Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Sterling Holloway

 
Actor: Sterling Holloway
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Actors
  • Born: Jan 14, 1905 in Cedartown, Georgia
  • Died: Nov 22, 1992 in San Laguna, California
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '30s-'60s
  • Major Genres: Comedy, Drama
  • Career Highlights: The Aristocats, The Jungle Book, Dumbo
  • First Major Screen Credit: Casey at the Bat (1927)

Biography

Famed for his country-bumpkin features and fruity vocal intonations, American actor Sterling Holloway left his native Georgia as a teenager to study acting in New York City. Working through the Theatre Guild, the young Holloway was cast in the first Broadway production of songwriters Rodgers and Hart, Garrick Gaieties. In the 1925 edition of the revue, Holloway introduced the Rodgers-Hart standard "I'll Take Manhattan;" in the 1926 version, the actor introduced another hit, "Mountain Greenery." Hollywood beckoned, and Holloway made a group of silent two-reelers and one feature, the Wallace Beery vehicle Casey at the Bat (1927), before he was fired by the higher-ups because they deemed his face "too grotesque" for movies. Small wonder that Holloway would insist in later years that he was never satisfied with any of the work Hollywood would throw his way, and longed for the satisfaction of stage work. When talkies came, Holloway's distinctive voice made him much in demand, and from 1932 through the late '40s he became the archetypal soda jerk, messenger boy, and backwoods rube. His most rewarding assignments came from Walt Disney Studios, where Holloway provided delightful voiceovers for such cartoon productions as Dumbo (1941), Bambi (1942), Alice in Wonderland (1951), Ben and Me (1954) and The Jungle Book (1967). Holloway's most enduring role at Disney was as the wistful voice of Winnie the Pooh in a group of mid-'60s animated shorts. On the "live" front, Holloway became fed up of movie work one day when he found his character being referred to as "boy" - and he was past forty at the time. A few satisfactory film moments were enjoyed by Holloway as he grew older; he starred in an above-average series of two reel comedies for Columbia Pictures from 1946 to 1948 (in one of these, 1948's Flat Feat, he convincingly and hilariously impersonated a gangster), and in 1956 he had what was probably the most bizarre assignment of his career when he played a "groovy" hipster in the low-budget musical Shake, Rattle and Rock (1956). Holloway worked prodigiously in TV during the '50s and '60s as a regular or semi-regular on such series as The Life of Riley, Adventures of Superman and The Baileys of Balboa. Edging into retirement in the '70s, Sterling Holloway preferred to stay in his lavish hilltop house in San Laguna, California, where he maintained one of the most impressive and expensive collections of modern paintings in the world. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Search unanswered questions...

Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics

Filmography: Sterling Holloway
Top
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Actors

Super Seal

Buy this Movie

Thunder and Lightning

Buy this Movie

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Buy this Movie

Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too!

Buy this Movie

The Aristocats

Buy this Movie

Live a Little, Love A Little

Buy this Movie

Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day

Buy this Movie

The Jungle Book

Buy this Movie
Show More Movies Show Fewer Movies
Wikipedia: Sterling Holloway
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
Acap.svg
 This article may require copy-editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone or spelling. You can assist by editing it now. (October 2009)
Question book-new.svg
 This article does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2009)
Sterling Holloway
Born Sterling Price Holloway, Jr.
January 4, 1905(1905-01-04)
Cedartown, Georgia, U.S.
Died November 22, 1992 (aged 87)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation Actor/Voice actor
Years active 1926 – 1989

Sterling Price Holloway, Jr. (January 4, 1905 – November 22, 1992) was a character actor who appeared in 150 films and television shows, and a long-standing voice actor for the Walt Disney Studios, most famously voicing Winnie the Pooh.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Holloway was named after Confederate General Sterling "Pap" Price. He was born in Cedartown, Georgia in the College Park area in 1905, where his father Sterling Price Holloway Sr. was prominent and prosperous, owning a grocery store and serving as mayor in 1912. After attending the Georgia Military Academy in College Park, he attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. Holloway made his way through the Theater Guild to appear in the first joint venture of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, Garrick Gaieties, a series of 1920s revues. With his light tenor voice, young Holloway made a foray into a professional singing. He introduced the Rodgers and Hart standard "I'll Take Manhattan" in 1925, and in the 1926 edition of Garrick Gaieties, he introduced their "Mountain Greenery" ("... where God paints the scenery").

He came back to Cedartown often. That's where he met Frances Lawrence, a native to Georgia. They dated briefly, and soon after parted.[citation needed]

Career

In 1926, the 5-foot-11-inch (1.80 m), 135-pound (61 kg) Holloway moved to Hollywood to a movie career of almost 50 years. He worked with Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Lon Chaney Jr, Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Bing Crosby, David Carradine. Though he was a busy movie character actor, he soon found his niche as a voice actor. Holloway served in World War II as a member of the Army's Special Services unit. He produced a show for servicemen and toured with it near the front lines in North Africa and Italy.

In 1941, he was heard in Dumbo, as the voice of "Mr. Stork." Walt Disney earlier considered Holloway for the role of Sleepy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs but storyman Pinto Colvig ended up getting the job. He was the voice of the adult "Flower" in Bambi, the narrator of the Antarctic penguin sequence in The Three Caballeros, the narrator in the Peter and the Wolf sequence of Make Mine Music, and the narrator of the "Mickey and the Beanstalk" sequence of "Fun and Fancy Free". He voiced Kaa in The Jungle Book, the narrator in Goliath II, the Cheshire cat in Alice in Wonderland, and Roquefort in The Aristocats. His Disney Winnie-the-Pooh featurettes are well known. Disney honored him as a Disney legend in 1991. His last narrating credit was the Moonlighting episode Atomic Shakespeare. His last film credit was for the movie Thunder and Lightning. Holloway played the role of Hobe Carpenter, a friendly moonshiner who gets help from Harley Thomas (David Carradine).

Radio and recordings

As a radio actor, he was heard on such shows as The Railroad Hour, The United States Steel Hour, Suspense and Lux Radio Theater. With a distinctive voice, he narrated numerous children's records, such as Uncle Remus Stories (Decca), Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes (Disneyland Records) and Peter and the Wolf (RCA Victor).

Television

Sterling Holloway's career as a character actor, his memorably comic face, tousled sandy hair and squeaky voice, made the transition to television. He had a recurring role as Uncle Oscar, an eccentric inventor in the Adventures of Superman series, and had a recurring role on The Life of Riley. He's known to have guest-starred on Fred Waring's CBS television program in the early 1950s. He guest starred in such TV shows as Circus Boy as a hot air balloonist, Five Fingers (episode "The Temple of the Swinging Doll"), The Untouchables, Hazel, The Twilight Zone (episode "What's in the Box"), The Brothers Brannagan, Gilligan's Island, The Andy Griffith Show, F-Troop, and Moonlighting (his final appearance on film, narrating a Shakespeare-themed episode).

Later years

Little is known about Holloway's personal life except that he adopted a son, Richard, who became a producer. He once admitted to being very stubborn. During his final years, he purchased a house in Los Angeles, where he amassed a major collection of contemporary art about which he sometimes lectured. Holloway was 87 when he died of cardiac arrest November 22, 1992 at a Los Angeles hospital. His ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean. A street in Hollywood was named after Holloway in the 1980s. Remaining in real life true to the character of his 1933 short Not the Marrying Kind, Holloway was throughout his life a bachelor.

Filmography

Feature-Length

Holloway (left) in his first feature-length film, American Madness (1932).

Short subjects

A historical marker stands at the birthplace of Sterling Holloway, posted at the corner of Sterling Holloway Place and South College Street, Cedartown, Georgia.

Television episodes

Holloway as he appeared in "The Twilight Zone" episode, "What's in the Box"
  • The Adventures of Superman - The Machine That Could Plot Crimes (1952) also the same year in the Superman episode "The Whistling Bird" in which he plays the same eccentric scientist
  • The Life of Riley (1953-1958)
  • Willy 1955
  • Our Mr. Sun (1956) (voice of chlorophyll)
  • Hemo the Magnificent (1957)
  • The Twilight Zone, episode "What's in the Box", as the TV repairman (1964)
  • The Restless Sea (1964)
  • The Baileys of Balboa (1964-1965)
  • That Girl (episode 14, "Phantom of the Horse Opera") (1966)
  • Tukiki and His Search for a Merry Christmas (1979) (voice)
  • Andy Griffith Show, as Bert, a traveling salesman (1962)
  • F-Troop, as the Sheriff, episode "Wilton the Kid" (1966)
  • Gilligan's Island (1967), as Birdy, a man with a fondness for birds.
  • Moonlighting - Atomic Shakespeare (1986) narrator

See also

External links

Search Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sterling Holloway
v • d • e
Winnie-the-Pooh
Books
Characters

Eeyore · Gopher · Heffalump · Kanga · Kessie · Lottie  · Lumpy · Owl · Piglet · Rabbit · Christopher Robin · Roo · Tigger · Winnie-the-Pooh · Woozle · List
Storybook classicial stories
Feature films and DTV
Television

Welcome to Pooh Corner (1983–1986) · The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1988–1991) · The Book of Pooh (2001–2002) · My Friends Tigger & Pooh (2007–present)
Specials

Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue (1990) · Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too (1991) · Boo to You Too! Winnie the Pooh (1996) · A Winnie the Pooh Thanksgiving (1998) · Winnie the Pooh: A Valentine for You (1999)
Video games

Winnie the Pooh in the Hundred Acre Wood · Winnie the Pooh Adventures · Winnie the Pooh's Party Games: In Search of the Treasure · Tigger's Honey Hunt · Pooh & Tigger's Hunny Safari · Winnie the Pooh Pre-School · Winnie the Pooh Kindergarten · Piglet's Big Game · Winnie the Pooh's Rumbly Tumbly Adventure · Ready to Read with Pooh · Kingdom Hearts (series)
Songs
People
Related articles
Category · Wikiquote-logo.svg Wikiquote · Commons-logo.svg Commons · Wikinews-logo.svg Wikinews

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Actor. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Sterling Holloway".  Read more