Stan Laurel

Arthur Stanley Jefferson (June 16, 1890 – February 23, 1965), better known as Stan Laurel was a comic actor, writer and director, famous as part of the comedy double act Laurel and Hardy, whose career stretched from the silent films of the early 20th Century until post-World War II.

Early life

Laurel was born in Ulverston, Cumbria, England (then in Lancashire). His parents Arthur and Madge (Margaret) were both active in the theatre and Laurel's home life was a happy one. In his early years, he spent much time living with his grandmother Sarah Metcalfe, as his father managed a number of different theatres. Laurel had a natural affinity for the theater, with his first professional performance on stage at the age of sixteen. In 1910, he joined Fred Karno's troupe of actors, which also included a young Charlie Chaplin. For some time, Laurel acted as Chaplin's understudy. The Karno troupe toured America, and brought both Chaplin and Laurel to the United States for the first time. From 1916 to 1918, he teamed up with Alice and Baldwin Cooke, who become lifelong friends.

It was around this time that Laurel met Mae Dahlberg who was to have a great impact on his life. Also around this time, Stan adopted the stage name of Laurel, at Dahlberg's suggestion. The pair were performing together when Laurel was offered $75.00 per week to star in two-reel comedies. After the making of his first film, Nuts in May Universal offered him a contract. The contract was short-lived, however, and was cancelled during a reorganization at the studio.

By 1924, Laurel had forsaken his stage career to work full time in films, now under contract with Joe Rock. The contract called for Laurel to make twelve two-reel comedies. The contract also had one unusual stipulation, that Dahlberg was not to appear in any of the films. It was felt that her temperament was hindering his career. In 1925, when she started interfering with Laurel's work, Rock offered her a cash settlement and a one-way ticket back to her native Australia, which she accepted.

Hal Roach Studios

Laurel went on to join the Hal Roach studio, and began directing films, including a 1926 production called Yes, Yes, Nanette. It was his intention to work primarily as a writer and director, but fate stepped in. Oliver Hardy, another member of the Hal Roach Studios Comedy All Star players, was injured in a kitchen mishap and Stan was asked to return to the front of the cameras. It soon became obvious that the two men had a certain comic onscreen chemistry, and they ended up starring together as an incredibly popular comedy team in more than fifty films in the 1930s and early 1940s, with their 1932 three-reeler The Music Box winning an Oscar for Best Short Subject.

Laurel and Hardy

In 1918, Laurel and Hardy appeared together briefly in a silent movie short A Lucky Dog but not as a team. In 1926, he married his first wife, Lois Nielson. By 1927, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy began sharing screen time together in Slipping Wives, Duck Soup and With Love and Hisses. Roach Studios' supervising director Leo McCarey had realized the audience reaction to the two, and had begun intentionally teaming them together, leading to the start of the Laurel and Hardy series late that year; with Laurel and Hardy, he had created one of the most famous comedy duos of all time.

They began producing a huge body of short movies, including The Battle of the Century, Should Married Men Go Home?, Two Tars, Be Big, and many others. In 1931 they made their first full length movie, Pardon Us although they continued to make features and shorts until 1935. Laurel and Hardy made the transition to talking films with Unaccustomed As We Are in 1929. They were arguably the only major comics of the silent era for whom the arrival of sound proved to be a positive development, adding to their characters' appeal.

Trouble at Roach Studio

During the 1930s, Laurel was involved in a dispute with Hal Roach and ended up having his contract terminated. After undergoing a trial over drunk-driving charges, he counter-sued the Roach studio. Eventually, the case was dropped and Stan returned to Roach. Meanwhile, Laurel had divorced his first wife and married Virginia Ruth Rogers in 1935, whom he divorced to marry his third wife Vera Ivanova Shuvalova ("Illeana") in 1938. However, by 1941, he had once again married Virginia Ruth Rogers.

After returning to Roach studios, the first film Laurel and Hardy made was A Chump at Oxford. Their followup title, The Flying Deuces is one of their most famous movies. After that, they made Saps at Sea, which was the last film under Roach's employment. In April 1940, their contract expired.

Fox Studios

In 1939, Laurel and Hardy signed a contract at 20th Century Fox to make one motion picture and nine more over the following five months. During the war years their work became more standardised and less successful. Stan discovered he had diabetes, so he encouraged Oliver Hardy to make two movies without him. In 1946, he divorced Virginia Ruth Rogerswife and married Ida Kitaeva Raphael. In 1950, they were asked to make a film in France. The film, Utopia (also released as Atoll K), was a disaster. The script was poor, and both stars were noticeably ill during the filming. When they returned home, they spent most of their time recovering. In 1952, Laurel and Hardy did another tour of Europe. This tour was very successful and they toured Europe again in 1953.

During this tour, Stan fell ill and was unable to perform for several weeks. In May 1954, Oliver Hardy had a heart attack that made them call off the tour. In 1955, they were planning to do a television series, The Fable of Laurel and Hardy, based on children's stories. However, the plans were delayed because Stan suffered a stroke. He recovered and just when he was planning to get back to work, Oliver Hardy had a massive stroke on 15 September 1956. He was paralyzed and stayed in bed for several months unable to speak or move.

Hardy's Death

On August 7, 1957, Oliver Hardy died. Due to his own poor health, Stan could not attend his funeral, stating "Babe would understand". After that, Stan realized he would never act again, but he did write gags and sketches for fellow comedians. People who knew Laurel said he was absolutely devastated by Hardy's death and never fully recovered. On one occasion following Hardy's passing, a casual fan mistook Laurel for his late partner. "Aren't you Oliver Hardy?" the fan asked. Laurel obliged, claiming he was indeed Oliver Hardy. The fan then asked whatever happened to "the other guy". Laurel tellingly replied "Oh him? Well, he went quite mad".

Life after Laurel and Hardy

In 1961, Laurel won a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award for his pioneering work in the field of comedy. He had achieved his lifelong dream as a comedian and had been involved in nearly 190 movies. He died on February 23, 1965, several days after suffering a heart attack.

A comedian until the very last, Stan Laurel, just minutes away from death, explained to his nurse how he would not mind going skiing right at that very moment. Somewhat taken aback, the nurse replied that she was not aware that he was a skier. "I'm not," said Stan, "I'd rather be doing that than have all these needles stuck into me!". A few minutes later the nurse looked in on him again and found that Stan Laurel had quietly slipped away.

Laurel even wrote his own obituary; "If anyone at my funeral has a long face, I'll never speak to him again." He was buried at Forest Lawn -Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.

In 1989 a statue of Laurel was erected in Dockwray Square, North Shields, where he lived from 1897 to 1902.

Filmography

Filmography of Stan Laurel (The films of Stan Laurel as an actor without Oliver Hardy)
Laurel and Hardy films (The filmography of Laurel and Hardy together.)

External links

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