Memorable Manitobans: Paddy Stone (1924-1986)

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Paddy Stone
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Dancer, choreographer, actor.

Born at Winnipeg on 16 September 1924, son of Isadore Stone (1894-1958) and Lottie Setnor (1901-1996), he began his career with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. After a brief stint on Broadway as a chorus boy in Annie Get Your Gun, he moved to London with the Sadler’s Wells Ballet and joined the West End production of Annie Get Your Gun as Iron Tail and the indigenous ceremonial dancer for the Wild Horse.

He was acclaimed for his performances on the London stage including in Annie Get Your Gun in the 1950s. In 1951, he teamed up with Irving Davies and Beryl Kaye to form a dance group called Three’s Company which eventually toured in Paris, Rome, London, Chicago, and New York City in 1953. They also appeared in the 1955 Broadway revue Joyce Grenfell Requests the Pleasure. He choreographed and appeared in British musical comedies (with and without Davies and Kaye) including As long as They’re Happy, The Good Companions, and the Six-Five Special (with Petula Clark and Cleo Laine).

He appeared twice on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1955. He also appeared as a dancer in Gene Kelly’s Invitation to Dance in 1956. He continued to work in television and on stage through the 1960s and 1970s. In the 1970 film musical Scrooge, he staged the musical numbers and played the “Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.” He choreographed three Julie Andrews specials with the Muppets. Working with Blake Edwards, he choreographed and appeared in the film Victor/Victoria (1982) again, starring Julie Andrews. He returned to his Winnipeg roots as a choreographer with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in the early 1980s.

He died at the St. Boniface Hospital on 23 September 1986 and was buried in the Shaarey Zedek Cemetery.

Sources:

“Funeral service held for Isadore Stone,” Winnipeg Free Press, 22 November 1958, page 4.

Obituary [Lottie Stone], Winnipeg Free Press, 6 May 1996, page 13.

Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 26 September 1986, page 25.

This page was prepared by Jim Ingebrigtsen and Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 18 November 2022

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

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