#Ranking laurel and hardy movies movie#
#Ranking laurel and hardy movies full#

He was much in demand as a supporting actor, comic villain, or second banana. He starred or co-starred in more than 250 silent short films, about 150 of which have been lost. Babe Hardy was quite versatile, playing heroes, villains, and even female characters.

#Ranking laurel and hardy movies movie#

He thought he could do better than some of the movie comedians he was presenting, so in 1913 he became a movie actor. 'Baby' became 'Babe' and that nickname stuck with Hardy for the rest of his life.īy his late teens Hardy was a popular stage singer, and he operated his own moviehouse (the 'Palace Theater' in Milledgeville, GA). Hardy was a frequent visitor to an Italian barbershop near to the Lubin Studios where he worked and, after cutting his hair and giving him a shave, the barber would then pat his face with talcum powder whilst saying 'Nice-a baby, nice-a baby!!'. Hardy's nickname 'Babe' is thought to have originated during his pre-Laurel early silent film career. Upon turning 18, he changed his first name to that of his father who had died years earlier, henceforth calling himself 'Oliver Norvell Hardy.' His offscreen nickname was 'Babe.' Oliver Hardy ( Janu– August 7, 1957) was born Norvell Hardy in Harlem, Georgia, in the United States. Many of these comedies had crazy visual gags along with Laurel's eccentric pantomime, establishing the star as an inspired 'nut comic.' Pryde' (1925) (with Stan playing both the gentle doctor and the manic monster).

Between 19 he starred in a number of films including ' Mud and Sand' (1922) (a burlesque of 'Blood and Sand' featuring Stan as 'Rhubarb Vaselino') and ' Dr. It was only when Laurel began appearing in satires of popular screen dramas that audiences really took notice of him. Moreover, Laurel did not have an identifiable or easily marketable screen character, like that of Chaplin, Harold Lloyd or Buster Keaton. Producer Hal Roach later attributed this to the difficulty in photographing Laurel's pale blue eyes on early pre- panchromatic film stock, perhaps giving the appearance of blindness (which, in his earliest films, Laurel tried to remedy by adding heavy defining makeup around his eyes). At first he experienced only modest success as a solo comedian. He made his first film appearance in ' Nuts in May' (1917) and continued to make more than 50 other silent films for various producers. He shortened it to 'Stan' and added 'Laurel' at the suggestion of his vaudeville partner, Mae Dahlberg. He emigrated to America in 1912 where he decided to change his name he worried that 'Stanley Jefferson' was too long to fit onto posters. He gradually worked his way up the ladder of supporting roles until he became the featured comedian, as well as an understudy to Charlie Chaplin, in Fred Karno's comedy company. Laurel began his career in Glasgow Britannia Theatre of Varieties and Panopticon music hall at the age of 16, where he crafted a comedy act largely derivative of famous music hall comedians of the day, including George Robey and Dan Leno. 'A.J.' Jefferson, was a showman who served as actor, director, playwright, and theatrical entrepreneur in many northern English cities. Stan Laurel ( J– February 23, 1965) was born Arthur Stanley Jefferson in Ulverston, Lancashire (now Ulverston, Cumbria), England.

#Ranking laurel and hardy movies full#

They starred in 40 short sound films, 32 short silent films, 23 full length feature films and in the remaining 11 films made a guest or cameo appearance. In total they appeared together in 106 films. They made their last film, ' Atoll K', in France in 19 before retiring from the screen. From 1945 to 1950 they did not appear on film and concentrated on their stage show. The pair left the Roach studio in 1940, then appeared in eight 'B' comedies for 20th Century Fox and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from 1941 to 1944. Among their most popular and successful films were the features ' Sons of the Desert' (1933), ' Way Out West' (1937), and ' Block-Heads' (1938) ] and the shorts ' Big Business' (1929), ' Liberty' (1929), and their Academy Award-winning short, ' The Music Box' (1932). Laurel and Hardy officially became a team the following year, and soon became Hal Roach's most famous and lucrative stars. After a period appearing separately in several short films for the Hal Roach studio during the 1920s, they began appearing in movie shorts together in 1926. The two comedians worked together briefly in 1920 on ' The Lucky Dog'. They became famous during the early half of the 20th century for their work in motion pictures and also appeared on stage throughout America and Europe. Laurel and Hardy were the popular American-based comedy team of thin, British-born Stan Laurel (1890-1965) and heavy, American-born Oliver Hardy (1892-1957).