Rob Stone (actor)
Encyclopedia
Rob Stone is an American actor and director from Dallas, Texas
, best known for playing teen Kevin Owens on the 1985–1990 sitcom Mr. Belvedere
. He later became a writer and director of documentary films, and also performed as part of a band.
.
Stone began acting at the age of 13, first appearing onstage in a production of "Santa Fe Sunshine" at the Dallas Theater Center
. In 1982, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting degree at the University of Southern California
's drama school.
In addition to his role on Mr. Belvedere, Stone also appeared on episodes of the American television series The Facts of Life
, Silver Spoons
, 21 Jump Street
and Matlock
.
Andrew Greeley
, writing in The New York Times
, called Stone's acting in one episode of Mr. Belvedere "very sensitive". Discussing that episode, he wrote "The subtle interplay between the two young people (played by Rob Stone and Debbie Barker) provided some of the most touching and skillful scenes I've ever seen on television."
In 1986, Stone established Vienna Productions to make documentary films. The company's first project was a short film on homelessness called "The Sidewalk Motel", made in 1990. The film starred Christopher Hewett
and Caroline Lagerfelt
. Hewett and Stone had previously worked together on Mr. Belvedere, in which Hewett played the title role.
Bruce Springsteen
performed Woody Guthrie
's song "I Ain't Got No Home" for this film. It "was shot under a Screen Actors Guild experimental letter agreement that is designed to help new directors with non-commercial projects."
Also produced by the company was the two-hour Blue Angels
documentary "Blue Angels: Around the World At the Speed of Sound", hosted by Dennis Quaid
. The film was shown on the Arts & Entertainment Network, and won a CableACE Award
in 1995.
Other documentaries directed by Stone or produced by his production company include "Thunder Over the Pacific", hosted by Candice Bergen
, and "Into the Wild Blue", hosted by Tom Skerritt
, both shown on The History Channel
; "The 30th Anniversary of Title IX", featuring Billie Jean King
; and "Sir William Osler: Science and the Art of Medicine", narrated by Richard Dreyfuss
. In 1998, Stone directed "One Vision", a documentary about film directing, which included interviews with Martin Scorsese
, Oliver Stone
, Quentin Tarantino
, Robert Zemeckis
, Sydney Pollack
, Rob Reiner
, Penny Marshall
, and Ron Howard
.
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, best known for playing teen Kevin Owens on the 1985–1990 sitcom Mr. Belvedere
Mr. Belvedere
Mr. Belvedere is an American sitcom that originally aired on ABC from March 15, 1985, until July 8, 1990. The series was based on the Lynn Aloysius Belvedere character created by Gwen Davenport for her 1947 novel Belvedere, which was later adapted into the 1948 film Sitting Pretty...
. He later became a writer and director of documentary films, and also performed as part of a band.
Biography
Stone is a native of Dallas and is the son of Dr. Marvin and Jill Stone. His father was chief of oncology at the Sammons Cancer Center at Baylor University Medical CenterBaylor University Medical Center
Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas is a faith-based, not-for-profit hospital. In 1903, the hospital opened with 25 beds; today it is a patient care, teaching and research center for the Southwest. Baylor Dallas has 1025 licensed beds and serves as the flagship hospital of Baylor Health...
.
Stone began acting at the age of 13, first appearing onstage in a production of "Santa Fe Sunshine" at the Dallas Theater Center
Dallas Theater Center
The Dallas Theater Center is a major regional theater in Dallas, Texas . It produces classic, contemporary and new plays. The theater was based in the Kalita Humphreys Theater, a building designed by famous American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, from 1959 to 2009...
. In 1982, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting degree at the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
's drama school.
In addition to his role on Mr. Belvedere, Stone also appeared on episodes of the American television series The Facts of Life
The Facts of Life (TV series)
The Facts of Life is an American sitcom that originally ran on the NBC television network from August 24, 1979 to May 7, 1988. A spin-off of the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, the series' premise focused on Edna Garrett as she becomes a housemother at the fictional Eastland School, a prestigious...
, Silver Spoons
Silver Spoons
Silver Spoons is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from September 25, 1982 to May 11, 1986 and in first-run syndication from September 15, 1986 to March 4, 1987...
, 21 Jump Street
21 Jump Street
21 Jump Street is an American police procedural crime drama television series that aired on the Fox Network from April 12, 1987, to April 27, 1991, with a total of 103 episodes. The series focused on a squad of youthful-looking undercover police officers investigating crimes in high schools,...
and Matlock
Matlock (TV series)
Matlock is an American television legal drama, starring Andy Griffith in the title role of attorney Ben Matlock. The show originally aired from September 23, 1986 to May 8, 1992 on NBC, where it replaced The A-Team, then from November 5, 1992 until May 7, 1995 on ABC.The show's format was similar...
.
Andrew Greeley
Andrew Greeley
Father Andrew M. Greeley is an Irish-American Roman Catholic priest, sociologist, journalist and fiction writer....
, writing in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, called Stone's acting in one episode of Mr. Belvedere "very sensitive". Discussing that episode, he wrote "The subtle interplay between the two young people (played by Rob Stone and Debbie Barker) provided some of the most touching and skillful scenes I've ever seen on television."
In 1986, Stone established Vienna Productions to make documentary films. The company's first project was a short film on homelessness called "The Sidewalk Motel", made in 1990. The film starred Christopher Hewett
Christopher Hewett
Christopher Michael Hewett was an English actor and theatre director best known for his role as Lynn Belvedere on the ABC sitcom Mr. Belvedere.-Career:...
and Caroline Lagerfelt
Caroline Lagerfelt
Caroline Eugenie "Carolyn" Lagerfelt is a French-born stage, film, and television actress of Swedish descent, long-based in the United States.-Early life and education:...
. Hewett and Stone had previously worked together on Mr. Belvedere, in which Hewett played the title role.
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
performed Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
's song "I Ain't Got No Home" for this film. It "was shot under a Screen Actors Guild experimental letter agreement that is designed to help new directors with non-commercial projects."
Also produced by the company was the two-hour Blue Angels
Blue Angels
The United States Navy's Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, popularly known as the Blue Angels, was formed in 1946 and is currently the oldest formal flying aerobatic team...
documentary "Blue Angels: Around the World At the Speed of Sound", hosted by Dennis Quaid
Dennis Quaid
Dennis William Quaid is an American actor known for his comedic and dramatic roles. First gaining widespread attention in the 1980s, his career rebounded in the 1990s after he overcame an addiction to drugs and an eating disorder...
. The film was shown on the Arts & Entertainment Network, and won a CableACE Award
CableACE Award
The CableACE Award was an award that was given from 1978 to 1997 to honor excellence in American cable television programming...
in 1995.
Other documentaries directed by Stone or produced by his production company include "Thunder Over the Pacific", hosted by Candice Bergen
Candice Bergen
Candice Patricia Bergen is an American actress and former fashion model.She is known for starring in two TV series, as the title character on the situation comedy Murphy Brown , for which she won five Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards; and as Shirley Schmidt on the comedy-drama Boston Legal...
, and "Into the Wild Blue", hosted by Tom Skerritt
Tom Skerritt
Thomas Roy "Tom" Skerritt is an American actor who has appeared in over 40 films and more than 200 television episodes since 1962.-Early life:...
, both shown on The History Channel
The History Channel
History, formerly known as The History Channel, is an American-based international satellite and cable TV channel that broadcasts a variety of reality shows and documentary programs including those of fictional and non-fictional historical content, together with speculation about the future.-...
; "The 30th Anniversary of Title IX", featuring Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King is a former professional tennis player from the United States. She won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. King has been an advocate against sexism in sports and society...
; and "Sir William Osler: Science and the Art of Medicine", narrated by Richard Dreyfuss
Richard Dreyfuss
Richard Stephen Dreyfuss is an American actor best known for starring in a number of film, television, and theater roles since the late 1960s, including the films American Graffiti, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Goodbye Girl, Whose Life Is It Anyway?, Stakeout, Always, What About...
. In 1998, Stone directed "One Vision", a documentary about film directing, which included interviews with Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
, Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
, Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
, Robert Zemeckis
Robert Zemeckis
Robert Lee Zemeckis is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Zemeckis first came to public attention in the 1980s as the director of the comedic time-travel Back to the Future film series, as well as the Academy Award-winning live-action/animation epic Who Framed Roger Rabbit ,...
, Sydney Pollack
Sydney Pollack
Sydney Irwin Pollack was an American film director, producer and actor. Pollack studied with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City, where he later taught acting...
, Rob Reiner
Rob Reiner
Robert "Rob" Reiner is an American actor, director, producer, writer, and political activist.As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence as Archie and Edith Bunker's son-in-law, Michael "Meathead" Stivic, on All in the Family. That role earned him two Emmy Awards during the 1970s...
, Penny Marshall
Penny Marshall
Penny Marshall is an American actress, producer and director.After playing several small roles for television, she was cast as Laverne DeFazio in the sitcom Laverne and Shirley...
, and Ron Howard
Ron Howard
Ronald William "Ron" Howard is an American actor, director, and producer. He came to prominence as a child actor, playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years, and later the teenaged Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days for six years...
.