Oliver Hardy

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Oliver Norvell Hardy (born Norvell Hardy, 1892 – August 7, 1957) was an American comedian and one half of Laurel and Hardy, the double act that ran from 1927 to 1955.

Stan Laurel, his comedy partner, appeared in 107 short films, feature films, and cameo roles.

In 1914, he was first recognized with his film Outwitting Dad.

He was billed on film as "Babe Hardy" in the majority of his silent films before joining producer Hal Roach.

Early life and education

Oliver Hardy was born in Harlem, Georgia, and he was born Norvell Hardy. Oliver's father, Joseph, was a Confederate States Army veteran of the American Civil War who had been wounded at the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862, and was a recruiting officer for Company K, the 16th Georgia Regiment. Oliver Hardy, the elder, supported his father in removing the remnants of the family's cotton plantation. He later purchased a stake in a retail company and was elected full-time Tax Collector for Columbia County, Georgia. Emily Norvell, Hardy's mother, was the daughter of Thomas Benjamin Norvell, who was descendent from Captain Hugh Norvell of Williamsburg, Virginia, and Mary Freeman. Hardy and Norvell married on March 12, 1890; it was her second marriage and her third.

The family moved to Madison, Georgia, in 1891, the year before Norvell's birth. He was likely born in Harlem, but some reports state that his birth took place in Covington, Georgia, his mother's hometown. His father died less than a year after his birth. Hardy was the youngest of five children. Sam, his older brother, drowned in the Oconee River, and Hardy rescued him from the river, but was unable to resuscitate him.

It was often difficult as an infant. He was taken to Milledgeville, Georgia, for the fifth grade. When he was 13 years old, he was sent to Young Harris College in north Georgia for the fall semester, which he completed with flying in January 1906, but he was not in the academy's junior high program. There were no two-year colleges at that time. He had no interest in formal education, but he did have an early interest in music and theater. He graduated from a boarding school near Atlanta to perform with the group and later developed with it. His mother recognized his singing ability and sent him to Atlanta to study music and voice with singing instructor Adolf Dahm-Petersen. For $3.50 a week, he skipped some of his lessons to perform in the Alcazar Theater. He enrolled in 1912 as a law student at University of Georgia for the fall semester in order to play football. He's never missed a game.

Hardy began identifying himself as a youth, coining the term "Oliver" to honor his father. In the 1910 US census, he was listed as "Oliver N. Hardy" and he used the word "Liver" as his first name in all subsequent legal documents, marriage announcements, etc. At Solomon Lodge No. 10, Hardy was initiated into Freemasonry. When he first started out in show business, 20 in Jacksonville, Florida, who helped him with bed and board. He and Stan Laurel were inducted into the Grand Order of Water Rats.

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Career

The Palace, a motion picture theatre in Hardy, opened in 1910, and he became the projectionist, ticket taker, janitor, and manager. He fell in love with the new film industry and was determined that he could do a better job than the actors he saw. A friend suggested that he move to Jacksonville, Florida, where some films were being made, which he did in 1913. He performed in Jacksonville as a cabaret and vaudeville singer at night and at the Lubin Manufacturing Company during the day. Madelyn Saloshin, a pianist who died on November 17, 1913 in Macon, Georgia, was visiting him at this time.

He made his first film, Outwitting Dad (1914), for the Lubin studio, and his name was O. N. Hardy. He was known as "Babe" Hardy in his later films at Lubin, such as Back to the Farm (1914), and was billed as "Babe" in his personal life. He was a big guy, standing 6 foot 1 inch (1.85 kg) and weighing up to 300 pounds (c. 136 kg), and his weight placed limitations on the roles he could play. He was often depicted as the villain, but he did appear in comedy shorts, his appearance complementing the character. Hardy had made 50 short one-reel films at Lubin by 1915. He went to New York and shot films for the Pathé, Casino, and Edison Studios. He departed to Jacksonville, Florida, where he filmed for the Vim Comedy Company. After Hardy discovered that the owners were stealing from the payroll, the company was shuttered. He then worked for Vim, Billy Ruge, Billy West (a Charlie Chaplin imitator), and comedian Ethel Burton Palmer. He continued to perform the villains for West well into the 1920s, often imitating Eric Campbell to West's Chaplin.

Hardy's career lasted just briefly from 1916 to 1917. He is known for directing or co-directing ten shorts, but not all played by him.

Hardy moved to Los Angeles in 1917 and spent time in various Hollywood studios. He made more than 40 films for Vitagraph between 1918 and 1923, mainly portraying Larry Semon's "heavy" role. He separated from his wife in 1919, which was followed by a provisional divorce in November 1920 that was finalized on November 17, 1921. On November 24, 1921, he married actress Myrtle Reeves. This marriage was also unhappy, and Reeves was said to have become an alcoholic.

He appeared in the film The Lucky Dog, directed by Broncho Billy Anderson and starring Stan Laurel in 1921. Hardy played the part of a robber trying to keep Stan's character. They didn't work together for many years, and it didn't happen again for many years. Hardy first began working at Hal Roach Studios in 1924 with the Our Gang films and Charley Chase. He appeared in the Wizard of Oz as the Tin Man in 1925. He appeared in the film Yes, Yes, Nanette!, starring Jimmy Finlayson and directed by Stan Laurel, also this year. (Finlayson was often a supporting actor in the Laurel and Hardy film series in later years.) He has also appeared in films starring Clyde Cooke and Bobby Ray. In 1926, Hardy would appear in two other shorts directed by Laurel, Wandering Papas, and Madame Mystery.

Hardy was supposed to appear in Get 'Em Young in 1926, but he was hospitalized after being stricken by a hot leg of lamb. Laurel had been working as both a comedian and a director at Roach Studios, so he was recruited to fill in. Laurel continued to act and appeared in 45 Minutes from Hollywood with Hardy, although they did not have any scenes together.

Laurel and Hardy first met in 1927, sharing screen time in Slipping Wives, Duck Soup (no relation to the 1933 Marx Brothers' film) and With Love and Hisses. Leo McCarey, Roach Studios' supervising producer, recalled the audience's reaction to the two films and began teaming them up later this year, resulting in the creation of a Laurel and Hardy collection later this year.

They began making a large number of short films, including The Battle of the Century (1927) (with one of the finest pie fights ever shot), Should Married Men Go Home? Two Tars (1928) Two Tars (1928), Unknown as We Are (1929), Believing Pictures (1929), Blotto (1930), Another Fine Mess (1930) Be Big! (1931) and many others. They appeared in their first film in 1929, one of Hollywood Revue's revue sequences, and in the upcoming year, they appeared in a lavish Technicolor musical performance titled The Rogue Song. This film was the first time a film in color, but only a few fragments of it survive. They appeared in their first full-length film Pardon Us in 1931, and they continued to produce films and shorts until 1935. The Music Box, a 1932 film, received an Academy Award for best short film, the only one to receive such recognition.

Hardy and Myrtle Reeves divorced in 1937. When waiting for a labor dispute between Laurel and Hal Roach to be settled, he made Zenobia with Harry Langdon in 1939. New contracts were eventually agreed upon, and the team was loaned to producer Boris Morros of General Service Studios to produce The Flying Deuces (1939). When on the lot, Hardy fell in love with Virginia Lucille Jones, a script girl who married the following year. They had a happy marriage for the remainder of his life.

Laurel and Hardy made A Chump at Oxford and Saps at Sea in 1939 before leaving Roach Studios. They began serving for the USO in support of the Allied troops during World War II.

Laurel and Hardy were signed in 1941 by the 20th Century-Fox (as well as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1942). These studios produced films on a larger scale, and the comedians were initially hired only as actors in the B-picture division, and they were then compelled to hand over the script and editing decisions to the production teams. Both Laurel and Hardy's films were extremely popular, and as a result, more creative input was welcomed. During the war years, Laurel and Hardy produced eight films, with no loss of fame. M-G-M's two-picture pact ended in August 1944, and Fox's series of six Laurel & Hardy photos ended when the studio stopped B-picture production in December 1944.

Laurel and Hardy went on a six-week tour of the United Kingdom in 1947. They were initially uncertain how they would be welcomed, but they were soon discovered to be overwhelmed wherever they went. The tour was extended to include appearances in Scandinavia, Belgium, France, and the Royal Command Performance for King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. They continued to make live appearances in the United Kingdom and France until 1954, many using new sketches and information provided for them by Laurel.

In 1949, Hardy's buddy John Wayne begged him to serve as a supporting character in The Battle Kentuckian. In a charity production of the play What Price Glory?, Hardy had previously worked with Wayne and John Ford. Although Laurel's diabetes was treated a few years ago, he began medication. He was initially skeptical, but he later accepted the role as the point of Laurel's insistence. Frank Capra was invited by Frank Capra to appear in Riding High with Bing Crosby in 1950.

Laurel and Hardy made their last film Atoll K (also known as Utopia) between 1950 and 1989. It was a simple idea; Laurel inherits an island, and the boys set out to sea, encountering a storm and discovering a brand new island with a rich in uranium, making them strong and wealthy. Nonetheless, the film was produced by a group of European interests, with an international cast and crew that could not talk to each other. In addition, Laurel had to rewrite the script to make it fit the comedy team's style, and the two actors were both plagued by severe physical illness during filming.

In 1953 on a live broadcast of the BBC show Face the Music, and in December 1954 on NBC's This Is Your Life, Laurel and Hardy made two live television appearances: on 1953 on a live broadcast of the BBC show Face the Music; and on NBC's This Is Your Life. They also appeared in a film insert for BBC show This Is Music Hall in 1955, their last appearance together. In 1955, the two joined Hal Roach, Jr. to produce a series of television shows based on the Mother Goose fables. They had been supposed to be shot in color for NBC, but they were postponed after Laurel suffered a stroke and required a lengthy convalescence, according to biographer John McCabe. During the year, Laurel was recovering, Hardy suffered a heart attack and stroke from which he never recovered.

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