Trivia

Spent much of his childhood raised at the Soldiers' & Sailors' Children's Home, an orphanage in Knightstown, Indiana. His father, whom he didn't know, was killed in a car accident when he was a toddler. He didn't live with his mother and stepfather until much later. The youngest of three boys, his oldest brother was a Marine who was killed in WWII.

At one time operated a perfume business in Singapore called Perfumes of the Orient. Also opened the first steak house and laundromat there. Also opened some antique shops in Malaysia.

As of July 2007 he was living in Malaysia and had been there for 40 years, where he continued to write novels and screenplays.

Changed his name in 1954 from John Fontaine to Jeffrey Stone because it sounded too much like that of actress Joan Fontaine. During their days working for producer David O. Selznick, they kept receiving each other's mail. One time at a premiere he was even introduced as Joan Fontaine.

Turned down the role of Zorro in the Disney TV series "Zorro" (1957).

His acting career ended in the early 1960s due to an unfortunate connection to gangster Mickey Cohen. He left Hollywood and moved to New York to write commercials and a few series episodes, but could not get representation. He co-wrote the script for Unearthly Stranger (1963), but eventually left the industry and the country.

After leaving the movie industry and the US, he trekked through Tahiti, Bora Bora, Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. He also traveled to Burma, Thailand, India, Vietnam and Japan before settling in Malaysia.

Faked his age and joined the Navy at age 16 and served during WWII. Received a medical discharge due to an ear infection that resulted in perforated ear drums.

Briefly married to Barbara Lawrence from 1947-49; he had one son, Robin, from his marriage to second wife, Corinne Calvet, in the 1950s.