Stan Laurel | |
|---|---|
 Laurelc. 1929 | |
| Born | Arthur Stanley Jefferson (1890-06-16)16 June 1890 Ulverston,Lancashire, England |
| Died | 23 February 1965(1965-02-23) (aged 74) Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
| Resting place | Forest Lawn Memorial Park,Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1906–1957 |
| Spouses | |
| Partner | Mae Dahlberg (1917–1925) |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | laurel-and-hardy |
| Signature | |
 | |
Stan Laurel (/ˈlɒrəl/LORR-əl; bornArthur Stanley Jefferson; 16 June 1890 – 23 February 1965) was an English comic actor, director and writer who was in the comedyduoLaurel and Hardy.[1] He appeared with his comedy partnerOliver Hardy in 107 short films, feature films and cameo roles.[2]
Laurel began his career inmusic hall, where he developed a number of his standard comic devices, including thebowler hat, the deep comic gravity and the nonsensical understatement, and developed his skills inpantomime and music-hall sketches.[3] He was a member of "Fred Karno's London Comedians", where he wasCharlie Chaplin's understudy.[2][4] He and Chaplin arrived in the United States on the same ship from the United Kingdom with the Karno troupe.[5] Laurel began his film career in 1917 and made his final appearance in 1951. He appeared with his comic partner Oliver Hardy in the film shortThe Lucky Dog in 1921, although they did not become an official team until late 1927.[6] He then appeared exclusively with Hardy until retiring after his comedy partner's death in 1957.
In April 1961, at the33rd Academy Awards, Laurel was given anAcademy Honorary Award for his pioneering work in comedy, and he has a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard. Laurel and Hardy were ranked top among bestdouble acts and seventh overall in a 2005 UK poll to find theComedians' Comedian.[7] In 2019, Laurel topped a list of the greatest British comedians compiled by a panel on the television channelGold.[8] In 2009, a bronze statue of the duo was unveiled in Laurel's hometown ofUlverston.
Arthur Stanley Jefferson was born on 16 June 1890 in his grandparents' house inUlverston,Lancashire,[a] to Arthur J. Jefferson, an actor and theatre manager fromBishop Auckland, and Margaret (née Metcalfe), an actress from Ulverston. He was one of five children.[9] One of them was Edward, an actor who appeared in four of Stan's shorts.
His parents were very active in the theatre, frequently travelling around the country. Consequently, Laurel, who was too young to travel, lived in Ulverston with his grandparents, George and Sarah Metcalfe, for the first seven years of his life. He became very familiar with Ulverston. He attended services with his religious grandparents at Holy Trinity Church, which is close to Argyle Street and is where his parents were married. He was fond of Beer's treacle toffee from Gillam's general store on Market Street. Laurel remembered the treat in later life, writing to family in England in January 1950:
I used to go shopping on Market Street with Grandma Metcalfe -- that was a big treat for me. Beers Treacle toffee, it sure was good![10]
Laurel, who had a lifelong love of fishing, used to take a rod to Ulverston's canal, learning from his uncle John Shaw. His favourite place was beyond the old North Lonsdale Iron and Steel Company Ltd, close to his home in Argyle Street. Just behind him was the viaduct carrying the railway fromCarnforth. Laurel in later years would recall swinging on a pair of lock gates on the canal as he waited for a bite on his line.[11]During these fishing expeditions, Laurel would have passed Ulverston's cemetery, where he was impressed by a miniature lighthouse memorial built in memory of Dr Thomas Watkins Wilson. The lighthouse memorial, which is still there today, had a light at the top that was once lit 24 hours a day. Thelighthouse memorial was designated as a Grade II listed building in 1996.[12] In 1932, Laurel was being interviewed by aDaily Herald reporter and as they looked up at his name in lights above a theatre inLondon'sLeicester Square, he said:
Looks great but kind of wasteful, but you should see the lighthouse in the graveyard at Ulverston in Lancashire where I was born. They put it up when I was a kid, a tombstone with a light on top. It was theEighth Wonder of the World to me. Ever since then it's been my ambition to have a tombstone like that.[13][14]
Laurel went on frequent excursions from Ulverston railway station into theLake District with his cousins, grandparents and sometimes his parents. They visited his aunt and uncle John and Nant Shaw when they ran grocery shops, first atFlookburgh, and laterSawrey. Another favourite place to visit was the lake atWindermere.[15]
Laurel had his first taste of the theatre in Ulverston. The Hippodrome theatre, known as Spencer's Gaff, was just across the road from his home, in Lightburn Park. The theatre was like a giant tent, made from wood with a canvas roof. Laurel's parents both trod the boards here and his father A. J. developed some of the plays he would later become known for here. The Hippodrome burnt down in 1910, the year Laurel sailed for America with theFred Karno troupe.[16] Laurel visited Ulverston with his comedy partnerOliver Hardy on Tuesday 27 May 1947 at the invitation of the town's urban council. The comedians were given a civic reception at the Coronation Hall and Laurel was presented with a copy of his birth certificate on the hall's balcony, watched on by hundreds of fans. Laurel and Hardy then visited 3 Argyle Street for a tour of Laurel's former home, posing for theNorth West Evening Mail's photographer as they emerged from the house, crowded by fans and well-wishers. The comedy duo were appearing atMorecambe'sWinter Gardens at the time.[17][18]
Later, Laurel spent much time living with his maternal grandmother, Sarah Metcalfe inNorth Shields.[3] He attended school atKing James I Grammar School inBishop Auckland,County Durham,[19] and theKing's School inTynemouth,Northumberland.[20]
He moved with his parents toGlasgow, Scotland, where he completed his education atStonelaw Public School. His father managed Glasgow'sMetropole Theatre, where Laurel first worked. His boyhood hero wasDan Leno, considered one of the greatest Englishmusic hall comedians.[3] With a natural affinity for the theatre, Laurel gave his first professional performance on stage at thePanopticon inGlasgow at the age of sixteen, where he polished his skills atpantomime and music hall sketches.[21] It was the music hall from where he drew his standard comic devices, including hisbowler hat and nonsensical understatement.[3]
Laurel joined music hall impresarioFred Karno's troupe of actors in 1910 with the stage name of "Stan Jefferson"; the troupe, advertised as "Fred Karno's London Comedians", also included a youngCharlie Chaplin.[4] Under the tutelage of Karno, the music hall nurtured him, and in England he acted as Chaplin'sunderstudy for some time.[2][3] Karno was a pioneer ofslapstick, and in his biography Laurel stated, "Fred Karno didn't teach Charlie [Chaplin] and me all we know about comedy. He just taught us most of it".[22] Chaplin and Laurel arrived in the United States on the same ship from Britain with the Karno troupe and toured the country.[5] During theFirst World War, Laurel registered for military service in America on 5 June 1917, as required under theSelective Service Act. He was not called up; his registration card states his status asresident alien and his deafness as exemptions.[23][24]
The Karno troupe broke up in the spring of 1914. Stan joined with two other former Karno performers, Edgar Hurley and his wife Ethel (known as "Wren") to form "The Three Comiques". On the advice of booking agent Gordon Bostock, they called themselves "the Keystone Trio". Stan started to do his character as an imitation of Charlie Chaplin, and the Hurleys began to do their parts as silent comediansChester Conklin andMabel Normand. They played successfully from February through October 1915, until the Hurleys and Stan parted ways.[25] Between 1916 and 1918, he teamed up with Alice Cooke andBaldwin Cooke, who became his lifelong friends, to form the Stan Jefferson Trio.
Amongst other performers, Laurel worked briefly alongsideOliver Hardy in thesilent film shortThe Lucky Dog (1921),[9] before the two were a team. It was around this time that Laurel met actressMae Dahlberg. Around the same time, he adopted the stage name of Laurel at Dahlberg's suggestion that his stage name Stan Jefferson was unlucky, due to it having thirteen letters.[b] The pair were performing together when Laurel was offered $75 a week to star in two-reel comedies. After making his first filmNuts in May,Universal offered him a contract. The contract was soon cancelled during a reorganisation at the studio. Among the films in which Dahlberg and Laurel appeared together was the 1922 parodyMud and Sand.
By 1924, Laurel had given up the stage for full-time film work, under contract withJoe Rock for 12 two-reel comedies. The contract had one unusual stipulation: that Dahlberg was not to appear in any of the films. Rock thought that her temperament was hindering Laurel's career. In 1925, she started interfering with Laurel's work, so Rock offered her a cash settlement and a one-way ticket back to her native Australia, which she accepted.[27] The 12 two-reel comedies wereMandarin Mix-Up (1924),Detained (1924),Monsieur Don't Care (1924),West of Hot Dog (1924),Somewhere in Wrong (1925),Twins (1925),Pie-Eyed (1925),The Snow Hawk (1925),Navy Blue Days (1925),The Sleuth (1925),Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pryde (1925) andHalf a Man (1925). Laurel was credited for directing or co-directing ten silent shorts (between 1925 and 1927), but appeared in none of these. Laurel's future partner Hardy, however, did appear in three of the shorts directed by Laurel:Yes, Yes, Nanette! (1925),Wandering Papas (1926) andMadame Mystery (1926).
Laurel next signed with theHal Roach studio, where he began directing films, including a 1925 production calledYes, Yes, Nanette (in whichOliver Hardy had a part under the name "Babe" Hardy). It had been his intention to work primarily as a writer and director.
The same year, Hardy, a member of the Hal Roach Studios ComedyAll Star players, was injured in a kitchen mishap and hospitalised. Because he was unable to work on the scheduled film,Get 'Em Young, Laurel was asked to return to acting to fill in. Starting early in 1927, Laurel and Hardy began sharing the screen in several short films, includingDuck Soup,Slipping Wives andWith Love and Hisses. The two became friends and their comic chemistry soon became obvious. Roach Studios' supervising directorLeo McCarey noticed the audience reaction to them and began teaming them, leading to the creation of theLaurel and Hardy series later that year.
Together, the two men began producing a huge body of short films, includingThe Battle of the Century,Should Married Men Go Home?,Two Tars,Be Big!,Big Business and many others. Laurel and Hardy successfully made the transition to talking films with the shortUnaccustomed As We Are in 1929. They also appeared in their first feature in one of the revue sequences ofThe Hollywood Revue of 1929, and the following year they appeared as the comic relief in the lavish all-colour (inTechnicolor) musical featureThe Rogue Song. Their first starring featurePardon Us was released in 1931. They continued to make both features and shorts until 1935, including their 1932 three-reelerThe Music Box, which won anAcademy Award for Best Short Subject.
During the 1930s, Laurel was involved in a dispute with Hal Roach which resulted in the termination of his contract. Roach maintained separate contracts for Laurel and Hardy that expired at different times, so Hardy remained at the studio and was "teamed" withHarry Langdon for the 1939 filmZenobia. The studio discussed a series of films co-starring Hardy withPatsy Kelly to be called "The Hardy Family". But Laurel sued Roach over the contract dispute. Eventually, the case was dropped and Laurel returned to Roach. The first film thatLaurel and Hardy made after Laurel returned wasA Chump at Oxford. Subsequently, they madeSaps at Sea, which was their last film for Roach.
In 1941,Laurel and Hardy signed a contract at20th Century-Fox to make ten films over five years. Laurel found, to his shock, that he and Hardy were hired only as actors, and were not expected to contribute to the staging, writing, or editing of the productions. When the films proved very successful, Laurel and Hardy were granted more freedom and gradually added more of their own material. They had made six Fox features when the studio suddenly abandonedB-picture production in December 1944. The team signed another contract withMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1942, resulting in two more features.[28]
Revisiting hismusic hall days, Laurel returned to England in 1947 when he and Hardy went on a six-week tour of the United Kingdom performing invariety shows.[29] Mobbed wherever they went, Laurel's homecoming toUlverston took place in May, and the duo were greeted by thousands of fans outside the Coronation Hall.[30] TheEvening Mail noted: "Oliver Hardy remarked to our reporter that Stan had talked about Ulverston for the past 22 years and he thought he had to see it."[30] The tour included aRoyal Variety Performance in front of KingGeorge VI and his consortQueen Elizabeth in London.[30] The success of the tour led them to spend the next seven years touring the UK and Europe.
Around this time, Laurel found out that he had diabetes, so he encouraged Hardy to find solo projects, which he did, taking parts inJohn Wayne andBing Crosby films.
In 1950, Laurel and Hardy were invited to France to make a feature film. The film was a disaster, a Franco-Italian co-production titledAtoll K. (The film was entitledUtopia in the US andRobinson Crusoeland in the UK.) Both stars were noticeably ill during the filming. Upon returning to the United States, they spent most of their time recovering. In 1952, Laurel and Hardy toured Europe successfully, and they returned in 1953 for another tour of the continent. During this tour, Laurel fell ill and was unable to perform for several weeks.[31]
In May 1954, Hardy had a heart attack and cancelled the tour. In 1955, they were planning to do a television series calledLaurel and Hardy's Fabulous Fables based on children's stories. The plans were delayed after Laurel had astroke on 25 April 1955, from which he recovered. But as the team was planning to get back to work, Hardy had a major stroke on 14 September 1956 and was unable to return to acting.
WhenOliver Hardy died on 7 August 1957, Laurel was devastated and never fully recovered from the loss. He was in fact too ill to attend Hardy's funeral and said, "Babe would understand".[2] Although he continued to socialise with his fans, he refused to perform on stage or act in another film from then on, as he had no interest in working without Hardy, turning down every offer he was given for a public appearance.[2]
In 1961, Stan Laurel was given an Academy Honorary Award "for his creative pioneering in the field of cinema comedy". Laurel was introduced by Bob Hope, and the award was accepted byDanny Kaye.[32] Laurel had achieved his lifelong dream as a comedian and had been involved in nearly 190 films. He lived his final years in a small flat in the Oceana Apartments inSanta Monica, California.[33] Laurel was gracious to fans and spent much time answering fan mail.[citation needed] His phone number was also listed in the telephone directory and he would take calls from fans.[34][35]
Jerry Lewis was among the comedians to visit Laurel, and Lewis received suggestions from him for the production ofThe Bellboy (1960). Lewis paid tribute to Laurel by naming his main character Stanley in the film, and havingBill Richmond play a version of Laurel as well.[36]Dick Van Dyke told a similar story. When he was just starting his career, he looked up Laurel's phone number, called him, and then visited him at his home. Van Dyke played Laurel on "The Sam Pomerantz Scandals" episode ofThe Dick Van Dyke Show.
DirectorStanley Kramer offered Laurel a cameo role inIt's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) alongsideBuster Keaton and theThree Stooges, but Laurel declined. He reportedly said he did not want to be seen on screen in his old age,[5] especially without Hardy. It appears, however, his involvement reached the stage of filming a background matching shot of his old time convertible, with a stand-in seated at the wheel, donning a derby hat. The cameo appearance was then given toJack Benny, who wore Laurel's signature derby in the scene.
Laurel andMae Dahlberg never married but lived together ascommon-law husband and wife from 1919 to 1925, before Dahlberg accepted a one-way ticket fromJoe Rock to go back to her native Australia.[37] In November 1937, Dahlberg was back in the US and sued Laurel for financial support. At the time, Laurel's second marriage was in the process of a divorce, with Dahlberg's legal suit adding to Laurel's woes. The matter was settled out of court.[38] Dahlberg was described as a "relief project worker" by the court. Laurel was one of several popular British actors in Hollywood who never became a naturalised US citizen.[39][full citation needed]
Laurel had four wives and married one of them a second time after their divorce.[40] His first wife wasLois Neilson, whom he married on 13 August 1926. Together they had a daughter, Lois, who was born on(1927-12-10)10 December 1927. Their second child, Stanley, was born two months premature in May 1930, but died after nine days. Laurel and Neilson divorced in December 1934. Their daughter Lois died on(2017-07-27)27 July 2017 aged 89.[41]
In 1935, Laurel married Virginia Ruth Rogers (known as Ruth). In 1937, he filed for divorce, confessing that he was not over his ex-wife Lois, but Lois decided against a reconciliation.
On New Year's Day 1938, Laurel married Vera Ivanova Shuvalova (known as Illeana); Ruth accused him of bigamy, but their divorce had been finalised a couple of days before his new marriage. The new marriage was very volatile, and Illeana accused him of trying to bury her alive in the back yard of their San Fernando Valley home.[42] He and Illeana separated in 1939 and divorced in 1940, with Illeana surrendering all claim to the Laurel surname on 1 February 1940 in exchange for $6,500.[43]
In 1941, Laurel remarried Virginia Ruth Rogers; they were divorced for the second time in early 1946.[40] On 6 May 1946, he married Ida Kitaeva Raphael to whom he remained married until his death.[40]
In January 1965, he underwent a series of X-rays for an infection on the roof of his mouth.[44] He died on 23 February 1965, aged 74, in his apartment, four days following a heart attack.[45] Minutes before his death, he told his nurse that he would not mind going skiing, and she replied that she was not aware that he was a skier. "I'm not," said Laurel, "I'd rather be doing that than getting all these needles stuck in me!" A few minutes later he died quietly in his armchair.[46]
At his funeral service at Church of the Hills,Buster Keaton said, "Chaplin wasn't the funniest. I wasn't the funniest; this man was the funniest."Dick Van Dyke gave the eulogy[47] as a friend, protégé and occasional impressionist of Laurel during his later years; he readThe Clown's Prayer.[48] Laurel had quipped, "If anyone at my funeral has a long face, I'll never speak to him again."[7] He is interred atForest Lawn–Hollywood Hills Cemetery.[49]
Laurel and Hardy are featured on the cover ofthe Beatles' 1967 albumSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.[50] In 1989, a statue of Laurel was erected in Dockwray Square,North Shields,Tyne and Wear, England, where he lived at No. 8 from 1897 to 1902. The steps down from the Square to the North Shields Fish Quay were said to have inspired the piano-moving scene inThe Music Box. In a 2005 UK poll,Comedians' Comedian, Laurel and Hardy were ranked top double act and seventh overall.[7] Along with Hardy, Laurel was inducted into theGrand Order of Water Rats.[51]
Neil Brand wrote a radio play entitledStan, broadcast in 2004 onBBC Radio 4 and subsequently onBBC Radio 4 Extra,[52] starringTom Courtenay as Stan Laurel, in which Stan visits Oliver Hardy after Hardy has had his stroke and tries to say the things to his dying friend and partner that have been left unsaid. In 2006,BBC Four showed a drama calledStan, based on Brand's radio play, in which Laurel meets Hardy on his deathbed and reminisces about their career.[53]
A plaque on the Bull Inn,Bottesford, Leicestershire, England, marks Laurel and Hardy appearing inNottingham over Easter 1952 and Christmas 1953, and staying with Laurel's sister, Olga, who was the landlady of the pub.[54] In 2008, a statue of Stan Laurel was unveiled inBishop Auckland,County Durham, on the site of the Eden Theatre.[55] In April 2009, a bronze statue of Laurel and Hardy was unveiled in Ulverston.[56][57]
There is a Laurel and Hardy Museum in Stan's hometown of Ulverston. There are two Laurel and Hardy museums in Hardy's hometown ofHarlem,Georgia. One is operated by the town of Harlem, and the other is a private museum owned and operated by Gary Russeth, a Harlem resident. Jefferson Drive in Ulverston is named after Laurel.[citation needed]
In 2013Gail Louw andJeffrey Holland debuted a short one-man play "...And this is my friend Mr Laurel" at theCamden Fringe festival. The play, starring Holland as Laurel, was taken on tour of the UK in 2014 until June 2015.[58]
In the 2018 filmStan & Ollie,Steve Coogan portrayed Laurel (a performance which saw him nominated for theBAFTA forBest Actor in a Leading Role) andJohn C. Reilly played Hardy.[59] Developed byBBC Films, the film is set in the twilight of their careers, and focuses on their farewell tour of Britain and Ireland'svariety halls in 1953.
In 2019 Laurel was voted the greatest ever British comedian by a panel on the British television channelGold.[60]
Laurel Stan 1111FranklinSM...........EXbrk 3-1851
