Stan Laurel

A short history of Stanley Laurel

Stan Laurel, was an English comic actor, writer and director. Together with Oliver Hardy they were one of the most famous comedy twins in the history of cinema as Stan and Ollie.
Arthur Stanley Jefferson, as was his real name, was born in 1890 in Alveston, England. It was from a theatrical family. His father, Arthur Jefferson, was an impresario, actor and writer, his mother, Mantz, was an actor and his brother mixed up with his father’s theatrical business. From a tiny kid he imitated the clowns and yawned with the scene. He played in the musical hall, and in 1910 he collaborated with Fred Carno’s famous variety company, where he replaced Charlie Chaplin on a tour in America. For a while, the two comedians cohabited. Chaplin, known for his competition and intolerance, never mentioned Stan. Stan, on the other hand, never spoke badly about him: “Charlie was, is and will always be the biggest comedian in the world,” he once said. Around 1916, he left the surname, Jefferson, choosing Laurel for a basic reason: St. Jefferson contained 13 letters and, like most artists, he was also a precautionary one. He began to spin (with Universal) several short films featuring a character called Hikari Hiram and a neat peasant.
Lorel and Hardy first appeared together in The Lucky Dog (1921).



Before acquainting Oliver Hardy, he had starred himself in more than 50 films. The twin was created by producer Hol Roots, a spiritual father – along with director Lio MacCarey – of Hondros and Lignus, the most popular comedic duet of all time. They first met on screen at The Lucky Dog (1921) and played together in other films, like Duck Soup (1927), but as a real duet they appeared in Putting Pants on Philip, 1927, where Stan performed a young Scottish who comes to America to Olli’s uncle. In 1927 Hound and the Lion cast 13 films and in 1928 11 and until 1932 appeared in short and mostly silent. Among them are: The Battle of the Century, Musicals for Crying, A Perfect Day (1929), The Hunger and The Lost In The Box (1932), which won an Oscar for a short film of that year, a. After 1932, they began to produce feature-length pieces, among which some of the most enjoyable: The Hound and the Lion go to war, The Desert Children, Two Merry Scots, The Hunger and The Lion Cowboys, The Two Fools, Bardas Fournellos, Oxford.

More than 100 films turned out as a couple. The creative spirit of the twin was Lorel, who, although he was never a director or screenwriter, played a key role at all stages of production.

Stan and Olly the Comedians

Lorel and Hardy had a professional ambition alone: ​​they wanted to make people laugh. They did not shame illusions for themselves. Their methods and technique had many elements from the clowns, their humor was a succession of gag, their jokes made the children hilarious because they recognised in the faces of the two comedians their own clumsiness and innocence. Between Stan (Laurel) and Ollie (Hardy) the first was the nicest. He announced to Olli by phone that he was biting a dog and when he asked him where, then, Stan put the headset right over the wound as if his interlocutor was able to see through the line. In another version, Olly was smoother because he considered himself smart. And as he himself said: “There is no more trouble than the bastard he thinks he is smart.”

When Olly stared at Stan, he shuffled his head across his face. The cry of the cocooned terrified gaffe became a trademark of the American comedy.

For Stan, the comedy was his life and he continued to work after the end of the shoot, while Hardy hurried to deal with his favourite hobby: golf. Their comedies were simple in action, enjoyed by the constant twists and turns of alternating gangs. Minority heroes wanted to become socially respected and loving. They wore decent suits, hard hats, and they were addressing each other with a mystery. They gained an employment as pioneers or Christmas tree dealers, and if they were at the end of the sea, it did not harm them.



Gentlemen and gaffers, despite their serious style, they were immersed in puddles, casting well-formed backless unsuspecting ladies, trying desperately to get rid of a goat and they managed to raise a piano on a horse and carriege. Writer Henry Miller remarked: “It was the kingdom and the cake, and there were only cakes, thousands of cakes.” Stan’s point of view was, “If we’re going to get a movie with a tournament, let’s use so many cakes so there’s no room for a similar movie in the history of cinema!”

Stan Lorel and Oliver Hardy the most famous twin in the history of cinema, virtually ceased to exist before the clinical death of the couple. Their last film was turned to France in 1950 (The Young Robinsons). Kings of laughter were already weak and tired. But from the time they met, by the end of the 1920s, to the year when Oliver Hardy died, they were closely connected not only because their duo was selling them but because they were good friends: “Ollie was like my brother, we felt each other, although we did not often venture out of the deck.Our life outside the studio was devoted to sports and especially to the golf he loved.Our life was work and nothing else.I loved to watch the film in all I can assure you that we have never quarreled. ”

the Death of Stanley Laurel

On February 23, 1965, after a series of strokes, it became clear that Stan could not take over. From the hospital bed he whispered to the nurse: “I would rather ski than being here!” “You’re skiing, Mr. Lorel,” the nurse asked. “No,” he replied. “But I would prefer skiing from what I’m doing now.” A few minutes later he closed his eyes forever