Stanley Holloway
Stanley Augustus Holloway (1 October 1890 – 30 January 1982) was an English actor, comedian, singer 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 comic monologues and songs, which he performed and recorded throughout most of his 70-year career. Born in London, Holloway pursued a career as a clerk in his teen years. He made early stage appearances before infantry service in the First World War, after which he had his first major theatre success starring in Kissing Time when the musical transferred to the West End from Broadway. In 1921, he joined a concert party, The Co-Optimists, and his career began to flourish. At first, he was employed chiefly 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, and Holloway developed a following for the recordings of his many monologues. By the 1930s, he was in demand to star in variety, pantomime and musical comedy, including several revues. Following the outbreak of the Second World War, Holloway made short propaganda films on behalf of the British Film Institute and Pathé News and took character parts in a series of war films including Major Barbara, The Way Ahead, This Happy Breed and The Way to the Stars. After the war, he appeared in the film Brief Encounter and made a series of films for Ealing Studios, including Passport to Pimlico, The Lavender Hill Mob and The Titfield Thunderbolt. In 1956 he was cast as the irresponsible and irrepressible Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady, a role that he played on Broadway, the West End and in the film version in 1964. The role brought him international fame, and his performances earned him nominations for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. In his later years, Holloway appeared in television series in the UK and the US, toured in revues, appeared in stage plays in Britain, Canada, Australia and the US, and continued to make films into his eighties. Holloway was married twice and had five children, including the actor Julian Holloway. |
Birth and Death Data: Born October 1, 1890 (London), Died January 30, 1982 (Littlehampton)
Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1928 - 1963
Roles Represented in DAHR: vocalist, narrator, author, speaker
= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.
Recordings
Company | Matrix No. | Size | First Recording Date | Title | Primary Performer | Description | Role | Audio |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Victor | BS-046172 | 10-in. | 1/5/1940 | Old Sam (Sam, pick oop tha' musket) | Cyril Smith | Recitation, with piano | author | |
Brunswick | DB11 | 10-in. | approximately Sept. 1928 | A Dinder courtship | Stanley Holloway | Male vocal solo, with piano | vocalist | |
Brunswick | DB12 | 10-in. | approximately Sept. 1928 | Looking at the sky | Stanley Holloway | Male vocal solo, with piano | vocalist | |
Brunswick | DB13 | 10-in. | approximately Sept. 1928 | Pass, everyman | Stanley Holloway | Tenor vocal solo, with piano | vocalist | |
Brunswick | DB14 | 10-in. | approximately Sept. 1928 | [Unknown title(s)] | Stanley Holloway | Tenor vocal solo, with piano | vocalist | |
Brunswick | DB15 | 10-in. | approximately Sept. 1928 | Onaway! Awake, beloved! | Stanley Holloway | Tenor vocal solo, with piano | vocalist | |
Decca | 82621 | 4/4/1952 | Lambert the sheepish lion: Part 1 | Stanley Holloway | narrator | |||
Decca | 82622 | 4/4/1952 | Lambert the sheepish lion: Part 2 | Stanley Holloway | narrator | |||
Decca | 113137 | 2/14/1963 | Going to the Derby | Stanley Holloway | vocalist | |||
Decca | 113138 | 2/14/1963 | My Lord Tomnoddy | Stanley Holloway | vocalist | |||
Decca | 113139 | 2/14/1963 | Act on the square, boys! | Stanley Holloway | vocalist | |||
Decca | 113140 | 2/14/1963 | If I had a donkey (Wot wouldn't go) | Stanley Holloway | vocalist | |||
Decca | 113141 | 2/14/1963 | The workhouse boy | Stanley Holloway | vocalist | |||
Decca | 113142 | 2/14/1963 | Married to a mermaid | Stanley Holloway | vocalist | |||
Decca | 113143 | 2/14/1963 | A motto for every man | Stanley Holloway | vocalist | |||
Decca | 113144 | 2/14/1963 | Hey! Betty Martin | Stanley Holloway | vocalist | |||
Decca | 113145 | 2/14/1963 | Shelling green peas | Stanley Holloway | vocalist | |||
Decca | 113146 | 2/14/1963 | All 'round my hat | Stanley Holloway | vocalist | |||
Decca | 113147 | 2/14/1963 | Poor old horse | Stanley Holloway | vocalist | |||
Decca | 113148 | 2/14/1963 | Champagne Charlie | Stanley Holloway | vocalist |
Citation
Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Holloway, Stanley," accessed November 6, 2024, https://adpprod2.library.ucsb.edu/names/103574.
Holloway, Stanley. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved November 6, 2024, from https://adpprod2.library.ucsb.edu/names/103574.
"Holloway, Stanley." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 6 November 2024.
DAHR Persistent Identifier
External Sources
Wikipedia: Stanley Holloway
Discogs: Stanley Holloway
Allmusic: Stanley Holloway
IMDb: Stanley Holloway
Britannica: Stanley Holloway
Linked Open Data Sources
LCNAR: Holloway, Stanley - http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n82047714
Wikidata: Stanley Holloway - http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q549287
VIAF: http://viaf.org/viaf/46955413
MusicBrainz: Stanley Holloway - https://musicbrainz.org/artist/0fbd268c-64ec-43e8-8eea-fedc893f2802
ISNI: 0000 0001 1026 2109 - http://www.isni.org/isni/0000000110262109
Wikipedia content provided under the terms of the Creative Commons BY-SA license
Feedback
Send the Editors a message about this record.