Tone was in The Belt (1927), Centuries (1927–28), The International (1928), and a popular adaptation of The Age of Innocence (1928–29) with Katherine Cornell.
He followed it with appearances in Uncle Vanya (1929), Cross Roads (1929), Red Rust (1929–30), Hotel Universe (1930), and Pagan Lady (1930–31).

He joined the Theatre Guild and played Curly in their production of Green Grow the Lilacs (1931), where Tone sang, which later became the basis for the musical Oklahoma!

Tone also became a founding member of the Group Theatre, when the Theater Guild disbanded along with other former guild members Harold Clurman, Cheryl Crawford, Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, and Clifford Odets.
Clifford Odets recalled of Tone's acting, "The two most talented young actors I have known in the American theater in my time have been Franchot Tone and Marlon Brando, and I think Franchot was the more talented."
Strasberg, later becoming a director of the Group during 1931-1941 and teacher of "The Method" in the 1950s, had been a castmate of Tone's in Green Grow the Lilacs, which only ran for 64 performances.

These were intense and productive years for him; among the productions of the Group he acted in were 1931 (1931) which lasting 12 performances, Maxwell Anderson's Night Over Taos (1931) a play in verse that lasted 10, The House of Connelly (1931) lasting 91 performances and John Howard Lawson's Success Story (1932) directed by Lee Strasberg.
Outside the Group he was in A Thousand Summers (1932).

Tone made his film debut with The Wiser Sex (1932) starring Claudette Colbert, filmed by Paramount at their Astoria Studios.
Tone was in The Belt (1927), Centuries (1927–28), The International (1928), and a popular adaptation of The Age of Innocence (1928–29) with Katherine Cornell. He followed it with appearances in Uncle Vanya (1929), Cross Roads (1929), Red Rust (1929–30), Hotel Universe (1930), and Pagan Lady (1930–31).
He joined the Theatre Guild and played Curly in their production of Green Grow the Lilacs (1931), where Tone sang, which later became the basis for the musical Oklahoma!
Tone also became a founding member of the Group Theatre, when the Theater Guild disbanded along with other former guild members Harold Clurman, Cheryl Crawford, Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, and Clifford Odets. Clifford Odets recalled of Tone's acting, "The two most talented young actors I have known in the American theater in my time have been Franchot Tone and Marlon Brando, and I think Franchot was the more talented." Strasberg, later becoming a director of the Group during 1931-1941 and teacher of "The Method" in the 1950s, had been a castmate of Tone's in Green Grow the Lilacs, which only ran for 64 performances.
These were intense and productive years for him; among the productions of the Group he acted in were 1931 (1931) which lasting 12 performances, Maxwell Anderson's Night Over Taos (1931) a play in verse that lasted 10, The House of Connelly (1931) lasting 91 performances and John Howard Lawson's Success Story (1932) directed by Lee Strasberg. Outside the Group he was in A Thousand Summers (1932).
Tone made his film debut with The Wiser Sex (1932) starring Claudette Colbert, filmed by Paramount at their Astoria Studios.
Franchot Tone