Stone is perhaps best remembered by the general public for the screenplays he wrote or co-wrote in the mid-1960s, Charade (1963), Father Goose (1964), and Mirage (1965).
[2] Hilda was a Bavarian Jew from Bamberg, but was born in Mexico (her father dodged the draft in the 1870s) and lived there for five years with her family until all foreign nationals were kicked out during the Mexican Revolution of 1910.
Stone describes this as "a really great opportunity came to me through what should have been emotionally wrenching, but wasn't", stating that his mother hated Hollywood and was finally happy.
He also did television features on subjects like the Arc de Triomphe horse race, the Cannes Film Festival and Princess Grace's wedding.
[9] On 2 November 1961 Kean premiered on Broadway, with music and lyrics by Robert Wright and George Forrest, and Stone as playwright.
Stone said of him, "terribly talented, successful and sophisticate man", when asking Loesser where songs went and other questions about musical structure, and said he was "more than helpful, he was inspiring".
One of his Defenders episodes, "The Benefactors", dealt with abortion care providers and was highly controversial, resulting in sponsors leaving the show.
He also wrote episodes of Espionage ("Covenant with Death") and Brenner ("Laney's Boy", "The Tragic Flute").
[13] Stone sold the script to Stanley Donen, whom he chose because "One, was he was the only person who hadn't seen it before and I felt silly selling it to the people who rejected it.
"[14] Universal who made Charade promptly signed Stone to write two more films: Mirage, based on a novel by Howard Fast, and Father Goose (1964), based on a story by Frank Tarloff, which Stone did at the behest of Cary Grant, who wanted to star.
Hitchcock's influence is especially evident in the Edward Dmytryk-directed Mirage, a suspense-mystery that Stone adapted from the Howard Fast novel Fallen Angel.
"[2] Stone wrote a series of films for Universal: The Secret War of Harry Frigg (1968), a World War Two comedy with Paul Newman (co written with Tarloff); Jigsaw (1968), a mystery with Bradford Dillman; the film adaptation of the musical Sweet Charity (1969), directed by Bob Fosse, which was an unexpected box office flop; and what ultimately became Skin Game (1971).
[23] He did some uncredited script doctoring on the book for the stage musical Georgy (1970), which was credited to Tom Mankiewicz.
[25] Stone was unhappy with the changes made to his script for Skin Game (1971) (eventually made by Warners), which he said were caused by James Garner, who starred and produced, changing the last third of the film, which Stone wanted to focus on co star Louis Gosset.
Stone had another Broadway hit with the book for the musical Sugar (1972–73), an adaptation of Some Like It Hot, produced by David Merrick and directed by Gower Champion.
"[28] Less successful was the only non-musical he did on Broadway, Full Circle (1973) based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque and directed by Otto Preminger.
[29] Stone returned to TV for a small screen adaptation of the Katharine Hepburn-Spencer Tracy 1949 film, Adam's Rib (1973).
He worked on some scripts that were ultimately not produced including The Leavenworth Irregulars, The Grand Defiance, and The Ornament, as well as a musical that was not made, Subject to Change.
[32] He did some uncredited doctoring on the show Goodtime Charley (1975) and wrote the TV movie One of My Wives Is Missing (1976), a thriller starring Jack Klugman, using the Pierre Marton pseudonym again.
Stone wrote the feature films Silver Bears (1977), Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?
He wrote some unfilmed scripts around this time called Csardas, The Late Great Creature, and The Day They Kidnapped Queen Victoria.
[35] Stone returned to Broadway with the book of the musical adaptation of Woman of the Year (1981–83) starring Lauren Bacall which ran for 770 performances.
Stone did some uncredited script doctoring on the book for the musical Grand Hotel (1989) at the request of director Tommy Tune.
[citation needed] Stone wrote Just Cause (1996), a thriller film starring Sean Connery.
[14] Stone wrote the book for the musical Titanic (1997–99) with music and lyrics by Maury Yeston which had a troublesome preproduction period but ultimately ran for 804 performances and swept the Tonys with five wins, including Stone who won a Tony for his book.
When Charade was remade as The Truth About Charlie, Stone was credited on-screen as 'Peter Joshua', one of the names used by Cary Grant in the original film.
[42] Shortly after Stone's death, in a memorial ceremony held June 30, 2003, at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, it was observed that the two most famous ships of all time were Noah's Ark and the Titanic, and that Stone had written Broadway musicals about both of them (Noah's Ark being the topic of Two by Two).
In 2011, one of his projects was completed with Thomas Meehan, and Death Takes a Holiday was produced off-Broadway with a score by Maury Yeston.
Stone is among the small group of writers who have won acclaim in stage, screen, and television by winning a Tony, an Oscar, and an Emmy.