Here’s What Happened to Carl Betz Before, During and After Playing Dr. Stone on ‘The Donna Reed Show’

In 1952, Carl had a pair of uncredited roles in the feature films O. Henry’s Full House and My Pal Gus, while playing the role of Charles Dickinson in Charlton Heston’s The President’s Lady. The next year included five additional features as well as a move to television, starring in such anthologies as Kraft Television Theatre, The Big Story and Robert Montgomery Presents.

He scored his biggest role up until that time in the daytime soap opera Love of Life, spending 18 months as Collie Jordan. When the show began in 1951, like other soaps it ran for 15 minutes a day, expanding to 30 minutes in 1958. It remained that length until it completed its run in 1980.

Carl made more TV guest star appearances on shows like Crusader, The Alcoa Hour, Gunsmoke, The Millionaire, Perry Mason, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Broken Arrow and Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer. Then came the opportunity that many actors making the guest-starring rounds hoped for: a co-starring role on a weekly television show.

The Donna Reed Show ran for eight seasons from 1958 to 1966, producing a total of 275 episodes. While there’s no question that Donna Reed was at the heart of the series, Carl played a significant co-star, his Alex, as noted earlier, decidedly not serving as the brunt of jokes and, instead, being a strong husband and father.

Tony Owen, Donna’s husband at the time and producer of the series with her, commented early on during the show’s run, “We want to establish Donna and the family as the kind of folks you would want to have in the neighborhood. Sure we want the viewers to laugh at us, but it’s more important that they like us. This, of course, takes time. It won’t be the kind of show that zings the audience from the word go, the way a broad stand-up comedy or gutsy drama will, but in the long run, a gentle show like this will have a warmer reception.”

Needless to say, he was right. But Carl admitted that towards the end he was getting tired of the routine of the series, and was actually hesitant about signing on for what was the eighth and final season. “I signed up after an inner struggle with myself,” he admitted to The Victoria Advocate. “I did not want to do it. Oh, I’m not mad at anyone, but this is the sixth year for Dr. Stone. Migawd!”

There was a way to keep it all interesting for him, and at that moment it was acting on stage in a production of Tennessee Williams’ The Night of the Iguana. “You can see I’m not doing it for the money,” he told the same paper, “but I get rid of the vapors in my brain this way. I don’t have to keep my shirt buttoned up. In a weekly series, it also is important to attain what Marlon Brando called ‘Controlled Improvisation.’ This is the art of making it look as if you were completely casual about the whole thing.”

When The Donna Reed Show did end its run, Carl was actually surprised to find himself pretty quickly signed up to the legal drama Judd for the Defense, which aired from 1967 to 1969 on ABC. He played Clinton Judd, described as a “flamboyant attorney” based in Houston, who took on controversial cases that most TV lawyers wouldn’t dare touch. Critically acclaimed, it never garnered much of an audience, unfortunately. But for the actor, it was extremely gratifying.

“Judd is the kind of show I’m willing to work on at least six days a week,” he enthused to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 1968. The part actually came to him while he was performing in Night of the Iguana when producer Paul Monash contacted his agent about the show. Describes the paper, “Mr. Betz says that he was on the verge of exclaiming, ‘I’ll take it and you can pay me whatever you feel like,’ but he restrained himself. The salary arrangements were eventually beyond even his wildest hopes.”

Sometime later when Carl actually had an opportunity to sit down and talk to Paul Monash, he had one question he wanted to ask. “The question,” notes the Post-Gazette, “was simply, ‘What in the world made you suspect from the namby-pamby part I had in The Donna Reed Show that I might be right for Judd?’ ‘The Donna Reed Show?’ he replied. ‘I never saw it. I just happened to drop in at a little theater here in Hollywood one night and they were doing The Night of the Iguana …'” 

Following the cancellation of Judd for the Defense, he returned to the stage, starred in several TV movies and made dozens of television guest appearances. In his personal life, he was married to Lois Harmon from 1952 to 1961, the two of them having a son; and then he was married to Gloria Stone Martin from 1963 until 1978.

Unfortunately Carl was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 1977, but he kept that fact hidden from everyone so that he could keep on working. He passed away on January 18, 1978. At the time, Gloria put out a statement that read in part, “He put up a very strong fight. He was the bravest, strongest man I’ve ever known.”

Pop culture historian Geoffrey Mark, author of The Lucy Book: A Complete Guide to Her Five Decades on Television, says of the actor, “Carl Betz was perfectly cast on The Donna Reed Show. Besides having a ridiculously handsome face and a buff, muscular body, he was actually a fine actor. He could play comedy, both underplayed verbally or overplayed slapstick. His pallet of talent colors was varied enough that he could also play straight-forward drama, turning even mundane dialogue into something believable. There was a warmth about him that came through every role he played. Mr. Betz battled alcoholism, which eventually aged him prematurely and shortened his very promising career. Well-remembered by anyone who worked with him, he had the looks and talent to have even more fame and success than he enjoyed.”