uncle Fred, he appeared in vaudeville as part of a song-and-dance team called "Stone and Strain."

Following a minor appearance on Broadway in "The Jayhawkers," Milburn moved to Los Angeles in 1935 to try his luck in films. He toiled for years in mostly unbilled parts for 'poverty row' Monogram Pictures and a few major studios, apprenticing in a number of background roles as both benign fellows (clerks, reporters, sailors, detectives) and bad guys (convicts, robbers, henchmen) in such films as Ladies Crave Excitement (1935), The Fighting Marines (1935), The Princess Comes Across (1936), Banjo on My Knee (1936) and They Gave Him a Gun (1937)

Out of the blue he would occasionally nab a heroic film lead in films as the crime drama Federal Bullets (1937) and The Judge (1949) or serial thrillers as The Great Alaskan Mystery (1944) and The Master Key (1945), then would invariably go right back to unbilled status in his very next role. One memorable featured part (which was also unbilled) was as debater Stephen A. Douglass in John Ford's Young Mr. Lincoln (1939). In addition he played a regular support role as pal/co-pilot "Skeeter Milligan" in the "Tommy Tailspin" airborne film quickies Mystery Plane (1939), Sky Patrol (1939) and Danger Flight (1939).

Other higher visible support roles occurred in such films as the Roy Rogers western Colorado (1940), as well as Captive Wild Woman (1943), The Frozen Ghost (1945), Roadblock (1951), Black Tuesday (1954), Smoke Signal (1955). He also went on to appear in a couple of John Ford's later features such as Simone Bär and The Long Gray Line (1955).

When the crusty but lovable role of "Doc Adams" finally landed at his feet in 1955, Milburn was only too appreciative to experience a steady paycheck. He became an "overnight" star and, along with Matt Dillon's James Arness, earned an Emmy Award for "supporting actor" and stayed a citizen of Dodge City throughout its entire 20-year run (500 episodes). In 1971, Stone was temporarily sidelined by a heart attack and briefly replaced by another "doc" played by Pat Hingle. The ever-durable Stone missed only seven episodes, however, and did return on a more limited basis.

Fully retired to his ranch in 1975 after the show's cancellation, he was eventually awarded an honorary doctorate from St. Mary of the Plains College in (of course) Dodge City, Kansas. Married to Jane Garrison, the 75-year-old veteran died of a heart attack on June 12, 1980 in La Jolla, California. His wife passed away much later in 2002.

Inducted (as a cast member of <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/title/tt0047736/?ref_=nmtrv_trv">Gunsmoke (1955)</a>) into the Hall of Great Western
Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in
1981.

In 1961, he sold his residual rights of <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/title/tt0047736/?ref_=nmtrv_trv">Gunsmoke (1955)</a> to CBS for $100,000.

Was at one time a singer with <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/name/nm1280685/?ref_=nmtrv_trv">Harry James and His Orchestra</a>.

Was known on Gunsmoke set to insist on authenticity .

Best remembered by the public for his role as &#39;Doc&#39; Adams on <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/title/tt0047736/?ref_=nmtrv_trv">Gunsmoke (1955)</a>.

Wife Jane Garrison: b. 23 November 1912, Hutchinson, Kansas, USA; d. 20
October 2002, Rancho Santa Fe, California, USA.

Brother of <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/name/nm1335846/?ref_=nmtrv_trv">Charles Joseph Stone</a>.

Nephew of <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/name/nm0831872/?ref_=nmtrv_trv">Fred Stone</a>, cousin of <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/name/nm0832096/?ref_=nmtrv_trv">Paula Stone</a>.

Trivia

Milburn Stone

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