Sterling Holloway

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Sterling Holloway

1946 photo
Born Sterling Price Holloway, Jr.
January 4, 1905(1905-01-04)
Cedartown, Georgia, United States
Died November 22, 1992(1992-11-22) (aged 87)
Los Angeles, California, United States
Occupation Actor
Years active 1926–1992

Sterling Price Holloway, Jr. (January 4, 1905 – November 22, 1992) was an American character actor who appeared in 150 films and television programs. He was also a voice actor for The Walt Disney Company. He was well-known for his distinctive tenor voice, and is perhaps best remembered as the voice of Walt Disney's Winnie the Pooh.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Born January 4, 1905, in Cedartown, Georgia, Holloway was named after his father, Sterling Price Holloway, who himself was named after a prominent Confederate general, Sterling "Pap" Price. His mother was Rebecca DeHaven (some sources say her last name was Boothby). He had a younger brother named Boothby. The family owned a grocery store in Cedartown, where his father served as mayor in 1912. He was said to have had a theatrical bent from an early age and reportedly bore a distant relationship to a historical London stage actress named Lady Penelope Boothby. After graduating from Georgia Military Academy in 1920 at age 15, he left Georgia for New York, where he attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

[edit] Career

[edit] Motion pictures and shorts

In his late teens, Holloway toured with stock company of The Shepherd of the Hills, performing in one-nighters across much of the American West before returning to New York where he accepted small walk-on parts from the Theatre Guild.

Holloway appeared in the Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's review Garrick Gaieties in the early 1920s. A talented singer, he introduced "Manhattan" in 1925, and the following year sang "Mountain Greenery".

He moved to Hollywood in 1926 to begin a film career that lasted almost 50 years. His bushy red hair and high pitched voice meant that he almost always appeared in comedies. His first film was The Battling Kangaroo (1926), a silent picture. Over the following decades, Holloway would appear with Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Lon Chaney Jr, Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Bing Crosby, and David Carradine.

In 1942, during World War II, Holloway enlisted in the United States Army at the age of 37 and was assigned to the Special Services. He helped develop a show called "Hey Rookie", which ran for nine months and raised $350,000 for the Army Relief Fund.[1] In 1945, Holloway played the role of a medic assigned to an infantry platoon in the critically acclaimed film A Walk in the Sun. During 1946 and 1947, he played the comic sidekick in five Gene Autry Westerns.[2]

Holloway's voice work in animated films began in 1941, when he was heard in Dumbo (1941), as the voice of Mr. Stork. Walt Disney considered him for the voice of Sleepy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), but chose Pinto Colvig instead. Holloway was the voice of the adult Flower in Bambi (1942), the narrator of the Antarctic penguin sequence in The Three Caballeros (1944) and the narrator in the Peter and the Wolf sequence of Make Mine Music (1946). He was the voice of the The Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland (1951), the narrator in Goliath II (1960), Kaa in The Jungle Book (1967), and Roquefort in The Aristocats (1970). He is perhaps best remembered as the voice of Winnie the Pooh in Disney's Winnie-the-Pooh featurettes. He was honored as a 'Disney Legend' in 1991.

His last film credit was for Thunder and Lightning (1977). Holloway played the role of Hobe Carpenter, a friendly moonshiner who gets help from Harley Thomas (David Carradine).

[edit] Radio and recordings

Holloway acted on many radio programs, including The Railroad Hour, The United States Steel Hour, Suspense and Lux Radio Theater. His distinctive tenor voice retained a touch of its Southern drawl and was very recognizable. Holloway was chosen to narrate many children's records, including Uncle Remus Stories (Decca), Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes (Disneyland Records) and Peter and the Wolf (RCA Victor).

[edit] Television

Holloway with William Bendix on The Life of Riley, 1957.

Holloway easily made the transition from radio to television. He appeared on the Adventures of Superman as "Uncle Oscar", an eccentric inventor. He also played a recurring role on The Life of Riley. He was a guest star on Fred Waring's CBS television program in the 1950s, and appeared on Circus Boy as a hot air balloonist, Five Fingers ("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, The Donald O'Connor Show, Peter Gunn as 'Felony', F Troop, and Moonlighting.

He voiced Sugar Bear in many Sugar Crisp cereal commercials.

During the 1970s, Holloway did commercial voice-overs for Purina Puppy Chow dog food and sang their familiar jingle, "Puppy Chow/For a full year/Till he's full-grown!". He even provided the voice for Woodsy Owl in several 1970s and 1980s United States Forest Service commercials.

[edit] Later years and death

Holloway kept his personal life private. He never married, and once explained that this was because he did not feel lacking in anything and did not wish to disturb his pattern of life.[2] However, he did adopt a son, Richard (it is unknown exactly when Richard was adopted)[citation needed].

Holloway died on November 22, 1992, at the age of 87. After his death, he was cremated and then was buried at sea.

[edit] Quote

"I've always loved the theater very much. I've always been in it. I hate being away from it. I'm very stubborn — I like to do what I want to do. And what I want to do most is theater."[1]

"I started in show business when I was fifteen years old by enrolling at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. That was in 1920. Some of my classmates included Spencer Tracy, Allen Jenkins, and Pat O'Brien. You know what happened to them."

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Feature-Length

[edit] 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.

[edit] Television

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) as the eccentric scientist; also that same year, he appeared in the Superman episode "The Whistling Bird" as the same character.
  • The Life of Riley (1953–1958) - as Waldo Binny
  • The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet - episode "Pancake Mix", as the groceryman (1953)
  • Willy (1955)
  • Our Mr. Sun (1956) (voice of chlorophyll)
  • Hemo the Magnificent (1957)
    • The Real McCoys - the episode "The Jinx" (1960), as cousin Orval McCoy
  • 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)
  • The Andy Griffith Show - episode "The Merchant of Mayberry", as Bert, a traveling salesman (1962)
  • F-Troop - as the Sheriff in the episode "Wilton the Kid" (1966)
  • Gilligan's Island (1967) - as Birdy, a man with a fondness for birds.
  • Tony the Pony - as GG the Wizard (1976)
  • Tukiki and His Search for a Merry Christmas (1979) (voice)
  • Moonlighting - episode "Atomic Shakespeare" (1986), as the narrator
  • Dink, the Little Dinosaur (1989-1991) - as off-screen narrator

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ a b Sterline Holloway biography from Internet Movie Database
  2. ^ a b Rothel.

[edit] References

  • Rothel, David. 1984. Those Great Cowboy Sidekicks. Scarecrow Press, Metuchen, New Jersey. ISBN 0-8108-1707-1

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sterling Holloway

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