Leonard Stone

Leonard Stone was a prolific character actor with more than 130 television and film credits in a career that has spanned 50 years. Stone may well be best known for his role as Mr. Beauregarde, the father of golden ticket winner and blueberry gum victim Violet Beauregarde in the fantastical 1971 film classic "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory." Stone made his TV debut in 1956, appearing on an episode each of "Kraft Theatre" and "Studio One in Hollywood." During the 1960s, Stone appeared seemingly everywhere, with recurring guest parts on such TV institutions as "Perry Mason" and "Mission: Impossible," along with a key supporting role on the lesser-known comedy "Camp Runamuck," on which he played Doc Joslyn for 13 episodes from 1965 to 1966. In the 1970s, alongside his appearance in "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory," Stone was on four episodes of the crime mystery "Mannix" and began multi-episode stints on such comedies as "Barney Miller" and "Alice," and on the crime mystery "Quincy M.E.," all of which ran into the '80s. Stone's most notable late-career gig began in 1988, as Judge Paul Hanson on the hit procedural drama "L.A. Law," on which he appeared in 10 episodes over the course of six years. He died in 2011, just one day before of his 88th birthday.