Stanley Holloway
Encyclopedia
Stanley Augustus Holloway, OBE
(1 October 1890 – 30 January 1982) was an English stage and film actor, comedian, singer, poet and monologist
. 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 recordings of comic monologues and songs, which he performed 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. After the war he had his first major theatre success in Kissing Time
, which he starred in when the musical transferred to the West End
from Broadway
in 1919. In 1921, he joined a concert party
, The Co-Optimists
, and his career began to flourish. At first he was chiefly employed 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, created for him by Marriott Edgar
, were absorbed into popular British culture, and Holloway recorded many of his monologues. By the 1930s, he was in demand to star in music hall
, pantomime
and musical comedy, including several revue
s.
At the outbreak of World War 2, Holloway made short propaganda films on behalf of the British Film Institute
and Pathé News
and took character parts in a series of war films including Major Barbara, The Way Ahead
, This Happy Breed
and The Way to the Stars
. 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 Alfred P. 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 nominations for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
. In his later years, Holloway appeared in television series in the US and the UK, toured in revues, appeared in stage plays in Britain, Canada, Australia and the US, and continued to make films into his eighties. Holloway was married twice and had five children, including the actor Julian Holloway
.
, Essex
(now in the London Borough of Newham
), the younger child and only son of George Augustus Holloway (1860–1936), a lawyer's clerk, and Florence Mary née Bell (1862–1913), a housekeeper and dressmaker. He was named after H. M. Stanley
, the journalist and explorer famous for his exploration of Africa and for his search for David Livingstone
. There were theatrical connections in the Holloway family going back to Charles Bernard (1830–1894), the brother of Holloway's maternal grandmother, an actor and theatre manager.
Holloway's paternal grandfather, Augustus Holloway (1829–1884), an orphan, was brought up by sailmaker John Stone and his wife Mary, in Poole
, Dorset
. Augustus became a wealthy shopkeeper, running his own brush-making business. He married Amelia Catherine Knight in September 1856, and they had three children, Maria, Charles and George.
In the early 1880s they moved to Poplar, London
. When Augustus died, George Holloway (Stanley's father) moved to nearby Manor Park and became a clerk for a city lawyer, Charles Bell. George married Bell's daughter Florence in 1884, and they had two children, Amelia ("Millie", born in 1887) and Stanley. George left Florence in 1905 and was never seen or heard from again by his family.
Holloway attended the Worshipful School of Carpenters in nearby Stratford
, where what he later called his "big moment" was joining the choir. He left school at the age of 14 and worked as a junior clerk in a boot polish factory where he earned ten shillings a week. He began performing part-time as "Master Stanley Holloway – The Wonderful Boy Soprano", from 1904, singing sentimental songs such as "The Lost Chord
". A year later, he became a clerk at Billingsgate Fish Market
, where he remained for two years before commencing training as an infantry soldier in the London Rifle Brigade in 1907.
Holloway's stage career began in 1910, when he travelled to Walton-on-the-Naze
to audition for "The White Coon
s Show", a concert party
arranged and produced by Will S. Pepper, father of Harry S. Pepper, whom Holloway later starred with in The Co-Optimists
. This seaside show lasted six weeks.
In 1913, Holloway was recruited by the comedian Leslie Henson
to feature as a support in Henson's more prestigious concert party called "Nicely, Thanks". In later life, Holloway often spoke of his admiration for Henson, citing him as a great influence on his career. The two became great friends and often consulted each other before taking jobs. In his 1967 autobiography, Holloway dedicated a whole chapter to Henson, whom he described as "the greatest friend, inspiration and mentor a performer could have had". Later in 1913, Holloway decided to train as an operatic baritone
, and so he went to Italy to take singing lessons from Ferdinando Guarino in Milan
. However, a yearning to start a career in light entertainment and a contract to re-appear in Bert Graham and Will Bentley's concert party at the West Cliff Theatre
caused him to return home after six months.
In the early months of 1914, Holloway made his first visit to the US and then went to Buenos Aires
with the concert party "The Grotesques". At the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, he decided to return to the UK, but his departure was delayed for six weeks due to his contract with the troupe. In 1915, Holloway enlisted in the Connaught Rangers infantry regiment. He was immediately commissioned as a Second Lieutenant
because of his previous training as a private in the London Rifle Brigade. The war took him to France, where he fought in the trenches alongside Michael O'Leary, who later won the Victoria Cross
for gallantry in the face of the enemy. Holloway and O'Leary stayed in touch after the war, becoming close friends.
s and theatres, performing at the Winter Garden
as Captain Wentworth in Guy Bolton
and P. G. Wodehouse
's Kissing Time
in 1919, and as René in A Night Out
in 1920.
In 1921, Holloway made his film debut, appearing in a silent comedy called The Rotters. In the same year, he achieved considerable success in The Co-Optimists
. This was a co-operative venture by what The Times
called "a group of well-known musical comedy and variety artists" presenting "an all-star 'pierrot
' entertainment in the West-end." It opened at the small Royalty Theatre
and soon transferred to the much larger Palace Theatre
for a long run. It was completely rewritten at regular intervals to keep it fresh, and the final edition, beginning in November 1926, was the 13th new version. After it closed, a feature film version
was made in 1929, with Holloway rejoining his former co-stars.
From 1923, Holloway established himself as a BBC Radio
performer. The early BBC broadcasts brought variety and classical artists together, and Holloway could be heard in the same programme as the cellist John Barbirolli
or the Band of the Scots Guards. He developed his solo act throughout the 1920s while continuing his involvement with the musical theatre and The Co-Optimists. In 1924 he made his first gramophone discs, recording for HMV two songs from The Co-Optimists: London Town and Memory Street.
After The Co-Optimists disbanded in 1927, Holloway played in the New York and London productions of Vincent Youmans
's musical comedy Hit the Deck (1927), as Bill Smith, a performance judged by The Times to be "invested with many shrewd touches of humanity". In The Manchester Guardian, Ivor Brown
praised him for a singing style "which coaxes the ear rather than clubbing the head."
Holloway began regularly performing monologues, both onstage and on record, in 1928, with his own creation, Sam Small, in Sam, Sam, Pick oop thy Musket. Over the following years, he recorded more than 20 monologues based around the character, most of which he wrote himself. He created Small Sam after Henson had returned from a tour of northern England and told him a story about an insubordinate old soldier from the Battle of Waterloo
. Holloway developed the character, naming him after a Cockney friend of Henson called Annie Small; the name Sam was chosen at random. Holloway adopted a northern accent for the character. The Times commented, "For absolute delight … there is nothing to compare with Mr. Stanley Holloway's monologue, concerning a military contretemps on the eve of Waterloo … perfect, even to the curled moustache and the Lancashire
accent of the stubborn Guardsman hero."
In 1929, Holloway played another leading role in musical comedy, Lieutenant Richard Manners in Song of the Sea (1929), and then performed in a revue
, Coo-ee (1929), with Billy Bennett, Dorothy Dickson
and Claude Hulbert
. When The Co-Optimists re-formed in 1930, he again joined that company, now at the Savoy Theatre
, and at the same venue appeared in Savoy Follies in 1932, where he introduced to London audiences the monologue The Lion and Albert. The monologue was written by Marriott Edgar
, who based the story around a Mr. and Mrs. Ramsbottom, their son Albert, and the lion who eats the boy. Edgar named the lion Wallace after his half-brother Edgar Wallace
, a famous crime writer and playwright of the early 20th century. At first, neither Edgar nor Holloway was convinced that the piece would succeed, but needing material for an appearance at a Northern Rugby League dinner Holloway decided to perform it. It was well received, and Holloway introduced it into his stage act. Subsequently, Edgar wrote 16 monologues for him. In its obituary of Holloway, The Times wrote that Sam and Albert "became part of English folklore during the 1930s, and they remained so during the Second World War."
Beginning in 1934, Holloway appeared in a series of British films, three of which featured his creation Sam Small. He started his association with the film makers Ealing Studios
in 1934, appearing in the fifth Gracie Fields
picture Sing As We Go
. His other films from the 1930s included Squibs (1935), and The Vicar of Bray
(1937). In December 1934, Holloway made his first appearance in pantomime
, playing Abanazar in Aladdin
. In his first season in the part, he was overshadowed by his co-star, Sir Henry Lytton
, as the Emperor, but he quickly became established as a favourite in his role, playing it in successive years in Leeds
, London, Edinburgh and Manchester
.
and Pathé News
. He narrated documentaries aimed at lifting morale in war-torn Britain, including Albert's Savings (1940), written by Marriott Edgar and featuring the character Albert Ramsbottom, and Worker and Warfront No.8 (1943) with a script written by E. C. Bentley
about a worker who neglects to have an injury examined and contracts blood poisoning. These two films were included on a 2007 Imperial War Museum
DVD Britain's Home Front at War: Words for Battle.
On stage during the war years, Holloway appeared in revues, first Up and Doing, with Henson, Binnie Hale
and Cyril Ritchard
in 1940 and 1941, and then Fine and Dandy, with Henson, Dorothy Dickson
, Douglas Byng
and Graham Payn
. In both shows, Holloway presented new monologues, and The Times thought a highlight of Fine and Dandy was a parody of the BBC radio programme The Brains Trust
, with Holloway "ponderously anecdotal" and Henson "gigglingly omniscient".
In 1941 Holloway took a character part in Gabriel Pascal
's film of Bernard Shaw
's Major Barbara, in which he played a policeman. He had leading parts in later films, including The Way Ahead
(1944), This Happy Breed
(1944) and The Way to the Stars
(1945). After the war, he played Albert Godby in Brief Encounter
and had a cameo role as the First Gravedigger in Laurence Olivier
's 1948 film of Hamlet
. In 1951, Holloway played the same role onstage to the Hamlet of Alec Guinness
. For Pathé News, he delivered the commentary for documentaries in a series called Time To Remember, where he narrated over old newsreels from significant dates in history from 1915 to 1942. In these years, Holloway also starred in a series of films for Ealing Studios. He began with Champagne Charlie
in 1944 alongside Tommy Trinder
. After that he made Nicholas Nickleby
(1947), and Another Shore
(1948). He next appeared in three of the most famous Ealing Comedies
, Passport to Pimlico
(1949), The Lavender Hill Mob
(1951) and The Titfield Thunderbolt
(1953). His final film with the studios was Meet Mr. Lucifer
(1953).
In 1948 Holloway toured for six months in Australia around Melbourne
and in New Zealand supported by the band leader Billy Mayerl
. Holloway made his Australian début at The Tivoli Theatre, Melbourne and recorded television appearances to publicise the forthcoming release of Passport to Pimlico. Holloway wrote the monologue Albert Down Under especially for the tour.
theatre company to play Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream
, with Robert Helpmann
as Oberon and Moira Shearer
as Titania. After playing at the Edinburgh Festival
, the production was taken to New York, where it played at the Metropolitan Opera House
and then on tour of the US and Canada. The production was harshly reviewed by critics on both sides of the Atlantic, but Holloway made a strong impression.
In 1956 Holloway created the role of Alfred P. Doolittle in the original Broadway
production of My Fair Lady
. The librettist, Alan Jay Lerner
, remembered in his memoirs that Holloway was his first choice for the role, even before it was written. Lerner's only concern was whether, after so long away from the musical stage, Holloway still had his resonant singing voice. Holloway reassured him over a lunch at Claridge's
: Lerner recalled, "He put down his knife and fork, threw back his head and unleashed a strong baritone note that resounded through the dining room, drowned out the string quartet and sent a few dozen people off to the osteopath to have their necks untwisted." Holloway had a long association with the show, appearing in the original 1956 Broadway production at the Mark Hellinger Theatre
, the 1958 London version at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
, and the film version
in 1964. In The Manchester Guardian, Alistair Cooke
wrote, "Stanley Holloway distils into the body of Doolittle the taste and smell of every pub in England."
Looking back in 2004, Holloway's biographer Eric Midwinter
wrote, "With his cockney authenticity, his splendid baritone voice, and his wealth of comedy experience, he made a great success of this role, and, as he said, it put him 'bang on top of the heap, in demand' again at a time when, in his mid-sixties, his career was beginning to wane. His performances earned him a Tony Award
nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Following his success on Broadway, Holloway played Pooh-Bah in a 1960 US television Bell Telephone Hour production of The Mikado
, produced by the veteran Gilbert and Sullivan
performer Martyn Green
. Holloway appeared with Groucho Marx
and Helen Traubel
of the Metropolitan Opera. His notable films around this time included Alive and Kicking
in 1959, co-starring Sybil Thorndike
and Kathleen Harrison
, and No Love for Johnnie
in 1961 opposite Peter Finch
. In 1962, Holloway took part in a studio recording of Oliver!
with Alma Cogan
and Violet Carson
, in which he played Fagin.
In 1962 Holloway played the role of an English butler called Higgins in a US television sitcom called Our Man Higgins
. It ran for only a season. His son, Julian
, also appeared in the series. In 1964 he again appeared on stage in Philadelphia in Cool Off!, a short-lived Faust
ian spoof. He returned to the US a few more times after that to take part in The Dean Martin Show
three times and The Red Skelton Show
twice. He also appeared in the 1965 war film In Harm's Way
, together with John Wayne
and Kirk Douglas
.
's Blandings Castle
stories, playing Beach, the butler to Ralph Richardson
's Lord Emsworth. His portrayal of Beach was received with critical reservation, but the series was a popular success.
In 1970, Holloway began an association with the Shaw Festival
in Canada, playing Burgess in Candida
. He made what he considered his West End debut as a straight actor in Siege by David Ambrose
at the Cambridge Theatre in 1972, co-starring with Alistair Sim and Michael Bryant
. He returned to Shaw
and Canada, playing the central character Walter/William in You Never Can Tell in 1973. His final film was in 1975 in Daniel Mann
's Journey into Fear
with Zero Mostel
, Joseph Wiseman
and Shelley Winters
.
Holloway continued to perform until well into his eighties, touring Asia and Australia in 1977 together with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
and David Langton
in The Pleasure of His Company
, by Samuel A. Taylor
and Cornelia Otis Skinner
. He made his last appearance performing at the Royal Variety Performance
at the London Palladium
in 1980, aged 89.
Holloway died of a stroke
at the Nightingale Nursing Home in Littlehampton
, West Sussex
, on 30 January 1982, aged 91. He is buried, along with his wife Violet, at St. Mary the Virgin Church in East Preston
, West Sussex.
They had four children: Joan, born on Holloway's 24th birthday in 1914, Patricia (b. 1920), John (b. 1925) and Mary (b. 1928). Upon the death of her mother, Queenie inherited some property in Southampton Row
and relied on the rents from the property for her income. During the First World War, while Holloway was away fighting in France, Queenie began to have financial trouble, as the tenants failed to pay their rent. Out of desperation, she approached several loan sharks in order to survive, incurring a huge debt about which Holloway knew nothing. She also started to drink heavily as the pressures from the war and of supporting her daughter took their toll. On Holloway's return from the war, the debt was paid off, but in the late 1920s, he found himself in difficulties with the British tax authorities and was briefly declared bankrupt. He and Queenie lived together until her death in 1937, at the age of 45, from cirrhosis of the liver. Little is known about the children from the first marriage, except that John worked as an engineer in an electrics company, and Mary worked for British Petroleum for many years.
On 2 January 1939, Holloway married a 25-year-old actress and former chorus dancer named Violet Marion Lane (1913–1997). Violet was born into a working class family from Leeds
. Her mother was Scottish, and her civil engineer father, Alfred Lane, was a Yorkshire
man. The marriage lasted over 40 years until Holloway's death in 1982. Although he was a client of the Aza Agency in London, Violet effectively managed Holloway's career, and no project was taken on without her approval. In his autobiography, Holloway said of her, "I suppose I am committing lawful bigamy. Not only is she my wife, she is also my manager, my cook, a mother to my children, my chauffeur, my lover and my best friend." They had one son, Julian
, who also became an actor and is best known for appearing in the Carry On
films. Julian had a brief relationship with Patricia Neal
's daughter Tessa Dahl (Stanley Holloway had appeared with Neal in the 1965 film In Harm's Way), which produced a daughter, the model and author Sophie Dahl
, and he later was briefly married to the actress Zena Walker
.
Holloway, Violet and Julian lived mainly in the tiny village of Penn, Buckinghamshire
. Holloway also owned other properties including a flat in St. John's Wood in North West London, which he used when working in the capital, and a flat in Manhattan
during the My Fair Lady Broadway years. The final years of his life were spent living in Angmering
, West Sussex with Violet. Holloway had many friends in show business and forged close friendships with people such as Leslie Henson, Gracie Fields, Maurice Chevalier
, Laurence Olivier, and Arthur Askey
, who said of him, "He was the nicest man I ever knew. He never had a wrong word to say about anyone. He was a great actor, a super mimic and a one-man walking comic show." While working in the US, Holloway numbered among his friends Frank Sinatra
, Dean Martin
, Burgess Meredith
and Groucho Marx.
(OBE) in the 1960 New Year's Honours list for his services to entertainment. He was awarded the Variety Club of Great Britain special award in 1978.
There is a memorial plaque dedicated to Holloway in St. Paul's, Covent Garden, London, which is known as "the actors' church". The plaque is next to a memorial to Gracie Fields. In 2009 English Heritage
unveiled a Blue Plaque
at 25 Albany Road, Manor Park, Essex, the house in which Holloway was born in 1890. There is a building named after him at 2 Coolfin Road, Newham, London called Stanley Holloway Court.
Holloway entitled his 1967 autobiography Wiv a Little Bit of Luck after the song he performed in My Fair Lady. The book was ghost-written by the writer and director Dick Richards
and was published in 1967. He oversaw the publication of three volumes of the monologues by or associated with him: Monologues (1979); The Stanley Holloway Monologues (1980); and More Monologues (1981).
, Magna Carta
and the Battle of Trafalgar
. In all, his discography runs to 130 recordings, spanning the period 1924 to 1978.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(1 October 1890 – 30 January 1982) was an English stage and film actor, comedian, singer, poet and monologist
Monologist
-Monologist:A monologist is a solo artist who recites or gives dramatic readings from a monologue, soliloquy, poetry or work of literature for the entertainment of an audience...
. He was famous for his comic and character roles on stage and screen, especially that of Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...
. He was also renowned for his recordings of comic monologues and songs, which he performed 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. After the war he had his first major theatre success in Kissing Time
Kissing Time
thumb|right|[[Leslie Henson]] and [[Phyllis Dare]] Kissing Time, an earlier version of which was titled The Girl Behind the Gun, is a musical comedy with music by Ivan Caryll, book and lyrics by Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse, and additional lyrics by Clifford Grey...
, which he starred in when the musical transferred to the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
from Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
in 1919. In 1921, he joined a concert party
Concert Party (entertainment)
A concert party, also called a Pierrot troupe, is the collective name for a group of entertainers, or Pierrots, popular in Britain during the first half of the 20th century. The variety show given by a Pierrot troupe was called a Pierrot show...
, The Co-Optimists
The Co-Optimists
The Co-Optimists is the title of a stage variety revue which opened in London on 27 June 1921. The show was devised by Davy Burnaby. The piece was a co-operative venture by what The Times called "a group of well-known musical comedy and variety artists" presenting "an all-star 'pierrot'...
, and his career began to flourish. At first he was chiefly employed 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, created for him by Marriott Edgar
Marriott Edgar
Marriott Edgar , born George Marriot Edgar in Kirkcudbright, Scotland, was a poet, scriptwriter and comedian best known for writing many of the monologues performed by Stanley Holloway, particularly the 'Albert' series....
, were absorbed into popular British culture, and Holloway recorded many of his monologues. By the 1930s, he was in demand to star in music hall
Music hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
, pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
and musical comedy, including several revue
Revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
s.
At the outbreak of World War 2, Holloway made short propaganda films on behalf of the British Film Institute
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
and Pathé News
Pathe News
Pathé Newsreels were produced from 1910 until the 1970s, when production of newsreels was in general stopped. Pathé News today is known as British Pathé and its archive of over 90,000 reels is fully digitised and online.-History:...
and took character parts in a series of war films including Major Barbara, The Way Ahead
The Way Ahead
The Way Ahead is a British Second World War drama released in 1944. It stars David Niven and Stanley Holloway and follows a group of civilians who are conscripted into the British Army to fight in North Africa. In the U.S., an edited version was released as The Immortal Battalion.The film was...
, This Happy Breed
This Happy Breed
This Happy Breed is a play by Noël Coward. It was written in 1939 but, because of the outbreak of World War II, it was not staged until 1942, when it was performed on alternating nights with another Coward play, Present Laughter. The two plays later alternated with Coward's Blithe Spirit...
and The Way to the Stars
The Way to the Stars
The Way to the Stars, also known as Johnny in the Clouds, is a 1945 British war drama film made by Two Cities Films and released by United Artists. It was produced by Anatole de Grunwald and directed by Anthony Asquith...
. After the war, he appeared in the film Brief Encounter
Brief Encounter
Brief Encounter is a 1945 British film directed by David Lean about the conventions of British suburban life, centring on a housewife for whom real love brings unexpectedly violent emotions. The film stars Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway and Joyce Carey...
and made a series of films for Ealing Studios, including Passport to Pimlico
Passport to Pimlico
Passport to Pimlico is a 1949 British comedy film made by Ealing Studios and starred Stanley Holloway, Margaret Rutherford, and Hermione Baddeley. It was directed by Henry Cornelius....
, The Lavender Hill Mob
The Lavender Hill Mob
The Lavender Hill Mob is a 1951 comedy film from Ealing Studios, written by T.E.B. Clarke, directed by Charles Crichton, starring Alec Guinness and Stanley Holloway and featuring Sid James and Alfie Bass...
and The Titfield Thunderbolt
The Titfield Thunderbolt
The Titfield Thunderbolt is a 1953 British comedy film about a group of villagers trying to prevent British Railways from closing the fictional Titfield branch line. The film was written by T.E.B...
.
In 1956 he was cast as the irresponsible Alfred P. 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 nominations for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
. In his later years, Holloway appeared in television series in the US and the UK, toured in revues, appeared in stage plays in Britain, Canada, Australia and the US, and continued to make films into his eighties. Holloway was married twice and had five children, including the actor Julian Holloway
Julian Holloway
Julian Holloway is an English actor now based in Hollywood, CA, United States. He is the son of the comedy actor and singer Stanley Holloway and former chorus dancer and actress Violet Lane...
.
Family background and early life
Holloway was born in Manor ParkManor Park, London
Manor Park is the name of an area in the London Borough of Newham, as well as of the local railway station and cemetery. There is another railway station - Woodgrange Park...
, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
(now in the London Borough of Newham
London Borough of Newham
The London Borough of Newham is a London borough formed from the towns of West Ham and East Ham, within East London.It is situated east of the City of London, and is north of the River Thames. According to 2006 estimates, Newham has one of the highest ethnic minority populations of all the...
), the younger child and only son of George Augustus Holloway (1860–1936), a lawyer's clerk, and Florence Mary née Bell (1862–1913), a housekeeper and dressmaker. He was named after H. M. Stanley
Henry Morton Stanley
Sir Henry Morton Stanley, GCB, born John Rowlands , was a Welsh journalist and explorer famous for his exploration of Africa and his search for David Livingstone. Upon finding Livingstone, Stanley allegedly uttered the now-famous greeting, "Dr...
, the journalist and explorer famous for his exploration of Africa and for his search for David Livingstone
David Livingstone
David Livingstone was a Scottish Congregationalist pioneer medical missionary with the London Missionary Society and an explorer in Africa. His meeting with H. M. Stanley gave rise to the popular quotation, "Dr...
. There were theatrical connections in the Holloway family going back to Charles Bernard (1830–1894), the brother of Holloway's maternal grandmother, an actor and theatre manager.
Holloway's paternal grandfather, Augustus Holloway (1829–1884), an orphan, was brought up by sailmaker John Stone and his wife Mary, in Poole
Poole
Poole is a large coastal town and seaport in the county of Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester, and Bournemouth adjoins Poole to the east. The Borough of Poole was made a unitary authority in 1997, gaining administrative independence from Dorset County Council...
, Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
. Augustus became a wealthy shopkeeper, running his own brush-making business. He married Amelia Catherine Knight in September 1856, and they had three children, Maria, Charles and George.
In the early 1880s they moved to Poplar, London
Poplar, London
Poplar is a historic, mainly residential area of the East End of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is about east of Charing Cross. Historically a hamlet in the parish of Stepney, Middlesex, in 1817 Poplar became a civil parish. In 1855 the Poplar District of the Metropolis was...
. When Augustus died, George Holloway (Stanley's father) moved to nearby Manor Park and became a clerk for a city lawyer, Charles Bell. George married Bell's daughter Florence in 1884, and they had two children, Amelia ("Millie", born in 1887) and Stanley. George left Florence in 1905 and was never seen or heard from again by his family.
Holloway attended the Worshipful School of Carpenters in nearby Stratford
Stratford, London
Stratford is a place in the London Borough of Newham, England. It is located east northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically an agrarian settlement in the ancient parish of West Ham, which transformed into an industrial suburb...
, where what he later called his "big moment" was joining the choir. He left school at the age of 14 and worked as a junior clerk in a boot polish factory where he earned ten shillings a week. He began performing part-time as "Master Stanley Holloway – The Wonderful Boy Soprano", from 1904, singing sentimental songs such as "The Lost Chord
The Lost Chord
"The Lost Chord" is a song composed by Arthur Sullivan in 1877 at the bedside of his brother Fred during Fred's last illness. The manuscript is dated 13 January 1877; Fred Sullivan died five days later...
". A year later, he became a clerk at Billingsgate Fish Market
Billingsgate Fish Market
Situated in East London, Billingsgate Fish Market is the United Kingdom's largest inland fish market. It takes its name from Billingsgate, a ward in the south-east of the City of London, where the riverside market was originally established...
, where he remained for two years before commencing training as an infantry soldier in the London Rifle Brigade in 1907.
Early career and First World War
Walton-on-the-Naze
Walton-on-the-Naze is a small town in Essex, England, on the North Sea coast in the Tendring district. It is north of Clacton and south of the port of Harwich. It abuts Frinton-on-Sea to the south, and is part of the parish of Frinton and Walton. It is a resort town, with a permanent population of...
to audition for "The White Coon
Coon song
Coon songs were a genre of music popular in the United States and around the English-speaking world from 1880 to 1920, that presented a racist and stereotyped image of blacks.-Rise and fall from popularity:...
s Show", a concert party
Concert Party (entertainment)
A concert party, also called a Pierrot troupe, is the collective name for a group of entertainers, or Pierrots, popular in Britain during the first half of the 20th century. The variety show given by a Pierrot troupe was called a Pierrot show...
arranged and produced by Will S. Pepper, father of Harry S. Pepper, whom Holloway later starred with in The Co-Optimists
The Co-Optimists
The Co-Optimists is the title of a stage variety revue which opened in London on 27 June 1921. The show was devised by Davy Burnaby. The piece was a co-operative venture by what The Times called "a group of well-known musical comedy and variety artists" presenting "an all-star 'pierrot'...
. This seaside show lasted six weeks.
In 1913, Holloway was recruited by the comedian Leslie Henson
Leslie Henson
Leslie Lincoln Henson was an English comedian, actor, producer for films and theatre, and film director. He initially worked in silent films and Edwardian musical comedy and became a popular music hall comedian who enjoyed a long stage career...
to feature as a support in Henson's more prestigious concert party called "Nicely, Thanks". In later life, Holloway often spoke of his admiration for Henson, citing him as a great influence on his career. The two became great friends and often consulted each other before taking jobs. In his 1967 autobiography, Holloway dedicated a whole chapter to Henson, whom he described as "the greatest friend, inspiration and mentor a performer could have had". Later in 1913, Holloway decided to train as an operatic baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
, and so he went to Italy to take singing lessons from Ferdinando Guarino in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
. However, a yearning to start a career in light entertainment and a contract to re-appear in Bert Graham and Will Bentley's concert party at the West Cliff Theatre
West Cliff Theatre
The West Cliff Theatre in Clacton-on-Sea, England, dates back to 1894 when Bert Graham, a 21-year-old civil servant, set up a concert party on a patch of waste ground in Agate Road. In 1899, along with Bernard Russell and Will Bentley, Graham moved the concert party to the West Cliff...
caused him to return home after six months.
In the early months of 1914, Holloway made his first visit to the US and then went to Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
with the concert party "The Grotesques". At the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, he decided to return to the UK, but his departure was delayed for six weeks due to his contract with the troupe. In 1915, Holloway enlisted in the Connaught Rangers infantry regiment. He was immediately commissioned as a Second Lieutenant
Second Lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...
because of his previous training as a private in the London Rifle Brigade. The war took him to France, where he fought in the trenches alongside Michael O'Leary, who later won the Victoria Cross
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
for gallantry in the face of the enemy. Holloway and O'Leary stayed in touch after the war, becoming close friends.
Inter-war years
On being demobilised, Holloway resumed his singing and acting career and returned to London. He appeared in music hallMusic hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
s and theatres, performing at the Winter Garden
New London Theatre
The New London Theatre is a West End theatre located on the corner of Drury Lane and Parker Street in Covent Garden, in the London Borough of Camden...
as Captain Wentworth in Guy Bolton
Guy Bolton
Guy Reginald Bolton was a British-American playwright and writer of musical comedies. Born in England and educated in France and the U.S., he trained as an architect but turned to writing. Bolton preferred working in collaboration with others, principally the English writers P. G...
and P. G. Wodehouse
P. G. Wodehouse
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE was an English humorist, whose body of work includes novels, short stories, plays, poems, song lyrics, and numerous pieces of journalism. He enjoyed enormous popular success during a career that lasted more than seventy years and his many writings continue to be...
's Kissing Time
Kissing Time
thumb|right|[[Leslie Henson]] and [[Phyllis Dare]] Kissing Time, an earlier version of which was titled The Girl Behind the Gun, is a musical comedy with music by Ivan Caryll, book and lyrics by Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse, and additional lyrics by Clifford Grey...
in 1919, and as René in A Night Out
A Night Out (musical)
A Night Out is a musical comedy with a book by George Grossmith, Jr. and Arthur Miller, music by Willie Redstone and Cole Porter and lyrics by Clifford Grey. The story is adapted from the 1894 French comedy L'Hôtel du libre échange by Georges Feydeau and Maurice Desvallières...
in 1920.
In 1921, Holloway made his film debut, appearing in a silent comedy called The Rotters. In the same year, he achieved considerable success in The Co-Optimists
The Co-Optimists
The Co-Optimists is the title of a stage variety revue which opened in London on 27 June 1921. The show was devised by Davy Burnaby. The piece was a co-operative venture by what The Times called "a group of well-known musical comedy and variety artists" presenting "an all-star 'pierrot'...
. This was a co-operative venture by what The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
called "a group of well-known musical comedy and variety artists" presenting "an all-star 'pierrot
Concert Party (entertainment)
A concert party, also called a Pierrot troupe, is the collective name for a group of entertainers, or Pierrots, popular in Britain during the first half of the 20th century. The variety show given by a Pierrot troupe was called a Pierrot show...
' entertainment in the West-end." It opened at the small Royalty Theatre
Royalty Theatre
The Royalty Theatre was a small London theatre situated at 73 Dean Street, Soho and opened on 25 May 1840 as Miss Kelly's Theatre and Dramatic School and finally closed to the public in 1938. The architect was Samuel Beazley, a resident in Soho Square, who also designed St James's Theatre, among...
and soon transferred to the much larger Palace Theatre
Palace Theatre, London
The Palace Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster in London. It is an imposing red-brick building that dominates the west side of Cambridge Circus and is located near the intersection of Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road...
for a long run. It was completely rewritten at regular intervals to keep it fresh, and the final edition, beginning in November 1926, was the 13th new version. After it closed, a feature film version
The Co-Optimists (film)
The Co-Optimists is a 1929 British black and white concert musical film. It contains excerts from the stage musical of the same name which was devised by Davy Burnaby in 1921. The Co-Optimists consisted of a troupe of actors and singers and became largely successful by touring seaside resorts...
was made in 1929, with Holloway rejoining his former co-stars.
From 1923, Holloway established himself as a BBC Radio
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
performer. The early BBC broadcasts brought variety and classical artists together, and Holloway could be heard in the same programme as the cellist John Barbirolli
John Barbirolli
Sir John Barbirolli, CH was an English conductor and cellist. Born in London, of Italian and French parentage, he grew up in a family of professional musicians. His father and grandfather were violinists...
or the Band of the Scots Guards. He developed his solo act throughout the 1920s while continuing his involvement with the musical theatre and The Co-Optimists. In 1924 he made his first gramophone discs, recording for HMV two songs from The Co-Optimists: London Town and Memory Street.
After The Co-Optimists disbanded in 1927, Holloway played in the New York and London productions of Vincent Youmans
Vincent Youmans
Vincent Youmans was an American popular composer and Broadway producer.- Life :Vincent Millie Youmans was born in New York City on September 27, 1898 and grew-up on Central Park West on the site where the Mayflower Hotel once stood. His father, a prosperous hat manufacturer, moved the family to...
's musical comedy Hit the Deck (1927), as Bill Smith, a performance judged by The Times to be "invested with many shrewd touches of humanity". In The Manchester Guardian, Ivor Brown
Ivor Brown
Ivor John Carnegie Brown was a British journalist and man of letters.-Biography:Born in Penang, Malaya, Brown was the younger of two sons of Dr. William Carnegie Brown, a specialist in tropical diseases, and his wife Jean Carnegie. At an early age he was sent to Britain, where he attended Suffolk...
praised him for a singing style "which coaxes the ear rather than clubbing the head."
Holloway began regularly performing monologues, both onstage and on record, in 1928, with his own creation, Sam Small, in Sam, Sam, Pick oop thy Musket. Over the following years, he recorded more than 20 monologues based around the character, most of which he wrote himself. He created Small Sam after Henson had returned from a tour of northern England and told him a story about an insubordinate old soldier from the Battle of Waterloo
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
. Holloway developed the character, naming him after a Cockney friend of Henson called Annie Small; the name Sam was chosen at random. Holloway adopted a northern accent for the character. The Times commented, "For absolute delight … there is nothing to compare with Mr. Stanley Holloway's monologue, concerning a military contretemps on the eve of Waterloo … perfect, even to the curled moustache and the Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
accent of the stubborn Guardsman hero."
In 1929, Holloway played another leading role in musical comedy, Lieutenant Richard Manners in Song of the Sea (1929), and then performed in a revue
Revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
, Coo-ee (1929), with Billy Bennett, Dorothy Dickson
Dorothy Dickson
Dorothy Dickson , was an American-born, London-based theater actress and singer.-Biography:Dickson is known mostly for her rendition of the Jerome Kern song "Look for the Silver Lining". She was also a member of the Ziegfeld Follies and made many appearances in New York and abroad...
and Claude Hulbert
Claude Hulbert
Claude Noel Hulbert was a British comic actor. He was the younger brother of Jack Hulbert. Like his brother, he was Cambridge educated and was a member of the Footlights comedy club as an undergraduate....
. When The Co-Optimists re-formed in 1930, he again joined that company, now at the Savoy Theatre
Savoy Theatre
The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre located in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre opened on 10 October 1881 and was built by Richard D'Oyly Carte on the site of the old Savoy Palace as a showcase for the popular series of comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan,...
, and at the same venue appeared in Savoy Follies in 1932, where he introduced to London audiences the monologue The Lion and Albert. The monologue was written by Marriott Edgar
Marriott Edgar
Marriott Edgar , born George Marriot Edgar in Kirkcudbright, Scotland, was a poet, scriptwriter and comedian best known for writing many of the monologues performed by Stanley Holloway, particularly the 'Albert' series....
, who based the story around a Mr. and Mrs. Ramsbottom, their son Albert, and the lion who eats the boy. Edgar named the lion Wallace after his half-brother Edgar Wallace
Edgar Wallace
Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace was an English crime writer, journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and playwright, who wrote 175 novels, 24 plays, and numerous articles in newspapers and journals....
, a famous crime writer and playwright of the early 20th century. At first, neither Edgar nor Holloway was convinced that the piece would succeed, but needing material for an appearance at a Northern Rugby League dinner Holloway decided to perform it. It was well received, and Holloway introduced it into his stage act. Subsequently, Edgar wrote 16 monologues for him. In its obituary of Holloway, The Times wrote that Sam and Albert "became part of English folklore during the 1930s, and they remained so during the Second World War."
Beginning in 1934, Holloway appeared in a series of British films, three of which featured his creation Sam Small. He started his association with the film makers Ealing Studios
Ealing Studios
Ealing Studios is a television and film production company and facilities provider at Ealing Green in West London. Will Barker bought the White Lodge on Ealing Green in 1902 as a base for film making, and films have been made on the site ever since...
in 1934, appearing in the fifth Gracie Fields
Gracie Fields
Dame Gracie Fields, DBE , was an English-born, later Italian-based actress, singer and comedienne and star of both cinema and music hall.-Early life:...
picture Sing As We Go
Sing as We Go
Sing As We Go is a 1934 British musical film starring Gracie Fields and Stanley Holloway. The script was written by Gordon Wellesley and J. B. Priestley; it was directed by Basil Dean....
. His other films from the 1930s included Squibs (1935), and The Vicar of Bray
The Vicar of Bray (film)
The Vicar of Bray is a 1937 British historical film directed by Henry Edwards and starring Stanley Holloway, Hugh Miller, Felix Aylmer and Margaret Vines.The film has recently been released onto DVD-Plot:...
(1937). In December 1934, Holloway made his first appearance in pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
, playing Abanazar in Aladdin
Aladdin
Aladdin is a Middle Eastern folk tale. It is one of the tales in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights , and one of the most famous, although it was actually added to the collection by Antoine Galland ....
. In his first season in the part, he was overshadowed by his co-star, Sir Henry Lytton
Henry Lytton
Sir Henry Lytton was an English actor and singer who was the leading exponent of the comic patter-baritone roles in Gilbert and Sullivan operas in the early part of the twentieth century...
, as the Emperor, but he quickly became established as a favourite in his role, playing it in successive years in Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, London, Edinburgh and Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
.
World War II and post-war
When the Second World War started in 1939, Holloway was 49 and too old for active service. He decided to make his contribution in short propaganda pieces for the British Film InstituteBritish Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
and Pathé News
Pathe News
Pathé Newsreels were produced from 1910 until the 1970s, when production of newsreels was in general stopped. Pathé News today is known as British Pathé and its archive of over 90,000 reels is fully digitised and online.-History:...
. He narrated documentaries aimed at lifting morale in war-torn Britain, including Albert's Savings (1940), written by Marriott Edgar and featuring the character Albert Ramsbottom, and Worker and Warfront No.8 (1943) with a script written by E. C. Bentley
Edmund Clerihew Bentley
E. C. Bentley was a popular English novelist and humorist of the early twentieth century, and the inventor of the clerihew, an irregular form of humorous verse on biographical topics...
about a worker who neglects to have an injury examined and contracts blood poisoning. These two films were included on a 2007 Imperial War Museum
Imperial War Museum
Imperial War Museum is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. The museum was founded during the First World War in 1917 and intended as a record of the war effort and sacrifice of Britain and her Empire...
DVD Britain's Home Front at War: Words for Battle.
On stage during the war years, Holloway appeared in revues, first Up and Doing, with Henson, Binnie Hale
Binnie Hale
Binnie Hale was an English actress and musician. Both her father, Robert Hale and younger brother, Sonnie Hale were actors. She married West End actor Jack Raine, with whom she had one daughter....
and Cyril Ritchard
Cyril Ritchard
Cyril Ritchard was an Australian stage, screen and television actor, and director. He is probably best remembered today for his performance as Captain Hook in the Mary Martin musical production of Peter Pan....
in 1940 and 1941, and then Fine and Dandy, with Henson, Dorothy Dickson
Dorothy Dickson
Dorothy Dickson , was an American-born, London-based theater actress and singer.-Biography:Dickson is known mostly for her rendition of the Jerome Kern song "Look for the Silver Lining". She was also a member of the Ziegfeld Follies and made many appearances in New York and abroad...
, Douglas Byng
Douglas Byng
thumb|right|200px|Portrait by [[Allan Warren]]Douglas Byng was a British comic singer and songwriter in West End theatre, revue and cabaret. Billed as "Bawdy but British", Byng was famous for his female impersonations. His songs are full of sexual innuendo and double entendres...
and Graham Payn
Graham Payn
Graham Payn was a South African-born English actor and singer, also known for being the life partner of the playwright Noël Coward. Beginning as a boy soprano, Payn later made a career as a singer and actor in the works of Coward and others...
. In both shows, Holloway presented new monologues, and The Times thought a highlight of Fine and Dandy was a parody of the BBC radio programme The Brains Trust
The Brains Trust
The Brains Trust was a popular informational BBC radio and later television programme in the United Kingdom during the 1940s and 50s.- History :...
, with Holloway "ponderously anecdotal" and Henson "gigglingly omniscient".
In 1941 Holloway took a character part in Gabriel Pascal
Gabriel Pascal
Gabriel Pascal was a Hungarian film producer and director.Born 1894 in Arad, Austria-Hungary , Pascal was the first film producer to bring the plays of George Bernard Shaw successfully to the screen. His most famous production was Pygmalion, for which Pascal himself received an Academy Award...
's film of Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
's Major Barbara, in which he played a policeman. He had leading parts in later films, including The Way Ahead
The Way Ahead
The Way Ahead is a British Second World War drama released in 1944. It stars David Niven and Stanley Holloway and follows a group of civilians who are conscripted into the British Army to fight in North Africa. In the U.S., an edited version was released as The Immortal Battalion.The film was...
(1944), This Happy Breed
This Happy Breed (film)
This Happy Breed is a 1944 British drama film directed by David Lean. The screenplay by Lean, Anthony Havelock-Allan and Ronald Neame is based on the 1939 play of the same title by Noël Coward...
(1944) and The Way to the Stars
The Way to the Stars
The Way to the Stars, also known as Johnny in the Clouds, is a 1945 British war drama film made by Two Cities Films and released by United Artists. It was produced by Anatole de Grunwald and directed by Anthony Asquith...
(1945). After the war, he played Albert Godby in Brief Encounter
Brief Encounter
Brief Encounter is a 1945 British film directed by David Lean about the conventions of British suburban life, centring on a housewife for whom real love brings unexpectedly violent emotions. The film stars Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway and Joyce Carey...
and had a cameo role as the First Gravedigger in Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
's 1948 film of Hamlet
Hamlet (1948 film)
Hamlet is a 1948 British film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, adapted and directed by and starring Sir Laurence Olivier. Hamlet was Olivier's second film as director, and also the second of the three Shakespeare films that he directed...
. In 1951, Holloway played the same role onstage to the Hamlet of Alec Guinness
Alec Guinness
Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE was an English actor. He was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. He later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai...
. For Pathé News, he delivered the commentary for documentaries in a series called Time To Remember, where he narrated over old newsreels from significant dates in history from 1915 to 1942. In these years, Holloway also starred in a series of films for Ealing Studios. He began with Champagne Charlie
Champagne Charlie (film)
Champagne Charlie is a 1944 British musical film made by Ealing Studios. It is based on an 1860s play that depicted the real life rivalry between George Leybourne, who first performed the song of that name, and Alfred Vance....
in 1944 alongside Tommy Trinder
Tommy Trinder
Thomas Edward Trinder CBE known as Tommy Trinder, was an English stage, screen and radio comedian of the pre and post war years whose catchphrase was 'You lucky people'.-Life:...
. After that he made Nicholas Nickleby
Nicholas Nickleby (1947 film)
Nicholas Nickleby is a 1947 British drama film directed by Cavalcanti. The screenplay by John Dighton is based on the 1839 novel The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens...
(1947), and Another Shore
Another Shore
Another Shore is a 1948 Ealing Studios comedy film/tragedy filmed in Ireland. It stars Robert Beatty as Gulliver Shields, an Irish customs official who dreams of living on a South Sea island; particularly Rarotonga...
(1948). He next appeared in three of the most famous Ealing Comedies
Ealing Comedies
For the film Ealing Comedy, see Ealing Comedy .The Ealing Comedies were a series of film comedies produced by Ealing Studios during the period 1947 to 1957....
, Passport to Pimlico
Passport to Pimlico
Passport to Pimlico is a 1949 British comedy film made by Ealing Studios and starred Stanley Holloway, Margaret Rutherford, and Hermione Baddeley. It was directed by Henry Cornelius....
(1949), The Lavender Hill Mob
The Lavender Hill Mob
The Lavender Hill Mob is a 1951 comedy film from Ealing Studios, written by T.E.B. Clarke, directed by Charles Crichton, starring Alec Guinness and Stanley Holloway and featuring Sid James and Alfie Bass...
(1951) and The Titfield Thunderbolt
The Titfield Thunderbolt
The Titfield Thunderbolt is a 1953 British comedy film about a group of villagers trying to prevent British Railways from closing the fictional Titfield branch line. The film was written by T.E.B...
(1953). His final film with the studios was Meet Mr. Lucifer
Meet Mr. Lucifer
Meet Mr. Lucifer is a black and white British comedy satire film released in 1953 starring Stanley Holloway. Filmed at Ealing Studios, London, The film is based on the play Beggar My Neighbour by Arnold Ridley -Plot:When Mr Pedelty leaves his firm, he is given a...
(1953).
In 1948 Holloway toured for six months in Australia around Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
and in New Zealand supported by the band leader Billy Mayerl
Billy Mayerl
Billy Joseph Mayerl , was an English pianist and composer who built a career in music hall and musical theatre and became an acknowledged master of light music. Best known for his syncopated novelty piano solos, he wrote over 300 piano pieces, many of which were named after flowers and trees,...
. Holloway made his Australian début at The Tivoli Theatre, Melbourne and recorded television appearances to publicise the forthcoming release of Passport to Pimlico. Holloway wrote the monologue Albert Down Under especially for the tour.
1950s and 1960s stage and screen
In 1954 Holloway joined the Old VicOld Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
theatre company to play Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
, with Robert Helpmann
Robert Helpmann
Sir Robert Helpmann CBE was an Australian dancer, actor, theatre director and choreographer.-Early years:He was born Robert Murray Helpman in Mount Gambier, South Australia and also boarded at Prince Alfred College in Adelaide. From childhood, Helpman had a strong desire to be a dancer...
as Oberon and Moira Shearer
Moira Shearer
Moira Shearer, Lady Kennedy , was an internationally famous Scottish ballet dancer and actress.-Early life:She was born Moira Shearer King in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, the daughter of actor Harold V. King...
as Titania. After playing at the Edinburgh Festival
Edinburgh Festival
The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
, the production was taken to New York, where it played at the Metropolitan Opera House
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
and then on tour of the US and Canada. The production was harshly reviewed by critics on both sides of the Atlantic, but Holloway made a strong impression.
In 1956 Holloway created the role of Alfred P. Doolittle in the original Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
production of My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...
. The librettist, Alan Jay Lerner
Alan Jay Lerner
Alan Jay Lerner was an American lyricist and librettist. In collaboration with Frederick Loewe, he created some of the world's most popular and enduring works of musical theatre for both the stage and on film...
, remembered in his memoirs that Holloway was his first choice for the role, even before it was written. Lerner's only concern was whether, after so long away from the musical stage, Holloway still had his resonant singing voice. Holloway reassured him over a lunch at Claridge's
Claridge's
Claridge's is a luxury hotel in Mayfair, central London. It is located at the corner of Brook Street and Davies Street.-History:Claridge's is a traditional grand hotel. Its extensive and old connections with royalty have led to it being referred to as an "extension to Buckingham Palace"...
: Lerner recalled, "He put down his knife and fork, threw back his head and unleashed a strong baritone note that resounded through the dining room, drowned out the string quartet and sent a few dozen people off to the osteopath to have their necks untwisted." Holloway had a long association with the show, appearing in the original 1956 Broadway production at the Mark Hellinger Theatre
Mark Hellinger Theatre
The Mark Hellinger Theatre is a generally used name of a former legitimate Broadway theater, located at 237 West 51st Street in midtown Manhattan, New York City. Since 1991, it has been known as the Times Square Church...
, the 1958 London version at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
, and the film version
My Fair Lady (film)
My Fair Lady is a 1964 musical film adaptation of the Lerner and Loewe stage musical, of the same name, based on the 1938 film adaptation of the original stage play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. The ballroom scene and the ending were taken from the previous film adaptation , rather than from...
in 1964. In The Manchester Guardian, Alistair Cooke
Alistair Cooke
Alfred Alistair Cooke KBE was a British/American journalist, television personality and broadcaster. Outside his journalistic output, which included Letter from America and Alistair Cooke's America, he was well known in the United States as the host of PBS Masterpiece Theater from 1971 to 1992...
wrote, "Stanley Holloway distils into the body of Doolittle the taste and smell of every pub in England."
Looking back in 2004, Holloway's biographer Eric Midwinter
Eric Midwinter
Eric Midwinter MA DPhil OBE is an English author, broadcaster and academic. He is known as a consumer advocate, a social policy analyst, a historian of the sport of Cricket and an expert on British comedy.-Life and career:...
wrote, "With his cockney authenticity, his splendid baritone voice, and his wealth of comedy experience, he made a great success of this role, and, as he said, it put him 'bang on top of the heap, in demand' again at a time when, in his mid-sixties, his career was beginning to wane. His performances earned him a Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Following his success on Broadway, Holloway played Pooh-Bah in a 1960 US television Bell Telephone Hour production of The Mikado
The Mikado
The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations...
, produced by the veteran Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
performer Martyn Green
Martyn Green
William Martyn-Green , better known as Martyn Green, was an English actor and singer. He is best known for his work as principal comedian in the Gilbert & Sullivan comic operas, which he performed and recorded with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and other troupes.After army service in World War I,...
. Holloway appeared with Groucho Marx
Groucho Marx
Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx was an American comedian and film star famed as a master of wit. His rapid-fire delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers. He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born...
and Helen Traubel
Helen Traubel
Helen Francesca Traubel was an American opera and concert singer. A dramatic soprano, she was best known for her Wagnerian roles, especially those of Brünnhilde and Isolde. Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, she began her career as a concert singer and went on to sing at the Metropolitan...
of the Metropolitan Opera. His notable films around this time included Alive and Kicking
Alive and Kicking (film)
Alive and Kicking is a 1959 British comedy film directed by Cyril Frankel and starring Sybil Thorndike, Kathleen Harrison, Estelle Winwood and Stanley Holloway. Three woman grow dissatisfied with their lives in a retirement home and decide to search for fresh enjoyment and adventure...
in 1959, co-starring Sybil Thorndike
Sybil Thorndike
Dame Agnes Sybil Thorndike CH DBE was a British actress.-Early life:She was born in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire to Arthur Thorndike and Agnes Macdonald. Her father was a Canon of Rochester Cathedral...
and Kathleen Harrison
Kathleen Harrison
Kathleen Harrison was a prolific English character actress best remembered for her role as Mrs. Huggett in a trio of British post-war comedies about a working class family's misadventures. To modern viewers she is better remembered as Mrs...
, and No Love for Johnnie
No Love for Johnnie
No Love for Johnnie is a 1961 British drama film directed by Ralph Thomas. It was based on the book of the same title by the Member of Parliament Wilfred Fienburgh and stars Peter Finch....
in 1961 opposite Peter Finch
Peter Finch
Peter Finch was a British-born Australian actor. He is best remembered for his role as "crazed" television anchorman Howard Beale in the film Network, which earned him a posthumous Academy Award for Best Actor, his fifth Best Actor award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and a...
. In 1962, Holloway took part in a studio recording of Oliver!
Oliver!
Oliver! is a British musical, with script, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens....
with Alma Cogan
Alma Cogan
Alma Cogan was an English singer of traditional pop music in the 1950s and early 1960s. Dubbed "The Girl With the Laugh/Giggle/Chuckle In Her Voice", she was the highest paid British female entertainer of her era...
and Violet Carson
Violet Carson
Violet Helen Carson OBE was an English actress, best known for playing Ena Sharples, one of the original characters in the British soap opera Coronation Street.-Early life and career:...
, in which he played Fagin.
In 1962 Holloway played the role of an English butler called Higgins in a US television sitcom called Our Man Higgins
Our Man Higgins
Our Man Higgins is a 34-episode situation comedy, the story of an English butler — portrayed by Stanley Holloway, who is inherited by a suburban American family, resulting in a cultural clash that grows into a cultural blending. A Screen Gems presentation, Our Man Higgins was seen on ABC television...
. It ran for only a season. His son, Julian
Julian Holloway
Julian Holloway is an English actor now based in Hollywood, CA, United States. He is the son of the comedy actor and singer Stanley Holloway and former chorus dancer and actress Violet Lane...
, also appeared in the series. In 1964 he again appeared on stage in Philadelphia in Cool Off!, a short-lived Faust
Faust
Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend; a highly successful scholar, but also dissatisfied with his life, and so makes a deal with the devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. Faust's tale is the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical...
ian spoof. He returned to the US a few more times after that to take part in The Dean Martin Show
The Dean Martin Show
The Dean Martin Show is a TV variety-comedy series that ran from 1965 to 1974 for 264 episodes. It was broadcast by NBC and hosted by crooner Dean Martin...
three times and The Red Skelton Show
The Red Skelton Show
The Red Skelton Show is an American variety show that was a television staple for two decades, from 1951 to 1971. It was second to Gunsmoke and third to The Ed Sullivan Show in the ratings during that time. Skelton, who had previously been a radio star, had appeared in several motion pictures as...
twice. He also appeared in the 1965 war film In Harm's Way
In Harm's Way
In Harm's Way is a 1965 American epic war film produced and directed by Otto Preminger and starring John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Patricia Neal, Tom Tryon, Paula Prentiss, Stanley Holloway, Burgess Meredith, Brandon De Wilde, Jill Haworth, Dana Andrews, and Henry Fonda.It was the last black-and-white...
, together with John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
and Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...
.
Last years
Holloway appeared for the first time in a major British television series in the BBC's 1967 adaptation of P. G. WodehouseP. G. Wodehouse
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE was an English humorist, whose body of work includes novels, short stories, plays, poems, song lyrics, and numerous pieces of journalism. He enjoyed enormous popular success during a career that lasted more than seventy years and his many writings continue to be...
's Blandings Castle
Blandings Castle
Blandings Castle is a recurring fictional location in the stories of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being the seat of Lord Emsworth , home to many of his family, and setting for numerous tales and adventures, written between 1915 and 1975.The series of stories which take place at the castle,...
stories, playing Beach, the butler to Ralph Richardson
Ralph Richardson
Sir Ralph David Richardson was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, also appeared in several classic films....
's Lord Emsworth. His portrayal of Beach was received with critical reservation, but the series was a popular success.
In 1970, Holloway began an association with the Shaw Festival
Shaw Festival
The Shaw Festival is a major Canadian theatre festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, the second largest repertory theatre company in North America...
in Canada, playing Burgess in Candida
Candida (play)
Candida, a comedy by playwright George Bernard Shaw, was first published in 1898, as part of his Plays Pleasant. The central characters are clergyman James Morell, his wife Candida and a youthful poet, Eugene Marchbanks, who tries to win Candida's affections. The play questions Victorian notions...
. He made what he considered his West End debut as a straight actor in Siege by David Ambrose
David Ambrose
David Ambrose is a British novelist and screenwriter whose credits include at least 20 Hollywood films, 3 stage plays, and countless hours of television, including the controversial Alternative 3. He was born in Chorley, England and attended Blackburn Grammar School and Merton College, Oxford...
at the Cambridge Theatre in 1972, co-starring with Alistair Sim and Michael Bryant
Michael Bryant (actor)
Michael Dennis Bryant was a British stage and television actor.-Biography:Bryant attended Battersea Grammar School and after service in the Merchant Navy and Army, he attended drama school and appeared in many productions on the London stage. He made his film debut in 1955...
. He returned to Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
and Canada, playing the central character Walter/William in You Never Can Tell in 1973. His final film was in 1975 in Daniel Mann
Daniel Mann
Daniel Mann, also known as Daniel Chugerman , was an American film and television director.Daniel Mann was born in Brooklyn, New York. He was a stage actor since childhood, and attended Erasmus Hall High School, New York's Professional Children's School and the Neighborhood Playhouse...
's Journey into Fear
Journey into Fear (1975 film)
Journey into Fear is a 1975 Canadian thriller film directed by Daniel Mann, and based on the novel Journey into Fear by Eric Ambler. It starred Sam Waterston, Zero Mostel, Yvette Mimieux, Vincent Price, Donald Pleasence, Shelley Winters, Stanley Holloway, Joseph Wiseman and Ian McShane....
with Zero Mostel
Zero Mostel
Samuel Joel “Zero” Mostel was an American actor of stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of comic characters such as Tevye on stage in Fiddler on the Roof, Pseudolus on stage and on screen in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Max Bialystock in the original film version...
, Joseph Wiseman
Joseph Wiseman
Joseph Wiseman was a Canadian theater and film actor, best known for starring as the titular antagonist of the first James Bond film, Dr. No, his role as Manny Weisbord on Crime Story, and his career on Broadway...
and Shelley Winters
Shelley Winters
Shelley Winters was an American actress who appeared in dozens of films, as well as on stage and television; her career spanned over 50 years until her death in 2006...
.
Holloway continued to perform until well into his eighties, touring Asia and Australia in 1977 together with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
Douglas Elton Fairbanks, Jr. KBE was an American actor and a highly decorated naval officer of World War II.-Early life:...
and David Langton
David Langton
David Muir Langton was a British actor who is best remembered for playing Richard Bellamy in the period drama Upstairs, Downstairs.-Early years:...
in The Pleasure of His Company
The Pleasure of His Company
The Pleasure of His Company is a comedy film starring Fred Astaire and Debbie Reynolds, released by Paramount Pictures. It is based on the 1958 play of the same name by Samuel A. Taylor and Cornelia Otis Skinner.-Plot:...
, by Samuel A. Taylor
Samuel A. Taylor
Samuel A. Taylor was an American playwright and screenwriter.Born Samuel Albert Tanenbaum, in a Jewish family, in Chicago, Illinois, Taylor made his Broadway debut as author of the play The Happy Time in 1950. He wrote the play Sabrina Fair in 1953 and co-wrote its film adaptation the following year...
and Cornelia Otis Skinner
Cornelia Otis Skinner
Cornelia Otis Skinner was an American author and actress.-Biography:Skinner was the daughter of the actor Otis Skinner and his wife Maud Skinner. After attending the all-girls' Baldwin School and Bryn Mawr College and studying theatre at the Sorbonne in Paris, she began her career on the stage...
. He made his last appearance performing at the Royal Variety Performance
Royal Variety Performance
The Royal Variety Performance is a gala evening held annually in the United Kingdom, which is attended by senior members of the British Royal Family, usually the reigning monarch. In more recent years Queen Elizabeth II and The Prince of Wales have alternately attended the performance...
at the London Palladium
London Palladium
The London Palladium is a 2,286 seat West End theatre located off Oxford Street in the City of Westminster. From the roster of stars who have played there and many televised performances, it is arguably the most famous theatre in London and the United Kingdom, especially for musical variety...
in 1980, aged 89.
Holloway died of a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
at the Nightingale Nursing Home in Littlehampton
Littlehampton
Littlehampton is a seaside resort town and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England, on the east bank at the mouth of the River Arun. It lies south southwest of London, west of Brighton and east of the county town of Chichester....
, West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
, on 30 January 1982, aged 91. He is buried, along with his wife Violet, at St. Mary the Virgin Church in East Preston
East Preston, West Sussex
East Preston is a village and civil parish in the Arun district of West Sussex, England. It lies roughly half way between Littlehampton and Worthing...
, West Sussex.
Personal life
Holloway was married twice, first to Alice "Queenie" Foran. They met in June 1913 in Clacton, while he was performing in a concert party and she was selling charity flags on behalf of the RNLI. Queenie was orphaned at the age of 16, something that Holloway felt he and Queenie had in common, as his mother had died that year and his father had earlier abandoned the family. He married Queenie in November 1913.They had four children: Joan, born on Holloway's 24th birthday in 1914, Patricia (b. 1920), John (b. 1925) and Mary (b. 1928). Upon the death of her mother, Queenie inherited some property in Southampton Row
Southampton Row
Southampton Row is major thoroughfare running northwest-southeast in Bloomsbury, Camden, central London, England. The road is designated as part of the A4200.- Location :To the north, Southampton Row adjoins the southeast corner of Russell Square...
and relied on the rents from the property for her income. During the First World War, while Holloway was away fighting in France, Queenie began to have financial trouble, as the tenants failed to pay their rent. Out of desperation, she approached several loan sharks in order to survive, incurring a huge debt about which Holloway knew nothing. She also started to drink heavily as the pressures from the war and of supporting her daughter took their toll. On Holloway's return from the war, the debt was paid off, but in the late 1920s, he found himself in difficulties with the British tax authorities and was briefly declared bankrupt. He and Queenie lived together until her death in 1937, at the age of 45, from cirrhosis of the liver. Little is known about the children from the first marriage, except that John worked as an engineer in an electrics company, and Mary worked for British Petroleum for many years.
On 2 January 1939, Holloway married a 25-year-old actress and former chorus dancer named Violet Marion Lane (1913–1997). Violet was born into a working class family from Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
. Her mother was Scottish, and her civil engineer father, Alfred Lane, was a Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
man. The marriage lasted over 40 years until Holloway's death in 1982. Although he was a client of the Aza Agency in London, Violet effectively managed Holloway's career, and no project was taken on without her approval. In his autobiography, Holloway said of her, "I suppose I am committing lawful bigamy. Not only is she my wife, she is also my manager, my cook, a mother to my children, my chauffeur, my lover and my best friend." They had one son, Julian
Julian Holloway
Julian Holloway is an English actor now based in Hollywood, CA, United States. He is the son of the comedy actor and singer Stanley Holloway and former chorus dancer and actress Violet Lane...
, who also became an actor and is best known for appearing in the Carry On
Carry On films
The Carry On films are a series of low-budget British comedy films, directed by Gerald Thomas and produced by Peter Rogers. They are an energetic mix of parody, farce, slapstick and double entendres....
films. Julian had a brief relationship with Patricia Neal
Patricia Neal
Patricia Neal was an American actress of stage and screen. She was best known for her film roles as World War II widow Helen Benson in The Day the Earth Stood Still , wealthy matron Emily Eustace Failenson in Breakfast at Tiffany's , middle-aged housekeeper Alma Brown in Hud , for which she won...
's daughter Tessa Dahl (Stanley Holloway had appeared with Neal in the 1965 film In Harm's Way), which produced a daughter, the model and author Sophie Dahl
Sophie Dahl
Sophie Dahl , born Sophie Holloway, is an English author and former model. She was born in London, the daughter of actor Julian Holloway and writer Tessa Dahl. Her maternal grandparents were author Roald Dahl and actress Patricia Neal. Her paternal grandparents were actor Stanley Holloway and...
, and he later was briefly married to the actress Zena Walker
Zena Walker
Zena Walker was an English actress in film, theatre, and television.Walker was born in Birmingham, the daughter of George Walker, a grocer, and his wife Elizabeth Louise . She attended St. Martin's School in 1960 and then went on to train at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She starred in an...
.
Holloway, Violet and Julian lived mainly in the tiny village of Penn, Buckinghamshire
Penn, Buckinghamshire
Penn is a village and civil parish in Chiltern district in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of Beaconsfield and east of High Wycombe...
. Holloway also owned other properties including a flat in St. John's Wood in North West London, which he used when working in the capital, and a flat in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
during the My Fair Lady Broadway years. The final years of his life were spent living in Angmering
Angmering
Angmering is a large village and civil parish between Littlehampton and Worthing in West Sussex, England. It is located approximately two miles north of the English Channel; Worthing and Littlehampton are about four miles to the east and west respectively.Angmering railway station is miles away...
, West Sussex with Violet. Holloway had many friends in show business and forged close friendships with people such as Leslie Henson, Gracie Fields, Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Auguste Chevalier was a French actor, singer, entertainer and a noted Sprechgesang performer. He is perhaps best known for his signature songs, including Louise, Mimi, Valentine, and Thank Heaven for Little Girls and for his films including The Love Parade and The Big Pond...
, Laurence Olivier, and Arthur Askey
Arthur Askey
Arthur Bowden Askey CBE was a prominent English comedian.- Life and career :Askey was born at 29 Moses Street, Liverpool, the eldest child and only son of Samuel Askey , secretary of the firm Sugar Products of Liverpool, and his wife, Betsy Bowden , of Knutsford, Cheshire...
, who said of him, "He was the nicest man I ever knew. He never had a wrong word to say about anyone. He was a great actor, a super mimic and a one-man walking comic show." While working in the US, Holloway numbered among his friends Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
, Burgess Meredith
Burgess Meredith
Oliver Burgess Meredith , known professionally as Burgess Meredith, was an American actor in theatre, film, and television, who also worked as a director...
and Groucho Marx.
Honours, memorials and books
Holloway was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British EmpireOrder of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(OBE) in the 1960 New Year's Honours list for his services to entertainment. He was awarded the Variety Club of Great Britain special award in 1978.
There is a memorial plaque dedicated to Holloway in St. Paul's, Covent Garden, London, which is known as "the actors' church". The plaque is next to a memorial to Gracie Fields. In 2009 English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
unveiled a Blue Plaque
Blue plaque
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person or event, serving as a historical marker....
at 25 Albany Road, Manor Park, Essex, the house in which Holloway was born in 1890. There is a building named after him at 2 Coolfin Road, Newham, London called Stanley Holloway Court.
Holloway entitled his 1967 autobiography Wiv a Little Bit of Luck after the song he performed in My Fair Lady. The book was ghost-written by the writer and director Dick Richards
Dick Richards
Dick Richards is an American film director, producer and writer.After working as a photographer, Richards went on to direct commercials. His career in film began by writing and directing a western, The Culpepper Cattle Co. , and continued with such films as Farewell, My Lovely , March or Die , and...
and was published in 1967. He oversaw the publication of three volumes of the monologues by or associated with him: Monologues (1979); The Stanley Holloway Monologues (1980); and More Monologues (1981).
Stage shows
- 1913: Nicely, Thanks! – Concert party in which Holloway first worked with Leslie Henson
- 1919: Kissing TimeKissing Timethumb|right|[[Leslie Henson]] and [[Phyllis Dare]] Kissing Time, an earlier version of which was titled The Girl Behind the Gun, is a musical comedy with music by Ivan Caryll, book and lyrics by Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse, and additional lyrics by Clifford Grey...
– The first show at the new Winter Garden Theatre, now occupied by the New London TheatreNew London TheatreThe New London Theatre is a West End theatre located on the corner of Drury Lane and Parker Street in Covent Garden, in the London Borough of Camden... - 1920: A Night OutA Night Out (musical)A Night Out is a musical comedy with a book by George Grossmith, Jr. and Arthur Miller, music by Willie Redstone and Cole Porter and lyrics by Clifford Grey. The story is adapted from the 1894 French comedy L'Hôtel du libre échange by Georges Feydeau and Maurice Desvallières...
– Follow-up show, also at the Winter Garden - 1921–1927: The Co-OptimistsThe Co-OptimistsThe Co-Optimists is the title of a stage variety revue which opened in London on 27 June 1921. The show was devised by Davy Burnaby. The piece was a co-operative venture by what The Times called "a group of well-known musical comedy and variety artists" presenting "an all-star 'pierrot'...
- 1927: Hit the Deck at the Belasco TheatreBelasco TheatreThe Belasco Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 111 West 44th Street in midtown-Manhattan.-History:Designed by architect George Keister for impresario David Belasco, the interior featured Tiffany lighting and ceiling panels, rich woodwork and expansive murals by American artist...
on Broadway - 1928: Song of the Sea
- 1929: Coo-ee
- 1929–1930: The Co-OptimistsThe Co-OptimistsThe Co-Optimists is the title of a stage variety revue which opened in London on 27 June 1921. The show was devised by Davy Burnaby. The piece was a co-operative venture by what The Times called "a group of well-known musical comedy and variety artists" presenting "an all-star 'pierrot'...
- 1931: Savoy Follies
- 1932: Here we are again
- 1934: Three Sisters
- 1934: Aladdin
- 1936: All Wave
- 1938: London Rhapsody
- 1940: Up and Doing
- 1942: Fine and Dandy
- 1946: Mother Goose
- 1951: HamletHamletThe Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
– as the "First Gravedigger" - 1952: Mr Lord Says No
- 1954: A Midsummer Night's DreamA Midsummer Night's DreamA Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
, Edinburgh and North American tour as "Bottom" - 1956: My Fair LadyMy Fair LadyMy Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...
, Broadway production - 1958: My Fair Lady, London production
- 1960: Laughs and Other Events, as himself at the Ethel Barrymore TheatreEthel Barrymore TheatreThe Ethel Barrymore Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 243 West 47th Street in midtown-Manhattan, named for actress Ethel Barrymore....
on Broadway - 1962: Oliver!Oliver!Oliver! is a British musical, with script, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens....
as Fagin – Broadway - 1964: Cool Off Broadway production
- 1972: Siege
- Note
: The source for the musical theatre appearances is the Oxford University PressOxford University PressOxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
Film and television appearances
- 1921: The RottersThe RottersThe Rotters is a 1921 British silent comedy film directed by A.V. Bramble and starring Joe Nightingale, Sydney Fairbrother and Sidney Paxton. It was based on a play by H.F...
: "Arthur Wait" - 1929: The Co-OptimistsThe Co-Optimists (film)The Co-Optimists is a 1929 British black and white concert musical film. It contains excerts from the stage musical of the same name which was devised by Davy Burnaby in 1921. The Co-Optimists consisted of a troupe of actors and singers and became largely successful by touring seaside resorts...
- 1933: Sleeping CarSleeping Car (film)Sleeping Car is a 1933 British comedy film directed by Anatole Litvak and starring Madeleine Carroll, Ivor Novello Stanley Holloway and Laddie Cliff.-Cast:* Madeleine Carroll - Anne* Ivor Novello - Gaston* Laddie Cliff - Pierre* Kay Hammond - Simone...
: "Francois" - 1933: The Girl from Maxim'sThe Girl from Maxim'sThe Girl from Maxim's is a 1933 British musical comedy film directed by Alexander Korda and starring Frances Day, Leslie Henson, Lady Tree and Stanley Holloway. A Doctor tries to pass off a singer as his wife in Paris in 1904...
: "Mongicourt" - 1934: Love at Second sight: "PC"
- 1934: D'Ye Ken John Peel?: "Sam Small"
- 1934: Lily of Killarney: "Father O"Flynn"
- 1934: Road House: "Donovan"
- 1934: Sing As We GoSing as We GoSing As We Go is a 1934 British musical film starring Gracie Fields and Stanley Holloway. The script was written by Gordon Wellesley and J. B. Priestley; it was directed by Basil Dean....
: "Policeman" - 1935: Play Up the Band: "Sam Small"
- 1935: Squibs: "Constable Charley Lee"
- 1937: Sam Small Leaves TownSam Small Leaves TownSam Small Leaves Town is a 1937 British comedy film directed by Alfred J. Goulding and starring Stanley Holloway, June Clyde and Fred Conyngham. In order to win a bet a famous actor leaves London and goes to work incognito in a holiday camp...
: "Richard Manning" - 1937: Song of the ForgeSong of the ForgeSong of the Forge is a 1937 British musical film directed by Henry Edwards and starring Stanley Holloway, Lawrence Grossmith and Eleanor Fayre...
: "Joe / Sir William Barrett" - 1937: The Vicar of BrayThe Vicar of Bray (film)The Vicar of Bray is a 1937 British historical film directed by Henry Edwards and starring Stanley Holloway, Hugh Miller, Felix Aylmer and Margaret Vines.The film has recently been released onto DVD-Plot:...
: "The Vicar of Bray" - 1937: Cotton QueenCotton QueenCotton Queen is a 1937 British comedy film directed by Joe Rock and Bernard Vorhaus. It starred Stanley Holloway, Will Fyffe and Mary Lawson....
: "Sam Owen" - 1939: Sam Goes Shopping: "Sam / Narrator"
- 1941: Major Barbara: "Policeman"
- 1942: Salute John CitizenSalute John CitizenSalute John Citizen is a 1942 British drama film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Edward Rigby, Mabel Constanduros and Jimmy Hanley. The Bunting family face up to the fortunes of war during the Second World War. It was based on the novels Mr. Bunting and Mr. Bunting at War by Robert...
: "Oskey" - 1944: This Happy BreedThis Happy Breed (film)This Happy Breed is a 1944 British drama film directed by David Lean. The screenplay by Lean, Anthony Havelock-Allan and Ronald Neame is based on the 1939 play of the same title by Noël Coward...
: "Bob Mitchell" - 1944: The Way AheadThe Way AheadThe Way Ahead is a British Second World War drama released in 1944. It stars David Niven and Stanley Holloway and follows a group of civilians who are conscripted into the British Army to fight in North Africa. In the U.S., an edited version was released as The Immortal Battalion.The film was...
: "Private Ted Brewer" - 1944: Champagne CharlieChampagne Charlie (film)Champagne Charlie is a 1944 British musical film made by Ealing Studios. It is based on an 1860s play that depicted the real life rivalry between George Leybourne, who first performed the song of that name, and Alfred Vance....
: "The Great Vance" - 1945: The Way to the StarsThe Way to the StarsThe Way to the Stars, also known as Johnny in the Clouds, is a 1945 British war drama film made by Two Cities Films and released by United Artists. It was produced by Anatole de Grunwald and directed by Anthony Asquith...
: "Mr Palmer" - 1945: Brief EncounterBrief EncounterBrief Encounter is a 1945 British film directed by David Lean about the conventions of British suburban life, centring on a housewife for whom real love brings unexpectedly violent emotions. The film stars Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway and Joyce Carey...
: "Albert Godby" - 1945: Caesar and Cleopatra: "Belzanor"
- 1946: Wanted for MurderWanted for Murder (film)Wanted for Murder is a 1946 British crime film directed by Lawrence Huntington.-Plot:Anne Fielding is delayed on the London Underground making her late for a meeting with her friend, Victor James Colebrooke. There, she meets Jack Williams who is also delayed. The two take an immediate liking to...
: "Sergeant Sullivan" - 1946: CarnivalCarnival (1946 film)-Cast:*Sally Gray as Jenny Pearl*Michael Wilding as Maurice Avery*Stanley Holloway as Charlie Raeburn*Bernard Miles as Trewhella*Jean Kent as Irene Dale*Catherine Lacey as Florrie Raeburn*Nancy Price as Mrs. Trewhella*Hazel Court as Mae Raeburn...
: "Charlie Raeburn" - 1947: Meet Me at DawnMeet Me at DawnMeet Me at Dawn is a 1947 British comedy film directed by Peter Creswell and Thornton Freeland and starring William Eythe, Stanley Holloway and Hazel Court. A very skilled pistol shot hires himself out to fight duels in early twentieth century Paris.-Cast:...
: "Emile" - 1947: Nicholas NicklebyNicholas Nickleby (1947 film)Nicholas Nickleby is a 1947 British drama film directed by Cavalcanti. The screenplay by John Dighton is based on the 1839 novel The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens...
: "Vincent Crummles" - 1948: SnowboundSnowbound (1948 film)Snowbound is a 1948 British thriller film directed by David MacDonald and starring Dennis Price, Stanley Holloway, Mila Parély, and Herbert Lom. A group of people search for treasure hidden by the Nazis in the Alps during the Second World War...
: "Joe Wesson" - 1948: One Night with YouOne Night with You (film)One Night with You is a 1948 British musical comedy film directed by Terence Young and starring Nino Martini, Patricia Roc and Bonar Colleano...
: "Tramp" - 1948: HamletHamlet (1948 film)Hamlet is a 1948 British film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, adapted and directed by and starring Sir Laurence Olivier. Hamlet was Olivier's second film as director, and also the second of the three Shakespeare films that he directed...
: "Gravedigger" - 1948: The Winslow BoyThe Winslow Boy (1948 film)The Winslow Boy is a 1948 film adaptation of Terence Rattigan's play The Winslow Boy. It was made by De Grunwald Productions and distributed by the British Lion Film Corporation. It was directed by Anthony Asquith and produced by Anatole de Grunwald with Teddy Baird as associate producer. The...
: "Comedian" - 1948: NooseNoose (film)Noose is a British crime film released in 1948. It was directed by Edmond T. Gréville and starred Carole Landis and Derek Farr.-Plot:Set in post Second World War Britain, Noose is the story of black market racketeers who face attempts to bring them to justice by an American fashion journalist, her...
: "Inspector Kendall" - 1948: Another ShoreAnother ShoreAnother Shore is a 1948 Ealing Studios comedy film/tragedy filmed in Ireland. It stars Robert Beatty as Gulliver Shields, an Irish customs official who dreams of living on a South Sea island; particularly Rarotonga...
: "Alastair McNeil" - 1949: Passport to PimlicoPassport to PimlicoPassport to Pimlico is a 1949 British comedy film made by Ealing Studios and starred Stanley Holloway, Margaret Rutherford, and Hermione Baddeley. It was directed by Henry Cornelius....
: "Arthur Pemberton" - 1949: The Perfect WomanThe Perfect WomanThe Perfect Woman is a comedy, 1949 British film directed by Bernard Knowles and written by George Black, Jr and J. B. Boothroyd, based upon a play by Wallace Geoffrey and Basil Mitchell. A scientist creates what he considers the perfect woman in his lab...
: "Ramshead" - 1950: Midnight Episode: "Professor Prince"
- 1951: One Wild OatOne Wild OatOne Wild Oat is a 1951 British film starring Stanley Holloway, Robertson Hare and Sam Costa with a notable appearance by a pre-stardom Audrey Hepburn as an extra....
: "Alfred Gilbey" - 1951: The Lavender Hill MobThe Lavender Hill MobThe Lavender Hill Mob is a 1951 comedy film from Ealing Studios, written by T.E.B. Clarke, directed by Charles Crichton, starring Alec Guinness and Stanley Holloway and featuring Sid James and Alfie Bass...
: "Alfred Pendlebury" - 1951: The Magic BoxThe Magic BoxThe Magic Box is a fictional magic shop in the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon. It is located in Sunnydale and was last owned and operated by Rupert Giles, and served as the primary headquarters of the Scooby Gang for seasons five and six.-Ownership history:The shop went...
: "Broker's Man" - 1951: Lady Godiva Rides AgainLady Godiva Rides AgainLady Godiva Rides Again is a 1951 British comedy film starring Diana Dors, about a small-town English girl who wins a beauty contest and heads for greater fame. It features Joan Collins in her movie debut as an uncredited beauty contestant...
: "Mr Clark" - 1952: The Happy FamilyThe Happy Family (1952 film)The Happy Family is a 1952 British comedy film directed by Muriel Box and starring Stanley Holloway, Kathleen Harrison and Naunton Wayne. The plot of the film centres on resistance by a family to the disruption caused by the construction of the Festival of Britain. It is also known by the...
: "Henry Lord" - 1952: Meet Me TonightMeet Me TonightMeet me Tonight is a 1952 omnibus British comedy film adapted from three one act plays by Noel Coward that are part of his Tonight at 8:30 play cycle...
: "Henry Gow: Fumed Oak"
- 1953: Fast and LooseFast and Loose (1954 film)Fast and Loose is a 1954 British comedy film directed by Gordon Parry and starring Stanley Holloway, Kay Kendall and Brian Reece. It was based on a play by Ben Travers, in the farcical style of his Aldwych farces...
: "Mr Crabb" - 1953: The Titfield ThunderboltThe Titfield ThunderboltThe Titfield Thunderbolt is a 1953 British comedy film about a group of villagers trying to prevent British Railways from closing the fictional Titfield branch line. The film was written by T.E.B...
: "Valentine" - 1953: The Beggar's OperaThe Beggar's Opera (film)The Beggar's Opera is a 1953 Technicolor film version of John Gay's 1728 ballad opera directed by Peter Brook and starring Laurence Olivier, Dorothy Tutin, Stanley Holloway and others. Olivier and Holloway do their own singing in this film, but Dorothy Tutin and several others were dubbed...
: "Mr Lockit" - 1953: A Day to RememberA Day to Remember (1953 film)A Day to Remember is a 1953 British comedy drama film directed by Ralph Thomas and starring an ensemble cast including Stanley Holloway, Donald Sinden and Bill Owen. The darts team of a London public house go on a day trip to Boulogne-sur-Mer in France....
: "Charley Porter" - 1953: Meet Mr. LuciferMeet Mr. LuciferMeet Mr. Lucifer is a black and white British comedy satire film released in 1953 starring Stanley Holloway. Filmed at Ealing Studios, London, The film is based on the play Beggar My Neighbour by Arnold Ridley -Plot:When Mr Pedelty leaves his firm, he is given a...
: "Sam Hollingsworth / Mr Lucifer" - 1955: An Alligator Named DaisyAn Alligator Named DaisyAn Alligator Named Daisy is a 1955 British comedy film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Donald Sinden, Jeannie Carson, James Robertson Justice, Diana Dors, Roland Culver and Stanley Holloway.-Plot:...
: "The General" - 1956: Jumping for JoyJumping for JoyJumping for Joy is a 1956 British comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Frankie Howerd, Stanley Holloway, Joan Hickson and Lionel Jeffries...
: "Captain Jack Montague" - 1959: Alive and KickingAlive and Kicking (film)Alive and Kicking is a 1959 British comedy film directed by Cyril Frankel and starring Sybil Thorndike, Kathleen Harrison, Estelle Winwood and Stanley Holloway. Three woman grow dissatisfied with their lives in a retirement home and decide to search for fresh enjoyment and adventure...
: "MacDonagh" - 1959: No Trees in the StreetNo Trees in the StreetNo Trees in the Street is a 1959 British crime thriller directed by J. Lee Thompson.-Cast:* Sylvia Syms as Hetty* Herbert Lom as Wilkie* Melvyn Hayes as Tommy* Ronald Howard as Frank* Stanley Holloway as Kipper* Joan Miller as Jess...
: "Kipper" - 1960: The Bell Telephone HourThe Bell Telephone HourThe Bell Telephone Hour is a long-run concert series which began April 29, 1940 on NBC Radio and was heard on NBC until June 30, 1958. Sponsored by Bell Telephone, it showcased the best in classical and Broadway music, reaching eight to nine million listeners each week. It continued on television...
– The MikadoThe MikadoThe Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations...
(TV): "Pooh-Bah" - 1960: An Arabian Night (TV): "Ibrahim"
- 1961: On the FiddleOn the FiddleOn the Fiddle is a 1961 British comedy film directed by Cyril Frankel and starring Sean Connery, Alfred Lynch, Cecil Parker, Stanley Holloway, Eric Barker, Mike Sarne, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Kathleen Harrison, Victor Maddern and John Le Mesurier....
: "Mr Cooksley" - 1961: No Love for JohnnieNo Love for JohnnieNo Love for Johnnie is a 1961 British drama film directed by Ralph Thomas. It was based on the book of the same title by the Member of Parliament Wilfred Fienburgh and stars Peter Finch....
: "Fred Andrews" - 1961: Meet Mr Holloway (TV)
- 1962: Our Man HigginsOur Man HigginsOur Man Higgins is a 34-episode situation comedy, the story of an English butler — portrayed by Stanley Holloway, who is inherited by a suburban American family, resulting in a cultural clash that grows into a cultural blending. A Screen Gems presentation, Our Man Higgins was seen on ABC television...
(TV): "Higgins" (1962–63; 34 episodes) - 1962: British Transport FilmsBritish Transport FilmsBritish Transport Films was an organisation set up in 1949 to make documentary films on the general subject of British transport. Its work included internal training films, travelogues , and "industrial films" promoting the progress of Britain's railway...
– "The Third Sam" (Documentary): "Narrator/monologist" - 1964: My Fair LadyMy Fair Lady (film)My Fair Lady is a 1964 musical film adaptation of the Lerner and Loewe stage musical, of the same name, based on the 1938 film adaptation of the original stage play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. The ballroom scene and the ending were taken from the previous film adaptation , rather than from...
: "Alfred P. Doolittle" - 1965: In Harm's WayIn Harm's WayIn Harm's Way is a 1965 American epic war film produced and directed by Otto Preminger and starring John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Patricia Neal, Tom Tryon, Paula Prentiss, Stanley Holloway, Burgess Meredith, Brandon De Wilde, Jill Haworth, Dana Andrews, and Henry Fonda.It was the last black-and-white...
: "Clayton Canfil" - 1965: The Red Skelton ShowThe Red Skelton ShowThe Red Skelton Show is an American variety show that was a television staple for two decades, from 1951 to 1971. It was second to Gunsmoke and third to The Ed Sullivan Show in the ratings during that time. Skelton, who had previously been a radio star, had appeared in several motion pictures as...
(TV series) – Episode #15.10, Eggcup Tycoon - 1965: Ten Little IndiansTen Little Indians (1965 film)The 1965 version of Ten Little Indians is the second film version of Agatha Christie's detective novel And Then There Were None . Although its background story is the same as the 1945 version , this one takes place on an isolated snowy mountain...
: "Detective William Henry Blore" - 1966: The Sandwich ManThe Sandwich ManThe Sandwich Man is a 1966 British comedy film starring Michael Bentine, Dora Bryan, Harry H. Corbett, Bernard Cribbins, Diana Dors, Norman Wisdom, Terry-Thomas and Ian Hendry. It was written by Bentine in conjunction with Robert Hartford-Davis...
: "Park Gardener" - 1966: The Dean Martin ShowThe Dean Martin ShowThe Dean Martin Show is a TV variety-comedy series that ran from 1965 to 1974 for 264 episodes. It was broadcast by NBC and hosted by crooner Dean Martin...
(TV): "Himself" (two episodes) - 1967: The Dean Martin ShowThe Dean Martin ShowThe Dean Martin Show is a TV variety-comedy series that ran from 1965 to 1974 for 264 episodes. It was broadcast by NBC and hosted by crooner Dean Martin...
(TV): "Himself" (one episode) - 1967: The Red Skelton ShowThe Red Skelton ShowThe Red Skelton Show is an American variety show that was a television staple for two decades, from 1951 to 1971. It was second to Gunsmoke and third to The Ed Sullivan Show in the ratings during that time. Skelton, who had previously been a radio star, had appeared in several motion pictures as...
(TV series) – Episode #17.3 … "Sir Whitecliff of Dover" - 1967: Blandings CastleBlandings CastleBlandings Castle is a recurring fictional location in the stories of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being the seat of Lord Emsworth , home to many of his family, and setting for numerous tales and adventures, written between 1915 and 1975.The series of stories which take place at the castle,...
(TV series) (6 episodes) "Sebastian Beach" - 1968: Thingumybob (TV series): "Bob Bridge"
- 1968: Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely DaughterMrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter (film)Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter is a 1968 British comedy film starring Peter Noone. The film showcases the British rock band, Herman's Hermits.-Cast:*Peter Noone – Herman Tulley*Keith Hopwood – Keith*Derek Leckenby – Derek*Karl Green – Karl...
: "George G Brown" - 1968 Armchair TheatreArmchair TheatreArmchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series, which ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television after 1968....
(TV series) (1 episode) – The Ballad of the Artificial Mash - 1969: Target: HarryTarget: HarryTarget: Harry is a 1969 thriller film directed by Roger Corman....
: "Jason Carlyle" - 1969: Run a Crooked MileRun a Crooked MileRun a Crooked Mile is a made-for-TV thriller in which Louis Jourdan stars as Richard Stuart, an ordinary schoolteacher who, whilst on holiday, is a witness to a murder in a private secluded mansion....
(TV): "Caretaker" - 1969: If It Moves It's Rude: The Story of the Windmill Theatre (TV) "On-screen participant"
- 1970: The Private Life of Sherlock HolmesThe Private Life of Sherlock HolmesThe Private Life of Sherlock Holmes is a 1970 film directed and produced by Billy Wilder; he also shared writing credit with his longtime collaborator I. A. L. Diamond. It starred Robert Stephens as Sherlock Holmes and Colin Blakely as Dr. Watson...
: "Gravedigger" - 1971: Flight of the DovesFlight of the DovesFlight of the Doves is a 1971 British film based on the novel by Walter Macken, the film was written by Frank Gabrielson and Ralph Nelson. Nelson also directed the film.-Cast:...
: "Judge Liffy" - 1972: Up the FrontUp the FrontUp the Front is a 1972 British comedy film. It is the third film spin-off from the TV series Up Pompeii! , directed by Bob Kellett, it stars Frankie Howerd as Lurk , a coward who is hypnotised into...
: "Vincento" - 1973: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (TV): "Poole"
- 1975: Journey into FearJourney into Fear (1975 film)Journey into Fear is a 1975 Canadian thriller film directed by Daniel Mann, and based on the novel Journey into Fear by Eric Ambler. It starred Sam Waterston, Zero Mostel, Yvette Mimieux, Vincent Price, Donald Pleasence, Shelley Winters, Stanley Holloway, Joseph Wiseman and Ian McShane....
: "Mr Mathews"
- Note
: The source for the television and film appearances is the British Film InstituteBritish Film InstituteThe British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
.
Recordings
Holloway had a 54-year recording career, beginning in the age of acoustic recording, and ending in the era of the stereophonic LP. He mainly recorded songs from musicals, revues, and recited many monologues on various subjects. Most prominent among his recordings are those of three series of monologues that he made at invervals throughout his career. They featured Sam Small, Albert Ramsbottom, and historical events such as the Battle of HastingsBattle of Hastings
The Battle of Hastings occurred on 14 October 1066 during the Norman conquest of England, between the Norman-French army of Duke William II of Normandy and the English army under King Harold II...
, Magna Carta
Magna Carta
Magna Carta is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215 and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions, which included the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority to date. The charter first passed into law in 1225...
and the Battle of Trafalgar
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....
. In all, his discography runs to 130 recordings, spanning the period 1924 to 1978.