Stan Laurel facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Stan Laurel
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Laurel c. 1920
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| Born |
Arthur Stanley Jefferson
16 June 1890 Ulverston, Lancashire, England
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| Died | 23 February 1965 (aged 74) Santa Monica, California, United States
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| Occupation |
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| Years active | 1906–1957 |
| Spouse(s) |
Lois Neilson
(m. 1926; div. 1935)Virginia Ruth Rogers
(m. 1935; div. 1937)
(m. 1941; div. 1946)Vera Ivanova Shuvalova
(m. 1938; div. 1940)Ida Kitaeva Raphael
(m. 1946) |
| Partner(s) | Mae Dahlberg (1917–1925) |
| Children | 2 |
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Stan Laurel (born Arthur Stanley Jefferson; 16 June 1890 – 23 February 1965) was a famous English comedian, writer, and film director. He was one half of the hilarious comedy team Laurel and Hardy. He starred with his comedy partner Oliver Hardy in 107 films. These included short films, full-length movies, and small guest appearances.
Laurel started his career in "music hall" shows in England. This was a type of live entertainment with singing, dancing, and comedy. There, he created many of his funny acts, like wearing a bowler hat and making silly, serious faces. He also became very good at pantomime and comedy sketches. He was part of a group called "Fred Karno's Army," where he was the understudy for Charlie Chaplin. Stan and Charlie even traveled to the United States on the same ship!
Stan Laurel began making films in 1917. He made his last film appearance in 1951. He first appeared with Oliver Hardy in a short film called The Lucky Dog in 1921. However, they didn't officially become a team until late 1927. After that, he worked only with Hardy until he retired in 1957, after Oliver Hardy passed away.
In 1961, Stan Laurel received a special Academy Honorary Award for his amazing work in comedy. He also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2005, Laurel and Hardy were voted the best comedy duo in a UK poll. In 2019, Stan Laurel was named the greatest British comedian by a TV channel panel. A bronze statue of the duo was put up in Laurel's hometown of Ulverston in 2009.
Early Life and Career Beginnings
Arthur Stanley Jefferson was born on 16 June 1890, in Ulverston, England. His parents, Arthur J. Jefferson and Margaret Metcalfe, were both actors. Because his parents were so busy with theatre, Stan often lived with his grandmother when he was very young. He went to school in different places, including Bishop Auckland and Tynemouth.
He later moved to Glasgow, Scotland, with his parents. His father managed a theatre there, which is where Stan first started working. Stan's hero was a famous comedian named Dan Leno. At 16, Stan performed for the first time on stage in Glasgow. This is where he practiced his skills in pantomime (a type of musical play) and comedy sketches. He got many of his famous funny ideas from these early music hall days. These included his well-known bowler hat and his way of making silly, serious comments.
In 1910, Stan joined a group of actors called Fred Karno's troupe. He used the stage name "Stan Jefferson" then. A young Charlie Chaplin was also in this group. Stan even filled in for Chaplin sometimes. Fred Karno was a pioneer of slapstick comedy. Stan Laurel once said that Karno taught him and Chaplin "most of" what they knew about comedy. Chaplin and Laurel traveled to the United States together with the Karno troupe.
Stan started working in films full-time around 1924. He signed a contract to make 12 short comedies. Around this time, he met Mae Dahlberg. She suggested he change his stage name because "Stan Jefferson" had 13 letters, which she thought was unlucky. So, he became "Stan Laurel." He and Mae appeared in some early films together, like Mud and Sand in 1922.
Before they became a famous team, Laurel worked briefly with Oliver Hardy in the silent film short The Lucky Dog (1921). Stan Laurel also directed or co-directed ten silent short films between 1925 and 1927. Interestingly, his future partner, Oliver Hardy, appeared in three of these films that Laurel directed. These included Yes, Yes, Nanette! (1925), Wandering Papas (1926), and Madame Mystery (1926).
The Famous Laurel and Hardy Team
Stan Laurel later joined the Hal Roach studio. He planned to mostly write and direct films there. In fact, he directed a 1926 film called Yes, Yes, Nanette, which featured Oliver Hardy.
In 1926, Oliver Hardy was hurt in a kitchen accident and couldn't work. Stan Laurel was asked to step in and act in a film called Get 'Em Young. Starting in early 1927, Laurel and Hardy began appearing together in several short films. These included Duck Soup, Slipping Wives, and With Love and Hisses. They quickly became good friends, and their funny chemistry was clear to everyone. The studio's director, Leo McCarey, noticed how much audiences loved them together. He decided to team them up, and that's how the famous Laurel and Hardy series began later that year.
Together, they made many short films, like The Battle of the Century, Should Married Men Go Home?, and Two Tars. Laurel and Hardy successfully moved from silent films to "talking films" with their short Unaccustomed As We Are in 1929. They also appeared in their first full-length movie, Pardon Us, in 1931. They continued to make both short films and features. Their 1932 short film The Music Box even won an Academy Award for Best Short Subject.
Challenges at Roach Studio
In the 1930s, Stan Laurel had some disagreements with Hal Roach, the studio head. This led to his contract ending for a while. Because Laurel and Hardy had separate contracts, Oliver Hardy stayed at the studio. He even made a film with another actor, Harry Langdon, called Zenobia in 1939. Eventually, the issues were resolved, and Stan Laurel returned to the studio. The first film Laurel and Hardy made after Stan came back was A Chump at Oxford. Their last film for the Roach studio was Saps at Sea.
World War II and Later Tours
In 1941, Laurel and Hardy signed a contract with 20th Century-Fox to make ten films. Stan Laurel was surprised to learn that they were hired only as actors. They were not expected to help with the writing or editing of the films. However, their movies were very popular. So, Laurel and Hardy were given more freedom and could add more of their own comedy ideas. After making six films for Fox, the studio stopped making certain types of movies. The team then signed another contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1942 and made two more feature films.
In 1947, Laurel returned to England with Hardy for a six-week tour of the United Kingdom. They performed in variety shows, which are live entertainment shows. Crowds of fans greeted them everywhere they went. When Laurel returned to his hometown of Ulverston, thousands of fans came out to see them. Oliver Hardy even joked that Stan had talked about Ulverston for 22 years! The tour was so successful that they spent the next seven years touring the UK and Europe.
Around this time, Stan Laurel found out he had diabetes. He encouraged Oliver Hardy to take on solo acting jobs, which Hardy did. Oliver Hardy appeared in films with actors like John Wayne and Bing Crosby.
In 1950, Laurel and Hardy were invited to France to make a film called Atoll K. Both stars were noticeably unwell during filming. After returning to the United States, they spent time recovering. They toured Europe successfully again in 1952 and 1953. However, during the 1953 tour, Stan Laurel became ill and couldn't perform for several weeks.
In May 1954, Oliver Hardy had a heart attack, and they had to cancel their tour. In 1955, they planned a TV series based on children's stories. But these plans were delayed when Stan Laurel had a stroke in April 1955. He recovered from it. However, as they were getting ready to work again, Oliver Hardy had a major stroke in September 1956 and could no longer act.
Oliver Hardy's Passing
Oliver Hardy passed away on 7 August 1957. Those who knew Stan Laurel said he was heartbroken by Hardy's death. His wife said he became physically ill when he heard the news. Stan Laurel was too unwell to attend the funeral. He said, "Babe [Hardy's nickname] would understand." Even though he continued to talk with his fans, he refused to perform on stage or act in another film after that. He had no interest in working without Oliver Hardy. He turned down every offer for public appearances.
Life After Laurel and Hardy
In 1961, Stan Laurel received a special Academy Award for his amazing work in comedy films. He had achieved his dream as a comedian and had been in nearly 190 films. He spent his final years living in a small apartment in Santa Monica, California. Stan Laurel was very kind to his fans. He spent a lot of time answering fan mail. His phone number was even listed in the phone book, and he would take calls from fans!
Many comedians visited Laurel, including Jerry Lewis. Lewis even got ideas from Laurel for his film The Bellboy (1960). Lewis honored Laurel by naming his main character Stanley in the movie. Dick Van Dyke also shared a similar story. When he was starting his career, he called Laurel and visited him at his home. Van Dyke later played Laurel on an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show. Stan Laurel was offered a small role in the film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), but he said no. He reportedly didn't want to be on screen when he was older, especially without Oliver Hardy.
Personal Life
Stan Laurel and Mae Dahlberg lived together for a few years before she moved back to Australia. Stan Laurel was married four times. He even married one of his wives a second time after they had divorced.
His first wife was Lois Neilson, whom he married in 1926. They had a daughter named Lois, born in 1927. Their second child, a son named Stanley, was born early in 1930 but sadly passed away after nine days. Laurel and Neilson divorced in 1934. Their daughter Lois lived to be 89 years old.
In 1935, Laurel married Virginia Ruth Rogers. They divorced in 1937. In 1938, Laurel married Vera Ivanova Shuvalova. This marriage was difficult, and they divorced in 1940. In 1941, he remarried Virginia Ruth Rogers, but they divorced again in 1946. On 6 May 1946, he married Ida Kitaeva Raphael. They remained married until his death.
Passing Away
Stan Laurel was a smoker but quit around 1960. In January 1965, he had some medical tests for an infection in his mouth. He passed away on 23 February 1965, at the age of 74. This was four days after he had a heart attack. Just minutes before he died, he joked with his nurse that he wouldn't mind going skiing. When she said she didn't know he skied, he replied, "I'm not. I'd rather be doing that than getting all these needles stuck in me!" A few minutes later, he passed away peacefully in his armchair.
At his funeral, the famous comedian Buster Keaton said, "Chaplin wasn't the funniest. I wasn't the funniest; this man was the funniest." Dick Van Dyke, a friend and fan of Laurel, gave a speech. Stan Laurel had once joked, "If anyone at my funeral has a long face, I'll never speak to him again." He was buried in Forest Lawn–Hollywood Hills Cemetery.
Legacy and Honors
Laurel and Hardy are so famous that they are even on the cover of the Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. In 1989, a statue of Stan Laurel was put up in North Shields, England, where he lived as a child. The steps from that area to the Fish Quay are said to have inspired the funny piano-moving scene in their film The Music Box. In a 2005 UK poll, Laurel and Hardy were voted the top comedy duo.
A radio play called Stan was broadcast in 2004. It was about Stan visiting Oliver Hardy after Hardy had a stroke. In 2006, a TV drama based on this play was shown. A plaque on a pub in Bottesford, England, marks where Laurel and Hardy stayed in 1952. In 2008, another statue of Stan Laurel was unveiled in Bishop Auckland. In April 2009, a bronze statue of Laurel and Hardy was put up in Ulverston.
There is a Laurel and Hardy Museum in Stan's hometown of Ulverston. There are also two Laurel and Hardy museums in Oliver Hardy's hometown of Harlem, Georgia, in the United States. A street in Ulverston, Jefferson Drive, is named after Stan Laurel.
In 2013, a one-man play called "...And this is my friend Mr Laurel" debuted. It starred Jeffrey Holland as Stan Laurel and toured the UK. In the 2018 film Stan & Ollie, Steve Coogan played Stan Laurel, and John C. Reilly played Oliver Hardy. The movie is about their farewell tour of Britain and Ireland in 1953. In 2019, Stan Laurel was voted the greatest British comedian ever by a panel on the British TV channel Gold.
Filmography
- Stan Laurel filmography (films Stan Laurel acted in without Oliver Hardy)
- Laurel and Hardy filmography (films Laurel and Hardy made together)
See also
In Spanish: Stan Laurel para niños
