Oliver Hardy Biography

Fast Facts

• Took the first name of his father, Oliver, to honor the man, who died when the son was an infant
• Attended a number of military and boarding schools as a youth
• As a teen, worked as a projectionist, ticket-taker and manager at a movie theater in his hometown of Milledgeville, GA, stoking his interest in motion pictures
• Billed himself as Babe Hardy early in his career
• Appeared as the Tin Woodsman in a 1925 silent adaptation of The Wizard of Oz
• First official "Laurel & Hardy" film is considered 1927's Putting Pants on Philip
• Laurel & Hardy starred in 1932's The Music Box, which won the first Best Short Subject Oscar
• In 1937, he and a number of Hollywood notables, including Bing Crosby, Jimmy Durante and Pat O'Brien, founded Del Mar Race Track in California
• Since 1988, his hometown has held an annual Oliver Hardy Festival to honor him