Background

Oliver Hardy was born on January 18, 1892, in Harlem, Georgia, United States. He was the son of Oliver Hardy, a lawyer, and Emily Norvell. After his father's death, the family moved to Madison, Georgia, where for a time his mother managed a hotel.

Hardy, having proved himself a talented boy soprano, was occasionally permitted to join touring theatrical companies.

Education

Intermittently Hardy was educated at Georgia Military College, the Atlanta Conservatory of Music, and the University of Georgia.

Career

For a time Hardy considered becoming a lawyer, but when his mother moved to Milledgeville, Georgia, in 1910, he abandoned this notion and opened a movie theater there instead. Three years later, deciding that it was as easy to perform in movies as to show them, Hardy began work in Jacksonville, Florida, for Lubin Motion Pictures at five dollars a day, playing the "heavy" in comedy shorts, a role for which he was physically well equipped.

Rejected as overweight for service in World War I, he was briefly employed by Pathé Films in Ithaca, New York, returned to Jacksonville, then moved to California. For a time he free-lanced; and in the two-reeler Lucky Dog (1917) he appeared for the first time with Stan Laurel, the star of the picture. Cast as a holdup man, Babe Hardy, as he was then called, stuck a gun in Laurel's ribs as a title card flashed on the screen: "Put 'em both up, insect before I comb your hair with lead. " It was the first of their many confrontations, but almost ten years elapsed before they again appeared together.

Hardy continued to perform in one- and two-reelers, chiefly for Vitagraph, until he was signed by Hal Roach in 1926. In 1927 he and Laurel, also under contract to Roach, were billed together for the first time. They complimented each other perfectly - Laurel, thin, morose, and weepy-eyed, and Hardy, elephantine, bossy, and self-important. Like two overgrown children with delusions of adequacy, they bumbled their way through a succession of two-reelers, plunging from "one fine mess" into another. In Roach, they found the ideal producer. He did not interfere, allowing them to work within a loose comic framework that gave full play to the creative imagination of Laurel. Of the 105 pictures credited to them, the best are unquestionably those made during their early years with Roach. The team survived the period of transition from silent films to sound without difficulty.

In 1931 their first full-length feature, Pardon Us, opened a new chapter in their careers although, like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, they found themselves not entirely at ease in more structured scripts and under firmer directorial control. Despite the increasing popularity of animated cartoons, they continued to make two-reelers. Their public remained immense, as evidenced by their triumphal tour through England and France in 1932. Soon afterward, however, Hardy's career took a downward turn.

In 1940 his association with Hal Roach came to an end. He and Laurel made plans to produce films independently, but these projects failed to materialize. Instead, they appeared in eight undistinguished films for MGM and Twentieth-Century Fox. Perhaps they found their greatest satisfaction during these years in the 500 performances they gave for servicemen during World War II.

In 1947 they continued to make stage appearances, touring Great Britain and the Continent in a pantomime act. Four years later they completed their last film, Atoll K, a failure. In 1954, Hardy and Laurel undertook another European tour, from which they returned to find their talents again in demand as a result of the success of their films on television. A projected film series came to nothing, however, in September 1956 Hardy suffered a paralytic stroke. Bedridden and incapacitated for almost a year, he died in North Hollywood, California.

Achievements

• Oliver Hardy has been listed as a notable actor by Marquis Who's Who.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Laurel & Hardy Collection DVD
  • Laurel and Hardy: The Laurel &Hardy Murder Case
  • Flying Deuces
  • Babes in Toyland
  • The Best of Laurel and Hardy (In Color)
  • Laurel and Hardy: Bohemian Girl
  • March of the Wooden Soldiers (In Color)
  • Laurel and Hardy: Busy Bodies
  • Laurel and Hardy "You're Darn Tootin"
  • Laurel & Hardy's Laughing 20's

Views

Quotations: "My life wasn't very exciting, " Hardy once observed. "I didn't do very much outside of doing a lot of gags before a camera and playing golf the rest of the time. "

"A knick-knack is a thing that sits on top of a whatnot. "

"You know, there's a right and wrong way to do everything. "

Membership

Along with Laurel, Hardy was inducted into the Grand Order of Water Rats.

Personality

Hardy was a fine performer, capable of expressing every shade of emotion by raising an eyebrow, lifting a pinkie, or twiddling his tie.

Quotes from others about the person

• A bronze memorial plaque over Hardy's grave describes him as "a genius of comedy - his talent brought joy and laughter to all the world. "

Interests

• Sport & Clubs

  Hardy enjoyed playing golf.

Connections

Hardy was married three times. He met Madelyn Saloshin, a pianist, whom he married on November 17, 1913, in Macon, Georgia. In 1919, he separated from his wife, ending with a provisional divorce in November 1920, which was finalized on November 17, 1921.

On November 24, 1921, Hardy married again, to actress Myrtle Reeves. This marriage was also unhappy. Reeves was said to have become an alcoholic. In 1937, Hardy and Reeves divorced.

While on the lot, Hardy fell in love with Virginia Lucille Jones, a script girl, whom he married the next year. They enjoyed a happy marriage until his death.

Father:

Oliver Hardy

Mother:

Mary Emily (Norvell) Hardy

Spouse:

Myrtle Lee Reeves

Spouse:

Madelyn Saloshin

Spouse:

Virginia Lucille (Jones) Hardy

colleague:

Stan Laurel

References

• Laurel & Hardy
• Babe: The Life of Oliver Hardy by John McCabe (2004-08-01)
• Laurel and Hardy: The British Tours
• Stan and Ollie: The Double Life of Laurel and Hardy by Simon Louvish (2001-09-15)
• Laurel and Hardy : The Magic Behind the Movies