Film and TV actor Leonard Stone dead at 87

ENCINITAS, Calif. -- Leonard Stone, who played the father who accompanied chronic gum-chewer Violet Beauregarde on a tour through a far-out candy palace in "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," has died.

Granddaughter Lindsey Fryman-Borchard tells The Associated Press that Stone died of cancer Wednesday in Encinitas, Calif., a day before his 88th birthday.

He was best known as fast-talking father Sam Beauregarde in the 1971 film that starred Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. Stone watches in horror as his daughter turns into a giant blueberry and utters the famous line "Violet, you're turning violet, Violet!"

A native of Salem, Ore., born on Nov. 3, 1923, Stone studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. He began performing professionally before World War II, when he served in the Pacific with the Navy.

He was nominated for a Tony Award as best featured actor in a musical for his performance as George Poppett in the 1959 Bob Fosse musical "Redhead," which starred Richard Kiley and Gwen Verdon.

Stone appeared on at least 119 television programs, including many of the top-rated shows of the last six decades, such as "McHale's Navy," "Perry Mason," "Gomer Pyle," "Dragnet," "Mission: Impossible," "Hawaii Five-O," "Gunsmoke," "All in the Family" and "Falcon Crest."

In 2005, he played Warren Buffett in the Arnold Schwarzenegger TV biopic, "See Arnold Run." With Los Angeles Times