Everything about Oliver Hardy totally explained
Oliver Hardy (born
Norvell Hardy;
January 18,
1892 –
August 7,
1957) was an
American actor who, with
Stan Laurel, formed the comedic film-duo
Laurel and Hardy. He was imitated by former
Disney actor
Henry Calvin on
The Dick Van Dyke Show in the 1960s.
Childhood
Hardy's parents were of
English and
Scottish descent. His father, Oliver, was a
Confederate veteran wounded at the
Battle of Antietam on
September 18,
1862. After the war he worked as a
foreman for the
Georgia Southern Railroad, supervising the building of a rail line between
Augusta and Madison. His mother, Emily Norvell, the daughter of Thomas Benjamin Norvell and Mary Freeman, was descended from Captain Hugh Norvell of
Williamsburg, Virginia. Her family arrived in Virginia before 1635. Their marriage took place on
March 12,
1890; it was the second marriage for the widow Emily, and the third for Oliver.
By the time Hardy was born, the family had moved to
Harlem, Georgia. His father died less than a year after his birth.
Hardy was sometimes a difficult child. He wasn't interested in education, although he acquired an early interest in
music and
theater, possibly from his mother's tenants. He ran away from home to join a theatrical group, and later ran away from a boarding school near
Atlanta. His mother recognized his talent for singing, and sent him to
Atlanta to study music and voice with a prominent musician, but Hardy skipped his lessons to sing in a
vaudeville house. He was sent to a military college, but ran away from there, also. After toying with college and the idea of studying law, he decided to follow his dream of a singing career.
Early career
In 1910, a movie theater opened in the future Hardy's home town of
Milledgeville, and he became the
projectionist, ticket taker,
janitor and
manager. He soon became obsessed with the new motion picture industry, and became convinced that he could do a better job than the actors he saw on the screen. A friend suggested that he move to
Jacksonville where some films were being made. In 1913 he did just that, where he worked as a
cabaret and
vaudeville singer at night, and at the
Lubin Studios during the day. It was at this time that he met and married his first wife,
pianist Madelyn Saloshin.
The next year he made his first movie,
Outwitting Dad, for the Lubin studio. He was billed as O. N. Hardy, taking his father's name as a memorial. In his personal life, he was known as "Babe" Hardy, a
nickname that he was given by an
Italian barber, who would apply
talcum powder to Oliver's cheeks and say, "nice-a-bab-y". In many of his later films at Lubin he was billed as "Babe Hardy." Hardy was a big man at six feet one inch tall and weighed up to 300 pounds. His size placed limitations on the roles he could play. He was most often cast as "the heavy" or the villain. He also frequently had roles in comedy shorts, his size complementing the character.
By 1915, he'd made fifty
short one-
reeler films at the Lubin studio. He later moved to
New York and made films for the
Pathé, Casino and
Edison Studios. He then returned to
Jacksonville and made films for the Vim and King Bee studios. He worked with
Charlie Chaplin imitator
Billy West and comedic actress Ethel Burton Palmer during this time. (Hardy continued playing the "heavy" for West well into the early 1920s, often imitating
Eric Campbell to West's Chaplin.) In 1917, Oliver Hardy moved to
Los Angeles, working freelance for several Hollywood studios. The next year, he appeared in the movie
The Lucky Dog, produced by
G.M. ("Broncho Billy") Anderson and starring a young
British comedian named
Stan Laurel. Oliver Hardy played the part of a
robber, trying to stick up Stan's
character. They didn't work together again for several years.
Between 1918 and 1923 Oliver Hardy made more than forty films for
Vitagraph, playing the "heavy" for
Larry Semon. In 1919, he separated from his wife, ending with a
divorce in 1920, due to Babe's infidelity. The very next year, on
November 24,
1921, Babe married again, to actress
Myrtle Reeves. This marriage was also unhappy, with Myrtle eventually becoming an
alcoholic.
In 1924, Hardy began working at
Hal Roach Studios working with the
Our Gang films and
Charley Chase. In 1925, he was in a film "
Yes, Yes, Nanette!" starring
James Finlayson, who in later years was a recurring character in the Laurel and Hardy film series. The film was directed by
Stan Laurel. He also continued playing supporting roles in films featuring
Clyde Cooke and
Bobby Ray.
In 1926, a hot leg of lamb changed the future of both Laurel and Hardy. Hardy was scheduled to appear in
Get 'Em Young but was unexpectedly hospitalized after being burned by a hot leg of lamb. Laurel, who had been working as a gag man and director at Roach Studios, was recruited to fill in. Laurel kept appearing in front of the camera rather than behind it, and later that year appeared in the same movie as Hardy,
45 Minutes from Hollywood, although they didn't share any scenes together.
Career with Stan Laurel
In 1927, Laurel and Hardy began sharing screen time together in
Slipping Wives,
Duck Soup (no relation to the
Marx Brothers film of the same name) and
With Love and Hisses. Roach Studios' supervising director
Leo McCarey, realizing the audience reaction to the two, began intentionally teaming them together, leading to the start of a Laurel and Hardy series late that year. With this pairing, he created arguably the most famous
double act in movie history. They began producing a huge body of short movies, including
The Battle of the Century (1927) (with one of the largest pie fights ever filmed),
Should Married Men Go Home? (1928),
Two Tars (1928),
Unaccustomed As We Are (1929, marking their transition to
talking pictures)
Berth Marks (1929),
Blotto (1930),
Brats (1930) (with Stan and Ollie portraying themselves, as well as their own sons, using oversized furniture to sets for the 'young' Laurel and Hardy),
Another Fine Mess (1930),
Be Big! (1931), and many others. In 1929, they appeared in their first feature, in one of the revue sequences of
Hollywood Revue of 1929 and the following year they appeared as the comic relief in a lavish all-color (in
Technicolor) musical feature entitled:
The Rogue Song. This film marked their first appearance in color. In 1931 they made their first full length
movie (in which they were the actual stars),
Pardon Us although they continued to make features and shorts until 1935. Perhaps their greatest achievement, however, was
The Music Box (1932), which won them an
Academy Award for best short film - their only such award.
In 1936, Hardy's personal life suffered a blow as he and Myrtle divorced. Whilst waiting for a contractual issue between Laurel and Hal Roach to be resolved, Hardy made
Zenobia with
Harry Langdon. Eventually, however, new contracts were agreed and the team was loaned out to General Services Studio to make
The Flying Deuces. While on the lot, Hardy fell in love with Virginia Lucille Jones, a script girl, whom he married the next year. They enjoyed a happy marriage until his death.
Laurel and Hardy also began performing for the
USO, supporting the Allied troops during
World War II. They also made
A Chump at Oxford (1940) (which features a moment of role reversal, with Oliver becoming a temporarily concussed subordinate to Stan) and
Saps at Sea (1940).
Beginning in 1941, Laurel and Hardy's films began to decline in quality. They left Roach Studios and began making films for
20th century Fox, and later
MGM. Although they were financially better off, they'd very little artistic control at the large studios, and hence the films lack the very qualities that had made Laurel and Hardy worldwide names.
In 1947, Laurel and Hardy went on a six week tour of
Great Britain. Initially unsure of how they'd be received, they were mobbed wherever they went. The tour was then lengthened to include engagements in
Scandinavia,
Belgium,
France, as well as a
Royal Command Performance for
King George VI and
Queen Elizabeth. Biographer John McCabe said they continued to make live appearances in the United Kingdom and France for the next several years, until 1954, often using new sketches and material that Laurel had written for them.
In 1949, Hardy's friend,
John Wayne, asked him to play a supporting role in
The Fighting Kentuckian. Hardy had previously worked with Wayne and
John Ford in a charity production of the play
What Price Glory? while Laurel began treatment for his diabetes a few years previously. Initially hesitant, Hardy accepted the role at the insistence of his comedy partner.
Frank Capra later invited Hardy to play a
cameo role in "Riding High" with
Bing Crosby in 1950.
In 1950-51, Laurel and Hardy made their final film. "
Atoll K" (also known as "Utopia") was a simple concept; Laurel inherits a boat, and the boys set out to sea, where they discover and claim a brand new island, rich in
uranium, making them powerful and
wealthy. However, it was produced by a consortium of European interests, with an international
cast and
crew that couldn't speak to each other. In addition, the
script needed to be rewritten by Stan to make it fit the comedy team's style, and both suffered serious physical illness during the filming.
In 1955, the pair had contracted with
Hal Roach Jr. to produce a series of TV shows based on the Mother Goose fables. They would be filmed in color for
NBC. However, this was never to be. Laurel suffered a
stroke, which required a lengthy convalescence. Hardy had a
heart attack and stroke later that year, from which he never physically recovered.
Death
During 1956, Hardy began looking after his health for the first time in his life. During his health watch, he lost more than 150 pounds in a few months. This weight loss completely changed his appearance. He suffered a major stroke on
September 14, which left him confined to bed and unable to speak for several months. He remained at home, being cared for by his beloved Lucille. He suffered two more strokes in early August, 1957 and slipped into a
coma from which he never recovered. Oliver Hardy died on
August 7,
1957, aged 65 years old. His remains are located in the Masonic Garden of
Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in
North Hollywood.
(External Link
)
In 2006,
BBC Four showed a drama called
Stan (
website) based on Laurel meeting Hardy on his deathbed and reminiscing about their career.
Filmography
Further Information
Get more info on 'Oliver Hardy'.
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