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{{short description|British actor, singer and comedian (1890–1982)}}{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}{{Use British English|date=January 2013}}(File:Stanley Holloway.jpg|thumb|right|Holloway in 1974)Stanley Augustus Holloway {{post-nominals|country=GBR|OBE}} (1 October 1890 â€“ 30 January 1982) was an English actor, comedian, singer 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 comic monologues and songs, which he performed and recorded throughout most of his 70-year career.Born in London, Holloway pursued a career as a clerk in his teen years. He made early stage appearances before infantry service in the First World War, after which he had his first major theatre success starring in Kissing Time when the musical transferred to the West End from Broadway. In 1921, he joined a concert party, The Co-Optimists, and his career began to flourish. At first, he was employed chiefly as a singer, but his skills as an actor and reciter of comic monologues were soon recognised. Characters from his monologues such as Sam Small, invented by Holloway, and Albert Ramsbottom, created for him by Marriott Edgar, were absorbed into popular British culture, and Holloway developed a following for the recordings of his many monologues. By the 1930s, he was in demand to star in variety, pantomime and musical comedy, including several revues.Following the outbreak of the Second World War, Holloway made short propaganda films on behalf of the British Film Institute and Pathé News and took character parts in a series of films including Major Barbara, The Way Ahead, This Happy Breed and The Way to the Stars. In the decade after the war, he appeared in the film Brief Encounter and made a series of films for Ealing Studios, including Passport to Pimlico, The Lavender Hill Mob and The Titfield Thunderbolt.In 1956 he was cast as the irresponsible and irrepressible Alfred 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 UK and the US, toured in revues, appeared in stage plays in Britain, Canada, Australia and the US, and continued to make films into his eighties. Holloway was married twice and had five children, including the actor Julian Holloway.

Biography

Family background and early life

Holloway was born in Manor Park, Essex (now in the London Borough of Newham), on 1 October 1890. He was the younger child and only son of George Augustus Holloway (1860–1919), a lawyer's clerk, and Florence May ({{nee|Bell}}, 1862–1913), a housekeeper and dressmaker.Midwinter, Eric. "Holloway, Stanley Augustus (1890–1982)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, online edition, January 2011, accessed 21 April 2011 {{subscription required}} He was named after Henry Morton Stanley, the journalist and explorer famous for his exploration of Africa and for his search for David Livingstone.{{#tag:ref|In 1965, Holloway recorded the album Stanley â€“ I Presume ... whose title echoes H. M. Stanley's celebrated line, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume."EMI catalogue number 33SX1656|group= n}} There were theatrical connections in the Holloway family going back to Charles Bernard (1830–1894), an actor and theatre manager, who was the brother of Holloway's maternal grandmother.Holloway and Richards, pp. 74–75{{#tag:ref|Charles Bernard was the father of Oliver Percy Bernard OBE MC (1881–1939), an English architect and scenic designer, who designed sets for Sir Thomas Beecham's Ring Cycle at Covent Garden.|group= n}}Holloway's paternal grandfather was Augustus Holloway (1829–1884),Principal Probate Registry, Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice of England, p. 418 brought up in Poole, Dorset."Poole St James", 1841 census, accessed 23 April 2011 Augustus became a wealthy shopkeeper, with a brush-making business. He married Amelia Catherine Knight in September 1856,General Register Office, England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes, vol. 5a, p. 501 and they had three children, Maria, Charles and George.Census returns for England and Wales (1861), ancestry.co.uk, accessed 9 July 2012 In the early 1880s the family 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, Robert Bell.Holloway and Richards, p. 42 George married Bell's daughter Florence in 1884, and they had two children, Millie (1887–1949) and Stanley.Census returns of England and Wales (1901), ancestry.co.uk, accessed 9 July 2012 George left Florence in 1905 and was never seen or heard from again by his family.Holloway and Richards, p. 68{{#tag:ref|George Augustus Holloway later remarried and moved to Forest Gate, East London. The England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858–1966 shows George A. Holloway's death as being registered on 13 June 1919.Principal Probate Registry, England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858–1966, p. 231|group= n}}During his early teenage years, Holloway attended the Worshipful School of Carpenters in nearby StratfordHolloway and Richards, pp. 42–43The Worshipful School of Carpenters {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120406071231weblink |date=6 April 2012 }} courtesy of Newham Council, accessed 6 December 2011 and joined a local choir, which he later called his "big moment". 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.Holloway and Richards, p. 46Ten shillings (10/-) is 50 pence in British decimal currency He began performing part-time as Master Stanley Holloway â€“ The Wonderful Boy Soprano from 1904, singing sentimental songs such as "The Lost Chord".Morley, p. 124 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 and Richards, p. 58

Career

{{Further| Stanley Holloway on stage and screen}}

Early career and First World War

File:Kissing-time-12.jpg|thumb|right|Leslie Henson, Holloway's early mentor, with Phyllis DarePhyllis DareHolloway's stage career began in 1910, when he travelled to Walton-on-the-Naze to audition for The White Coons Show, a concert party variety show arranged and produced by Will C. Pepper, father of Harry S. Pepper, with whom Holloway later starred in The Co-Optimists.Holloway and Richards, p. 49 This seaside show lasted six weeks.Holloway and Richards, p. 50 From 1912 to 1914, Holloway appeared in the summer seasons at the West Cliff Gardens Theatre, Clacton-on-Sea, where he was billed as a romantic baritone.Graham, pp. 150–246In 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 firm friends and often consulted each other before taking jobs.{{#tag:ref|Henson's death in 1957 came when Holloway was experiencing a career high in My Fair Lady, which had started on Broadway in 1956. Holloway recalled that Henson had been overlooked for the part of Alfred P. Doolittle when auditioning began in 1954, and Holloway wrote in his memoir that he regretted this deeply.Holloway and Richards, p. 295|group= n}} In his 1967 autobiography, Holloway dedicated a whole chapter to Henson,Holloway and Richards, p. 289 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.Holloway and Richards, pp. 54–55In the early months of 1914, Holloway made his first visit to the United States and then went to Buenos Aires and Valparaíso with the concert party The Grotesques.The National Archives of the UK, Board of Trade, Commercial and Statistical Department and successors, Inwards Passenger Lists, ancestry.co.uk, accessed 9 July 2012 At the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, he decided to return to England, but his departure was delayed for six weeks due to his contract with the troupe.Holloway and Richards, pp. 56–57 At the age of 25, Holloway enlisted in the Connaught Rangers in which he was commissioned as a subaltern in December 1915{{London Gazette|issue=29396|supp=y| date=7 December 1915|page=12297}} because of his previous training in the London Rifle Brigade. In 1916 he was stationed in Cork and fought against the rebels in the Easter Rising.Holloway and Richards, pp. 58–59 Later that year, he was sent to France,Holloway and Richards, p. 59 where he fought in the trenches alongside Michael O'Leary, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantryHolloway and Richards, p. 60 in February 1915. Holloway and O'Leary stayed in touch after the war and remained close friends.Holloway spent much of his time in the later part of the war organising shows to boost army morale in France.Holloway and Richards, pp. 60 and 76 One such revue, Wear That Ribbon, was performed in honour of O'Leary winning the VC. He, Henson and his newly established Star Attractions concert party, entertained the British troops in Wimereux.Holloway and Richards, p. 19 The party included such performers as Jack Buchanan, Eric Blore, Binnie Hale, and Phyllis Dare, as well as the performers who would later form The Co-Optimists.Holloway and Richards, p. 20 Upon his return from France, Holloway was stationed in Hartlepool,Holloway and Richards, p. 76 and immediately after the war ended he starred in The Disorderly Room with Leslie Henson, which Eric Blore had written while serving in the South Wales Borderers. The production toured theatres on England's coast, including Walton-on-the-Naze and Clacton-on-Sea.

Inter-war years

File:Stanley-Holloway-as-René-in-a-night-out.jpg|thumb|right|alt=theatrical photograph of chorus and principals for an early 20th century show|As René (centre) in A Night Out (1920)]]After relinquishing his army commission in May 1919,{{London Gazette|title=4th Conn. Rang. – Lt. S. A. Holloway relinquishes his commn. on account of ill-health 7th May 1919, and retains the rank of Lt.|issue=31328|supp=y| date=6 May 1919|page=5737}} Holloway returned to London and resumed his singing and acting career, finding success in two West End musicals at the Winter Garden Theatre. Later that month, he created the role of Captain Wentworth in Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse's Kissing Time,Findon, B. H., "Kissing Time", The Play Pictorial, May 1919, p. 82; "Theatres", The Times, 3 July 1920, p. 14 followed in 1920 by the role of René in A Night Out."A Night Out", The Play Pictorial, September 1920, p. 71 Following its provincial success, The Disorderly Room was given a West End production at the Victoria Palace Theatre in late 1919, in which Holloway starred alongside Henson and Tom Walls.Holloway and Richards, p. 61 Holloway made his film debut in a 1921 silent comedy called The Rotters."Holloway, Stanley Augustus (1890–1982)", Oxford Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Oxford University Press, 2006, online edition, accessed 5 December 2011 {{subscription required}}From June 1921, Holloway had considerable success in The Co-Optimists, a concert party formed with performers whom he had met during the war in France, which The Times called "an all-star 'pierrot' entertainment in the West-end.""The Theatres", The Times, 20 June 1921, p. 9 It opened at the small Royalty TheatreHolloway and Richards, p. 28 and soon transferred to the much larger Palace Theatre, where the initial version of the show ran for over a year, giving more than 500 performances."The Palace Itself Again â€“ Co-Optimists' Cheery Burlesque", The Times, 23 August 1921, p. 6Holloway and Richards, p. 29 The entertainment was completely rewritten at regular intervals to keep it fresh, and the final edition, beginning in November 1926, was the 13th version."The Co-Optimists", The Times, 30 November 1926, p. 12 The Co-Optimists closed in 1927 at His Majesty's Theatre after 1,568 performances over eight years. In 1929, a feature film version was made, with Holloway rejoining his former co-stars."The Film World", The Times, 18 December 1929, p. 12In 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."Programmes for the Week-End", The Times, 16 January 1926, p. 4 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".HMV records 1724 and 1725 (1924) After The Co-Optimists disbanded in 1927, Holloway played at the London Hippodrome in Vincent Youmans's musical comedy Hit the Deck as Bill Smith, a performance judged by The Times to be "invested with many shrewd touches of humanity"."Hit the Deck", The Times, 4 November 1927, p. 7 In The Manchester Guardian, Ivor Brown praised him for a singing style "which coaxes the ear rather than clubbing the head."Brown, Ivor. "Hit the Deck", The Manchester Guardian, 4 November 1927, p. 15(File:Fine and dandy with Holloway and Henson.JPG|thumb|left|200px|alt=stage shot of two actors in mid scene dressed in historic war costumes|Holloway as Sam Small in Fine and Dandy with Leslie Henson)Holloway began regularly performing monologues, both on stage and on record, in 1928, with his own creation, Sam Small, in Sam, Sam, Pick oop thy Musket.{{#tag:ref|Holloway had earlier performed R. P. Weston and Bert Lee's And yet I don't know at the Winter Garden Theatre in 1919. He later took up their numbers, Brahn Boots, With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm and Yorkshire Puddin.|group= n}} Over the following years, he recorded more than 20 monologues based around the character, most of which he wrote himself. He created Sam Small 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 and Richards, p. 83 Holloway developed the character, naming him after a Cockney friend of Henson called Annie Small;Holloway and Richards, p. 85 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.""Variety Theatres", The Times, 12 February 1929, p. 7In 1929 Holloway played another leading role in musical comedy, Lieutenant Richard Manners in Song of the Sea, and later that year he performed in the revue Coo-ee, with Billy Bennett, Dorothy Dickson and Claude Hulbert. When The Co-Optimists re-formed in 1930, he rejoined that company, now at the Savoy Theatre, and at the same venue appeared in Savoy Follies in 1931,Gaye, p. 746 where he introduced to London audiences the monologue The Lion and Albert."Savoy Follies â€“ Sparkle and Spontaneity", The Times, 8 July 1932, p. 12{{#tag:ref|The monologue has become known as Albert and the Lion, but the author, Marriott Edgar, called the piece The Lion and Albert. See copy deposited at the British Library.British Library integrated catalogue, accessed 21 April 2011|group= n}} The monologue was written by Marriott Edgar, who based the story on a news item about a boy who was eaten by a lion in the zoo.Ginell, Cary. "Stanley Holloway: Old Sam and Young Albert Original 1930–1940 Recordings", {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303233659weblink |date=3 March 2016 }} "About this Album", ClassicsOnline, accessed 5 December 2011 In the monologue, Mr. and Mrs. Ramsbottom react in a measured way when their son Albert is swallowed. 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.Holloway and Richards, p. 91 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." These monologues employed the Holloway style that has been called "the understated look-on-the-bright-side world of the cockney working class. ... Holloway's characters are [mischievous, like Albert, or] obstinate, and hilariously clueless. He often told his stories in costume; sporting outrageous attire and bushy moustaches." In 1932 Harry S. Pepper, with Holloway and others, revived the White Coons Concert Party show for BBC Radio.Harry S. Pepper revives The White Coons Concert Party: National Programme Daventry, 28 September 1932 22.00, BBC.co.uk, accessed 28 July 2016Beginning in 1934, Holloway appeared in a series of British films, three of which featured his creation Sam Small.{{#tag:ref|D'Ye Ken John Peel? (1934),"Drama and films", The Manchester Guardian, 20 July 1935, p. 15 Play up the Band (1935),"Music, drama, and films", The Manchester Guardian, 8 February 1936, p. 15 and Sam Small at Westminster (1935), a propaganda film on behalf of the National Government.Sam Small at Westminster (1935), British Film Institute, accessed 23 April 2011|group= n}} He started his association with the filmmakers Ealing Studios in 1934, appearing in the fifth Gracie Fields picture Sing As We Go.weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090113205609weblink">"Sing as We Go", British Film Institute, accessed 23 April 2011 His other films from the 1930s included Squibs (1935)weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090114015721weblink">"Squibs", British Film Institute, accessed 23 April 2011 and The Vicar of Bray (1937).weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090114073813weblink">"The Vicar of Bray", British Film Institute, accessed 23 April 2011 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,"Stanley Holloway in Pantomime", The Manchester Guardian, 1 January 1935, p. 10 but he quickly became established as a favourite in his role, playing it in successive years in Leeds, London, Edinburgh and Manchester.

Second World War and post-war

On the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 Holloway, who was 48, was too old for active service. Instead, he appeared in short propaganda pieces for the British Film Institute and Pathé News. He narrated documentaries aimed at lifting war-time morale in Britain, including Albert's Savings (1940), written by Marriott Edgar and featuring the character Albert Ramsbottom,"Stanley Holloway in War Savings Film", Tamworth Herald, 10 August 1940, p. 5"Britain's Home Front at War: Words for Battle" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719043346weblink |date=19 July 2011 }}, Imperial War Museum, accessed 22 April 2011; and "Britain's Home Front at War: Words for Battle" {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018221632weblink |date=18 October 2012 }}, Play.com, accessed 22 April 2011 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. Both 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,"Theatres", The Observer, 26 May 1940, p. 1 and then Fine and Dandy, with Henson, Dorothy Dickson, Douglas Byng and Graham Payn."Theatres", The Observer, 23 August 1942, p. 1 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"."Savile Theatre", The Times, 1 May 1942, p. 6In 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)."Holloway, Stanley", Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edition, Oxford University Press, December 2007, accessed 21 April 2011 {{subscription required}} 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 on the stage 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.{{#tag:ref|The documentary films included: Your country needs you!, depicting 1915 (Kitchener's volunteer army, and the Dardanelles Commission);"Your country needs you" {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110830232208weblink |date=30 August 2011 }}, British Pathé, accessed 22 April 2011 The better 'ole, depicting 1916 (life in the trenches, and the Eastern, Western and Home fronts);"The better 'ole" {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100711061017weblink |date=11 July 2010 }}, British Pathé, accessed 22 April 2011 Enough of everything, depicting 1917 (the Russian Revolution, the US entry into the war, and women at work);"Enough of everything" {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110830232208weblink |date=30 August 2011 }}, British Pathé, accessed 22 April 2011 Short sharp shower, depicting 1926 (the General Strike, international politics, weather, record breaking feats, the death of Rudolph Valentino and life in post-war Britain);weblink" title="archive.today/20120722203238weblink">"Short, sharp shower", British Pathé, accessed 22 April 2011 and The end of the Beginning, depicting 1942 (including America's entry into the Second World War)."The end of the beginning" {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111104205427weblink |date=4 November 2011 }}, British Pathé, accessed 22 April 2011|group= n}} Holloway also starred in a series of films for Ealing Studios, beginning 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 studio was Meet Mr. Lucifer (1953).In 1948 Holloway conducted a six-month tour of Australia and New Zealand"Stanley Holloway for Adelaide", The Mail, 30 April 1949, p. 10, accessed 24 September 2011 and supported by the band leader Billy Mayerl."Stanley Holloway coming here", The Advertiser, 1 April 1949, p. 4, accessed 24 September 2011"English Comedian to Broadcast", The Argus, 14 April 1949, p. 5, accessed 23 September 2011 He made his Australian début at The Tivoli Theatre, Melbourne,"Stanley Holloway's Melbourne début", The Argus, 6 July 1949, p. 9, accessed 24 September 2011 and recorded television appearances to publicise the forthcoming release of Passport to Pimlico."Stanley Holloway Goes Home", The Argus, 5 August 1949, p. 5, accessed 24 September 2011 Holloway wrote the monologue Albert Down Under especially for the tour."Stanley Holloway Reaches Melbourne", Advocate, 19 April 1949, p. 4, accessed 24 September 2011

1950s and 1960s stage and screen

(File:Stanley Holloway Alfred P. Doolittle My Fair Lady 1957.JPG|thumb|200px|alt=photo of three smiling men, standing together; the two on the outside are looking at Holloway who stands between them.|Holloway (centre) as Alfred P. Doolittle on Broadway in My Fair Lady, 1957)In 1954 Holloway joined the Old Vic 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 Royal Shakespeare Company took the production 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.{{#tag:ref|Both the anonymous critic of The Times and Brooks Atkinson in The New York Times thought the production slow and old-fashioned, and took particular exception to the use of Mendelssohn's incidental music."Old Vic Company in New York â€“ Edinburgh Production Harshly Criticized", The Times, 23 September 1954, p. 10. The performances of Holloway and his colleagues are preserved on an HMV sound recording of the production (HMV catalogue number ALP1262-4 (1955)). The Gramophone's critic wrote, "the great comedian Stanley Holloway retained his perfect timing but gave his lines their full Shakespearean weight".Postgate, Mary. "Spoken Word", The Gramophone, December 1986, p. 137|group= n}} Holloway said of the experience: "Out of the blue I was asked by the Royal Shakespeare Company to tour America with them, playing Bottom. ... From that American tour came the part of Alfred Doolittle in My Fair Lady and from then on, well, just let's say I was able to pick and choose my parts and that was very pleasant at my age."The New York Times; Obituary 31 January 1982, p. 36 Holloway's film career continued simultaneously with his stage work; one example was the 1956 comedy Jumping for Joy. American audiences became familiar with his earlier film roles when the films began to be broadcast on television in the 1950s.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."Lerner, pp. 62–63 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, which he undertook instead of the role of Admiral Boom in Mary Poppins that he had been offered the same year.Andrews, p. 121 In The Manchester Guardian, Alistair Cooke wrote, "Stanley Holloway distils into the body of Doolittle the taste and smell of every pub in England."Cooke, Alistair. "Shavian Source of a Delicious Daydream", The Manchester Guardian, 20 March 1956, p. 5 Also in 1964, he appeared as Bellomy in the Hallmark Hall of Fame television production of The Fantasticks."Hallmark Hall of Fame – The Fantasticks" {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403061313weblink |date=3 April 2015 }}, Fantasticks on Broadway, accessed 23 March 2015(File:Our man higgins 1962.JPG|thumb|left|200px|alt=publicity shot of elderly man and young female sitting between three poles|Holloway and Regina Groves in Our Man Higgins, 1962)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".Holloway and Richards, p. 12 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.Shepherd, Marc. Mikado â€“ Bell Telephone Hour, The Gilbert and Sullivan Discography, accessed 11 April 2011 His notable films around this time included Alive and Kicking in 1959, co-starring Sybil Thorndike and Kathleen Harrison,"Cinemas", The Observer, 14 June 1959, p. 25 and No Love for Johnnie in 1961 opposite Peter Finch."Weaknesses of plot mar 'No Love for Johnnie'", The Guardian, 24 April 1961, p. 19 In 1962, Holloway took part in a studio recording of Oliver! with Alma Cogan and Violet Carson, in which he played Fagin.Oliver! studio cast recording, 1962 LP, Capitol, accessed 14 September 2011In 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.Obituary, The Times, 1 February 1982, p. 10 In 1964 he again appeared on stage in Philadelphia in Cool Off!, a short-lived Faustian spoof.WEB, Mandelbaum, Ken, 24 June 2004, Obscure Recordings: Cool Off!,weblink Broadway.com, 23 April 2011,weblink 14 May 2020, live, 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.Crowther, Bosley. "In Harm's Way", The New York Times, 7 April 1965

Last years

(File:Stanley Holloway Grave.jpg|thumb|right|upright|alt=tombstone inscribed to Holloway|Holloway's grave at East Preston, West Sussex)Holloway appeared for the first time in a major British television series in the BBC's 1967 adaptation of P. G. Wodehouse'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.{{#tag:ref|The critic of The Observer wrote, "rather far from my conception of Beach. ... The original Beach is rotund and pompous with an overwhelming consciousness of his own superiority."Richardson, Maurice. "Television", The Observer, 26 February 1967, p. 26 The Guardian wrote, "his accent hovered quite unaccountably between mummerset and Mayo".Reynolds, Stanley. "Television", The Guardian, 25 February 1967, p. 6|group= n}} After My Fair Lady, Holloway was able to get film roles in Mrs. Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter (1968), which featured the 1960s British pop group Herman's Hermits,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20160310002437weblink">Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter (1969), British Film Institute, accessed 11 July 2020 The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, Flight of the Doves and Up the Front, all in the early 1970s. His final film was Journey into Fear (1974).weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090114073631weblink">"Holloway, Stanley", British Film Institute, accessed 24 November 2011Maltin, p. 720In 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,{{#tag:ref|Holloway did not count his appearances as First Gravedigger and Bottom, because he did not regard Shakespeare as straight theatre.Hall, John. "Straight up", The Guardian, 5 February 1972, p. 9|group= n}} co-starring with Alastair Sim and Michael Bryant. He returned to Shaw and Canada, playing the central character Walter/William in You Never Can Tell in 1973.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.weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090117135200weblink">Cast: Royal Variety Performance 1980, British Film Institute, accessed 23 April 2011Holloway 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.

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 Royal National Lifeboat Institution.Holloway and Richards, p. 66 Queenie was orphaned at the age of 16, something that Holloway felt they had in common, as his mother had died that year and his father had earlier abandoned the family. He married Queenie in November 1913.Holloway and Queenie had four children: Joan, born on Holloway's 24th birthday in 1914, Patricia (b. 1920), John (1925–2013) and Mary (b. 1928).Holloway and Richards, pp. 69–70 Upon the death of her mother, Queenie inherited some property in Southampton Row and relied on the rents from the property for her income.Holloway and Richards, p. 71 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, incurring a large 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 and they moved to Hampstead, West London.London Metropolitan Archives, Electoral Registers of London (1929), p. 9 By the late 1920s, Holloway found himself in financial difficulties with the British tax authorities and was briefly declared bankrupt."An Actor's Affairs", The Times, 4 December 1931, p. 4"Stanley Holloway's Affairs", Nottingham Evening Post, 3 December 1931, p. 9 In the 1930s, Holloway and Queenie moved to Bayswater"Tragedy of Stanley Holloway's Wife", Evening Telegraph, 25 November 1937, p. 5 and remained there until Queenie's death in 1937 at the age of 45, from cirrhosis of the liver.London Metropolitan Archives, Electoral Registers of London (1937), p. 68Holloway and Richards, pp. 71–72 Of the children from this first marriage, John worked as an engineer in an electrics company, and Mary worked for British Petroleum for many years.Holloway and Richards, p. 70On 2 January 1939, Holloway married the 25-year-old actress and former chorus dancer Violet Marion Lane (1913–1997),Holloway and Richards, pp. 170–71General Register Office, England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes vol. 8d, p. 182 and they moved to Marylebone.London Metropolitan Archives, Electoral Registers of London (1939), p. 104 Violet was born into a working-class family from Leeds.{{#tag:ref|Violet's mother was Scottish, and her civil engineer father, Alfred Lane, was a Yorkshireman.|group= n}} 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, lover, mother, cook, chauffeuse, private secretary, house keeper, hostess, electrician, business manager, critic, handy woman, she is also my best friend."Holloway and Richards, p. 65 Together, they had one son, Julian, whose brief relationship with Patricia Neal's daughter Tessa Dahl produced a daughter, the model and author Sophie Dahl.Banks-Smith, Nancy. "The Delicious Miss Dahl and Edward VII", The Guardian, 24 March 2010{{#tag:ref|Holloway appeared with Neal in the 1965 film In Harm's Way.weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120713115357weblink">"In Harm's Way", British Film Institute, accessed 8 October 2012|group= n}}Holloway, Violet and Julian lived mainly in the tiny village of Penn, Buckinghamshire.Holloway and Richards, p. 322 Holloway also owned other properties including a flat in St John's Wood in North West London,Holloway's Flat in St. John's Wood (1933). Hulton Archive, GettyImages.co.uk, accessed 30 November 2011 which he used when working in the capital,Holloway and Richards, p. 172 and a flat in Manhattan during the My Fair Lady Broadway years. The final years of his life were spent in Angmering, West Sussex, with Violet. Holloway forged close friendships with fellow performers including Leslie Henson, Gracie Fields, Maurice Chevalier, Laurence OlivierHolloway and Richards, p. 227 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.""Stanley Holloway dies, 91", The Sunday Express, 31 January 1982 While working in the US, Holloway numbered among his friends Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Burgess Meredith and Groucho Marx.Holloway and Richards, p. 333

Honours, memorials and books

{{multiple image | align = right | direction = horizontal | header_align = center | footer_align = left | footer_background = | caption_align = center | image1 =Stanley-Holloway-blue-plaque-cropped.jpg | width1 = 141 | caption1 = Plaque at Holloway's birthplace |alt1=blue plaque commemorating Holloway| image2 = 25, Albany Road, Manor park, Essex.jpg | width2 = 184 |alt2=exterior of semi-detached house, with blue plaque on front wall| caption2 = Holloway's birthplace, 25 Albany Road, Manor Park}}Holloway was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1960 New Year Honours for his services to entertainment.The New York Times, 1 January 1960, p. 2 In 1978 he was honoured with a special award by the Variety Club of Great Britain.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.Memorial plaques for Holloway and Fields in St. Paul's Covent Garden. Flickr.com, accessed 23 April 2011 In 2009 English Heritage unveiled a blue plaque at 25 Albany Road, Manor Park, Essex, the house in which he was born in 1890. There is a building named after him at 2 Coolfin Road, Newham, London, called Stanley Holloway Court."Stanley Holloway Court", Cylex Business Directory, accessed 23 April 2011Holloway entitled his autobiography Wiv a Little Bit o' Luck after the song he performed in My Fair Lady. The book was ghostwritten by the writer and director Dick Richards and published in 1967.{{#tag:ref|The chapters of the book are: 1. On Nodding Terms with the Bard. Shakespearian roles and Shakespearian connections with his great uncle Charles Bernard (pp. 7–15); 2. The Co-Ops gather. Life within The Co-Optimists; 3. The Boy Soprano Branches Out. Birth, childhood, family life and early career; 4. Love Marriage and a Sad Ending. Marriage, death of first wife Alice Foran, his first four children; 5. Sam Albert and Stan. Early monologues and entry into mainstream entertainment; 6. The Street Where She Lived. Broadway and West End productions of My Fair Lady; 7. Broadway â€“ and the Television Jungle â€“ Other Broadway productions and American TV appearances; 8. Are Women Funny? â€“ Yes Some!. Female comedians whom he admired; 9. Life with Laney. Second marriage to Violet and birth of son Julian; 10. Bring on the Clowns. Male comedians whom he admired and working with other performers; 11. Me-or a Semi Profile. Likes, dislikes, home life, outlook on life, other opinions; 12. Light Up The Stage. Various stage performances, especially Doolittle; 13. By Holloway Command. Receiving the OBE and performers he would pick for a fictional show; 14. Movie-Go-Round. Film career; 15. There are Agents-and Agents. Relationship with the Aza Agency and other agents; 16. The Lovable Jester. Life and death of his best friend Leslie Henson; 17. Shakespeare â€“ Thou Art Translated. Revisits Shakespeare roles and relationships with actors of that genre; 18. Canadian Capers. Work on Canadian TV and holiday there with Julian; 19. In Glorious Technicolor. Film version of My Fair Lady; 20. A Great Life. Career, love for family, friends and life.|group= n}} Holloway 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).

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 and revues, and he recited many monologues on various subjects. Most prominent among his recordings (aside from his participation in recordings of My Fair Lady) are those of three series of monologues that he made at intervals throughout his career. They featured Sam Small, Albert Ramsbottom, and historical events such as the Battle of Hastings, Magna Carta and the Battle of Trafalgar. In all, his discography runs to 130 recordings, spanning the period 1924 to 1978.Stanley Holloway, recordings list at worldcat.org, accessed 14 September 2011 A review in The Gramophone of one of his 1957 albums containing recordings of his old "concert party" songs commented, "what a fine voice he has and how well he can use it â€“ diction, phrasing, range and the interpretative insight of the artist"."Stanley Holloway. Concert Party", The Gramophone, October 1961, p. 72

Notes

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References

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Sources

• BOOK, Andrews, Julie, 2007, An Intimate Biography, London, Portrait, 978-0-7499-5135-1,
• BOOK, Gaye, Freda, 1967, Who's Who in the Theatre, 14th, London, Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, 420172806,
• BOOK, Graham, Bert, West Cliff Gardens Theatre Accounts Book, West Cliff Gardens Theatre, 1914,
• BOOK, Holloway, Stanley, Wiv a little bit o' luck: The life story of Stanley Holloway, Richards, Dick, 1967, Frewin, London, 3647363,
• BOOK, Lerner, Alan Jay, Alan Jay Lerner, 1980, The Street Where I Live, London, Coronet Books, 0-340-25453-X,
• BOOK, Maltin, Leonard, 2008, 2009 Movie Guide, New York, Penguin, 978-0-452-28978-9,weblink
• BOOK, Morley, Sheridan, 1986, The Great Stage Stars, London, Angus and Robertson, 0-8160-1401-9,weblink

External links

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• {{Internet Archive author |sname=Stanley Holloway |sopt=t}}
• {{IMDb name|id=0391361}}
• {{Tcmdb name}}
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• {{Screenonline name|id=449432}}
• Stanley Holloway pictures on Getty images
• Stanley Holloway monologue lyrics
• Stanley Holloway on British Pathe News

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