Stanley Holloway

STANLEY HOLLOWAY OBE d1982. English stage and film actor, comedian, singer, poet and monogolist. He was famous for his comic and character roles on stage and screen, especially that of Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady. He was also renowned for his comic monologues and songs which he performed and recorded throughout most of his 70-year career. Born in London, Holloway pursued a career as a clerk in his teen years. He made early stage appearances before infantry service in the First World War. At first, he was employed chiefly as a singer, but his skills as an actor and reciter of comic monologues were soon recognised. Characters from his monologues such as Sam Small (invented by Holloway) and Albert Ramsbottom, were absorbed into popular British culture and he developed a following for the recordings of his many monologues. By the 1930s, he was in demand to star in variety and musical comedy. Following the outbreak of the Second World War, he made short propaganda films on behalf of the BFI and Pathe News and took character parts in a series of war films. After the war, he appeared in the film Brief Encounter and made a series of films for Ealing Studios including ; Passport to Pimlico / The Lavender Hill Mob and The Titfield Thunderbolt. In 1956, he was cast as the irresponsible and irrepressible Alfred Doolittle in My Fair Lady, a role that he played on Broadway, the West End and in the film version in 1964. The role brought him international fame and his performances earned him an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor. In his later years, he appeared in television series in the UK and the US, toured in revues, appeared in stage plays in Britain, Canada, Australia and the US and continued to make films into his eighties. He was married twice and had five children. Stanley Holloway died in Sussex of a stroke aged 91 on 30th January 1982.