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Stanley Holloway

Stanley Holloway

Birthday: 1890-10-01 | Place of Birth: Manor Park, London, England, UK

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, in his early years Holloway pursued a career as a clerk. He made early stage appearances before infantry service in the First World War. After the war 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. By the 1930s, he was in demand to star in music hall, pantomime and musical comedy. In the 1940s and early 1950s, Holloway moved from the musical stage to acting in plays and films. He made well-received stage and film appearances in Shakespeare, and in a series of films for Ealing Studios. In 1956 he was cast as the irresponsible Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady, a role that he played on Broadway, in the West End and later on film, which brought him international fame. In his later years, Holloway appeared in television series in the U.S. and the UK, toured in revue, appeared in stage plays in Britain, Canada, Australia and the U.S., and continued to make films into his eighties. Description above from the Wikipedia article Stanley Holloway, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

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Known For

Acting

Year
Title

Role

1973
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

as    Poole der Butler

1971
Flight of the Doves

as    Judge Liffy

1970
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes

as    Gravedigger

1969
Run a Crooked Mile

as    Caretaker

1969
Target: Harry

as    Jason Carlyle

1965
In Harm's Way

as    Clayton Canfil

1965
Ten Little Indians

as    Det. William Henry Blore

1964
My Fair Lady

as    Alfred P. Doolittle

1961
On the Fiddle

as    Mr. Cooksley

1955
A Day to Remember

as    Charley Porter

1953
Meet Mr. Lucifer

as    Sam Hollingsworth / Mr Lucifer

1953
The Titfield Thunderbolt

as    Walter Valentine

1951
The Lavender Hill Mob

as    Albert Pendlebury

1951
One Wild Oat

as    Alfred Gilbey

1950
The Perfect Woman

as    Ramshead

1949
Passport to Pimlico

as    Arthur Pemberton

1948
Noose

as    Inspector Rendall

1948
Snowbound

as    Joe Wesson

1948
One Night with You

as    Tramp

1947
This Happy Breed

as    Bob Mitchell

1946
Brief Encounter

as    Albert Godby

1946
Carnival

as    Charlie Raeburn

1946
Wanted for Murder

as    Sergeant Sullivan

1945
The Way to the Stars

as    Mr. Palmer

1945
The Way Ahead

as    Pvt. Ted Brewer

1937
Cotton Queen

as    Sam Owen

1935
In Town Tonight

as    Himself