Stanley Augustus Holloway OBE 1 October 1890 30 January 1982 was an English stage and film actor comedian singer poet 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 recordings of comic monologues and songs which he performed throughout most of his 70year career Born in London in his early years Holloway pursued a career as a clerk He made early stage appearances before infantry service in the First World War After the war he joined a concert party The CoOptimists and his career began to flourish At first he was chiefly employed 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 By the 1930s he was in demand to star in music hall pantomime and musical comedy In the 1940s and early 1950s Holloway moved from the musical stage to acting in plays and films He made wellreceived stage and film appearances in Shakespeare and in a series of films for Ealing Studios In 1956 he was cast as the irresponsible Alfred P Doolittle in My Fair Lady a role that he played on Broadway in the West End and later on film which brought him international fame In his later years Holloway appeared in television series in the US and the UK toured in revue appeared in stage plays in Britain Canada Australia and the US and continued to make films into his eighties Description above from the Wikipedia article Stanley Holloway licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia
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