Stan Laurel

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Stan Laurel in the short film The Tree in a Test Tube (1942)
Stan Laurel signature.svg

Stan Laurel [ stæn ˈlɔɹəl ] (born June 16, 1890 in Ulverston , Great Britain as Arthur Stanley Jefferson , †  February 23, 1965 in Santa Monica , California , USA) was a British film comedian , screenwriter , director and producer , primarily as Part of the legendary comedian duo Laurel and Hardy became world famous.

Laurel began his acting career in England, but has worked almost entirely in the United States in film. Between 1921 and 1951 he made a total of 106 films with Oliver Hardy in which Laurel played the role of the simple-minded and childish Stan. Before this collaboration with Hardy, the comedian had acted in numerous solo films. In many of his films, Laurel also participated behind the camera, among other things as a gag writer. In 1961 he received an honorary Oscar for his life's work.

Life

Stan Laurel came from a family of artists. His father Arthur J. Jefferson (1863-1949) and his mother Madge Metcalfe (1860-1908) both worked in the theater . The father in particular encouraged his son's skills. Because his parents were very busy, Stan often lived with his grandmother Sarah. The family later moved to Glasgow , where Stan graduated from Rutherglen Academy. Laurel had four siblings, three brothers and one sister: Gordon (1885–1938), Beatrice (1894–1978), Sydney (1899–1899, Sudden Infant Death ) and Edward (1900–1933).

From 1919 to 1925 Stan Laurel lived with his stage and film partner Mae Dahlberg (stage name: Mae Laurel). He was then married five times, initially from 1926 to 1935 with Lois Neilson. This marriage had two children, daughter Lois jr. (1927–2017) and son Robert Stanley, who died shortly after his birth in 1930. As a result, Laurel temporarily became addicted to alcohol. In late 1933, his brother Edward, known as Ted, died of a nitrous oxide overdose after dental work. He had played minor roles in film comedies in the 1920s, such as the butler in The Lucky Dog . Stan's eldest brother, Gordon, committed suicide in Manchester in late October 1938, at the age of 53.

In 1935, the year he divorced from Neilson, Laurel married Virginia Rogers. This marriage lasted until 1937. From 1938 to 1940 he was married to Vera Shuvalova. He then married Virginia Rogers for the second time. This marriage lasted from 1940 to 1946. Laurel's fifth marriage was in 1946 with Ida Kitaeva (1899–1980), a Russian singer and actress. This marriage lasted until his death.

Laurel was diagnosed with prostate cancer while filming Atoll K. When filming was resumed in the Paris studios, he met the still unknown mime Marcel Marceau . He attended Marceau's performance and became a friend and sponsor of the French.

Stan Laurel's grave in Forest Lawn, Burbank

The death of Oliver Hardy on August 7, 1957 was a severe blow of fate for Stan. Because of his poor health, his family doctor forbade him from attending the funeral. Stan Laurel outlived his partner by seven and a half years and died on February 23, 1965 after a heart attack at the age of 74. Just minutes before he died, Laurel told the nurse that he was going to ski right now. The nurse replied that she did not know he was a skier. Laurel replied, "I am not - but I would rather do it than this." A few minutes later, the nurse came back to him and discovered that he had slept peacefully in the armchair.

Many comedians attended the funeral on February 26, 1965, including his longtime friend Buster Keaton . At Laurel's funeral, Keaton said of him: " Chaplin wasn't the funniest, I wasn't the funniest, this man was the funniest." Regarding his funeral, the comedian Laurel had already said during his lifetime: "If you dare, at my funeral crying, I won't say another word to him! ”His grave is in the Gardens of Heritage at Forest Lawn Cemetery in the Hollywood Hills. It bears the inscription: A Master of Comedy. His genius in the art of humor brought gladness to the world he loved. ( German  "A master of comedy. His genius in the art of humor brought joy to the world he loved." ).

Career

theatre

Stanley Jefferson made his first theater appearance at the age of nine and made his professional debut at the age of 16 in Hubner's Animatograph in Glasgow. This was followed by appearances in the then popular British variety theaters - also known as music halls . While Jefferson worked as a solo performer in a pantomime group , he was finally hired in 1910 by the London theater producer Fred Karno . In his ensemble, Fred Karno's Army , he worked for some time as a substitute for Charlie Chaplin , who was a year older and also still unknown , who was also under contract there.

In 1910 Jefferson toured the United States for the first time with the Karno troupe and settled there in 1914 after a failed second tour. With Alice and Baldwin Cooke - the latter later took on small roles in 25 Laurel and Hardy films - he formed a trio of comedians between 1916 and 1918. In 1917 he met Mae Charlotte Dahlberg and performed with the Australian dancer in vaudeville . She became his lover and invented his stage name Laurel ( laurel ) after seeing a Roman ruler wearing a laurel wreath in a magazine.

Solo career in silent film

Laurel's film debut came in 1917 in Nuts in May , the only release by Bernstein Productions. Only those scenes that were reused a few years later for the film Mixed Nuts have survived from this short film, especially a longer sequence that takes place in a café. In addition, Laurel soon recycled some gags from Nuts in May for Just Rambling Along . After further appearances, including in a small series of films about Hickory Hiram , Laurel appeared in 1918 for Vitagraph in three short films by comedian Larry Semon . The last of them, Frauds and Frenzies , shows Semon and Laurel as a real and well-harmonizing comedian duo. The fact that there was no further collaboration is attributed to both Semon's star airs and the temporary closure of the studio after the shooting due to a flu epidemic.

At the same time Laurel met the aspiring producer Hal Roach , for whom he was initially active briefly in 1918 and 1919, replacing the originally engaged actor Armando Novello (1889-1938) alias Toto the Clown in five one-act acts. In these films, as in most of his other films, Laurel was also the leading actor, but only with average success. After a long break, some Laurel short films, produced by Gilbert M. “Broncho Billy” Anderson for Sun-Lite Pictures, Amalgamated and Quality Film, followed in the years 1921 to 1923 . The most important of these were The Lucky Dog , which contained Laurel's first joint scenes with Hardy, and the three-act play Mud and Sand , a spoof of the Rudolph Valentino film Blood and Sand . Genre parodies became a specialty of the young comedian.

In 1923 and 1924 Laurel worked again for Roach and appeared for the first time together with the later Laurel and Hardy supporting actor James Finlayson , occasionally in a duo. Oranges and Lemons and The Soilers (parody of The Spoilers ) are among the better-known and more successful films of this phase . A dozen short films followed in 1924 and 1925 for producer and director Joe Rock , including Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pryde . Mae Laurel, who had previously made several film appearances at Stan's side, no longer appeared in these works. The dominant and characteristically difficult artist insisted on appearing in all of her partner's films, although she was not popular with the audience. Instead she received severance pay from Rock on condition that she move back to Australia.

In mid-1925, Stan Laurel returned to Roach for the third and final time. Officially still under contract with Rock, he initially only worked for the producer as a director and screenwriter. After a break of over a year, his comedian career started again in 1926 with Get 'Em Young and On the Front Page . With these films, in which he stole the show from the actual leading actors, Laurel finally found his own style, after having been undecidedly oscillating back and forth between the hectic slapstick of Larry Semon and the slow pathos of Harry Langdon .

Partnership with Hardy

Statues of Laurel and Hardy in Stan Laurel's hometown of Ulverston

Laurel first met Oliver Hardy in the film The Lucky Dog in 1921 , but her world career as a comedian duo did not begin until 1927 with Hal Roach . On the occasion of The Second Hundred Years , the two were officially announced as a duo for the first time; Laurel himself considered Putting Pants On Philip to be the film that made him “part of a big team” for the first time. In contrast to Hardy, Laurel also developed numerous gags and was involved in the scripts, which is why his fee was always twice as high as that of his partner. Laurel also got involved behind the camera as a co-producer and co-director. Laurel and Hardy made the switch to sound film without any problems and developed into perhaps the most successful comedian duo in film history.

While in the German version of the Laurel and Hardy films Oliver Hardy was dubbed by various actors over the decades, in most of the films Walter Bluhm was the German voice of Stan Laurel. Bluhm's voice , which rose to tearful falsetto , suppressed the fact that Laurel had a melodious baritone voice , which he used well with Hardy's trained tenor part in the songs together .

From 1938 the differences between producer Hal Roach and Laurel increased. The negative headlines about Laurel's personal life displeased Roach, and Laurel made claims about alleged unpaid fees. When the duo's contract with Roach expired in 1940, it was not renewed. Saps At Sea ( Laurel and Hardy on the high seas ) was her last film for the studio. Other film companies initially showed no interest in the two comedians, which led to their first joint stage appearances. At 20th Century Fox and MGM they made a total of eight feature films by 1945. However, they didn't get the artistic freedom they were used to from Roach. As a result, many of these films are considered to be inferior to the Roach productions.

Between 1947 and 1954 Laurel and Hardy made a few tours of Europe and the United States, as well as appearances on American television. In 1950 they shot their last film Atoll K in an Italian-French production . After that, Hardy's health deteriorated so much that they refrained from further public appearances.

End of career

In 1957 Oliver Hardy died at the age of 65. Although Laurel received film offers in the following years until his death, he turned them all down. So he canceled a cameo in A totally, totally crazy world because he didn't want to be in front of the camera in old age and without the late Hardy. However, the comedian was still available for interviews and discussions with fans or colleagues. His phone number was even in the public phone book so anyone could call him.

John McCabe, a Laurel and Hardy biographer, founded a fan club in the early 1960s , which was named after the 1933 film of the same name, The Sons of the Desert . Stan Laurel liked the idea so much that he even wrote the statute called the “Constitution”. It stipulated that the "sons of the desert" do not gather in clubs, but in tents. That is why the local club headquarters - meanwhile around 250 worldwide and also in German-speaking countries - are called "Tents".

Solo filmography

Statue of Stan Laurel in North Shields , where he spent part of his childhood.

In the early creative years up to 1927 Stan Laurel was involved in many short films. Some of them are considered partially (*) or completely (**) lost.
A separate listing of his films with Oliver Hardy can be found under Laurel and Hardy , the duo's main article.

Various production companies :

  • 1917: Nuts in May * (Bernstein Productions, as Stan Jefferson)
  • 1918: Hickory Hiram ** (Nestor Film)
  • 1918: Who's Zoo? ** (L-KO = Henry Lehrman )
  • 1918: Phoney Photos ** (L-KO)
  • 1918: Huns and Hyphens ( Blue Blood Bartender ) (Vitagraph, Star: Larry Semon )
  • 1918: No Place Like Jail ** (Rolin = Hal Roach )
  • 1918: Bears and Bad Men (Vitagraph, Star: Semon)
  • 1918: Just Rambling Along ( The Prowler ) (Rolin)
  • 1918: Frauds and Frenzies ( convicts at large / deception and ecstasy ) (Vitagraph, in duo with Semon)
  • 1918: O, It's Great to Be Crazy ** (Nestor Film)
  • 1919: Do You Love Your Wife? (Rolin)
  • 1919: Hustling for Health (Rolin)
  • 1919: Hoot Mon! ** (Rolin)
  • 1922: The Egg (Amalgamated, Producer: Gilbert M. Anderson )
  • 1922: The Weak-End Party * (Amalgamated, Producer: Anderson)
  • 1922: Mud and Sand (Amalgamated / Quality Film, Producer: Anderson)
  • 1922: The Pest (Quality Film, Producer: Anderson)
  • 1922: Mixed Nuts (Samuel Bischoff, parts of Nuts in May and The Pest with new material)
  • 1923: When Knights Were Cold * (Quality Film, Producer: Anderson)
  • 1923: The Handy Man (Quality Film, Producer: Anderson)

Hal Roach :

  • 1923: The Garage (probably identical to Gas and Air )
  • 1923: The Noon Whistle ( The Midday Bell )
  • 1923: White Wings ( The Wrong Dentist )
  • 1923: Under Two Jags
  • 1923: Pick and Shovel
  • 1923: Collars and Cuffs
  • 1923 Kill or Cure ( sink or swim )
  • 1923: Gas and Air
  • 1923: Oranges and Lemons
  • 1923: Short orders
  • 1923: A Man About Town ( A factual conversation )
  • 1923: Roughest Africa ( Safari in Africa )
  • 1923: Frozen Hearts
  • 1923: The Whole Truth
  • 1923: Save the Ship
  • 1923: The Soilers
  • 1923: Scorching Sands
  • 1923: Mother's Joy
  • 1924: Smithy (alternative title: The Home Wrecker) ( Smithy )
  • 1924: Postage Due
  • 1924: Zeb vs. paprika
  • 1924: Brothers Under the Chin **
  • 1924: Near Dublin
  • 1924: Rupert of Hee Haw (alternative title: Coleslaw or Rupert of Cole Slaw)
  • 1924: Wide Open Spaces * (Alternative title: Wild Bill Hiccup)
  • 1924: Short Kilts

Joe Rock :

  • 1924: Mandarin Mix-Up (Alternative title: Madam Mix-up) ( Stan in Chinatown )
  • 1924: Detained
  • 1924: Monsieur Don't Care **
  • 1924: West of Hot Dog
  • 1925: Somewhere in Wrong
  • 1925: Twins
  • 1925: Pie-Eyed
  • 1925: The Snow Hawk ( The Hero in the Snow / The Snowman )
  • 1925: Navy Blue Days
  • 1925: The Sleuth ( The Lecher and the False Lady )
  • 1925: Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pryde (Alternative title: Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pride) ( Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pryde / Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pride )
  • 1925: Half a Man (Alternative title: No Sleep on the Deep) ( Half a portion )

Hal Roach :

  • 1926: What's the World Coming To? (Extra role, star: Clyde Cook )
  • 1926: Get 'Em Young
  • 1926: On the Front Page
  • 1927: Seeing the World (extras, Stars: Die kleine Trolche )
  • 1927: Eve's Love Letters
  • 1928: Should Tall Men Marry? (Supporting role, star: James Finlayson )

Awards

Star for Stan Laurel on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Laurel was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Oscar in 1961 . In 1963 the Screen Actors Guild honored him with the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award .

On the Walk of Fame in Los Angeles Stan Laurel was honored on February 8, 1960 at "7021 Hollywood Blvd." with a star in the film category.

The asteroid (2865) Laurel was named in his honor in 1935. There is also the asteroid (2866) Hardy .

literature

Web links

Commons : Stan Laurel  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lois Laurel Hawes, Daughter of Stan Laurel, Dies at 89 , obituary in Hollywood Reporter, July 29, 2017
  2. ↑ Edward Jefferson , Find A Grave
  3. ↑ Gordon Jefferson at Find A Grave
  4. ↑ Richard W. Bann: The official date of death of Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy. In: "Did yuo know?" Publication of the "Hal Roach Library" .
  5. ↑ The Guardian: "Stan Laurel Tribute Day"
  6. ↑ knerger.de: The grave of Stan Laurel
  7. ↑ Aping, Norbert: Das Dick und Doof book, Schüren Verlag, Marburg, 2004, p. 15
personal data
SURNAME Laurel, Stan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jefferson, Arthur Stanley (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British comedian, screenwriter, director and producer
DATE OF BIRTH June 16, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Ulverston , England
DATE OF DEATH February 23, 1965
Place of death Santa Monica , California , USA