Oliver Hardy Biography

Oliver Norvell Hardy (January 18, 1892 – August 7, 1957) was an American film actor. With Stan Laurel, he formed half of perhaps the most famous comedy partnership in film history, Laurel and Hardy.

Hardy was born in Harlem, Georgia and briefly attended Georgia Military College in Milledgeville.

He was nicknamed 'Babe;' according to Hardy himself, from asking a barber for a shave as a child and the barber slapping a little powder on his face and saying, "That's it, Babe, you're clean.
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His widow is credited in saying in a 1980s interview included in the television broadcast Laurel and Hardy, Together Again, Hardy picked up his nickname from an Italian barber patting him on the cheek and saying "That's nice-a-bab-y!" The name stuck. Hardy was even billed as Babe Hardy in early films. So well known was Hardy by this nickname, that in some of the duo's first silent films, Laurel can be seen mouthing the word "Babe" when calling out to Hardy.

Hardy's father died at a very young age and in the John McCabe biography 'Babe' there is some suggestion that he was somewhat wayward in his youth. He was a gifted singer when he was young and by an early age was performing with minstrel shows. This prediliction for minstrel music was later demonstrated by his musical number 'Lazy Moon' in the 1931 feature 'Pardon Us'.

By 1910 he ran a movie theatre, often providing the music. In 1913 he joined the Lubin Company in Florida, making his movie debut in 'Outwitting Dad' (1913). Hardy worked on many silent films from this period onwards, including a brush with Stan Laurel with 'Lucky Dog'. Probably his most famous co-star in the pre-Laurel and Hardy era was Larry Semon, a popular but now forgotten silent comedian. Together they appeared in films such as 'Her Boyfriend' (1924) and 'The Wizard of Oz' (1925). By 1927 Hardy's career was in the ascendancy and Semon's declined.

OLIVER HARDY PICTURES

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OLIVER HARDY BIOGRAPHY