British-American actor and comedian Stan Laurel was born on 16th June 1890 as Arthur Stanley Jefferson in Lancashire, England and passed away on 23rd February 1965. He was married 5 times and had 2 children.
The British theatre was the place where Stan’s career started at the age of 16. There he learnt various humorous and funny tricks and movements and being a theatre-natural, he gave outstanding performances in several comedy stage productions. He also substituted another famous comedian Charlie Chaplin. They joined ‘Fred Karno’s’ group of actors, travelled to the US and gave performances around the country.
After Karno’s group split, Stan teamed up with various other comedians, amongst which there was Oliver Hardy, with whom he appeared in a movie. In fact, from 1924 onwards, Stan ‘abandoned’ theatre performances and focused on directing films as well as acting in them.
Three years after, Laurel and Hardy worked together in numerous films and became friends. It was instantly noticed that there was this ‘magic’ humour between them. In fact, in the next 3 decades, they starred in over 100 movies. The duo returned to Stan’s native England where they performed in several shows around the country, including a performance in front of the King & Queen.
Stan then discovered he had diabetes and told Hardy to work on his own, which he did. In 1950, they went to France to make a movie which, however, turned out to be a total flop. Right after this, they went back to the US.
In 1954, Hardy suffered a heart attack and a stroke a year later. He recovered but 17 months later, he suffered another stroke and was constrained to quit acting. Hardy passed away on 7th August 1957 and Stan was so devastated that he fell ill and never completely recovered.
Laurel received an Academy Honorary Award in 1961 for cinema comedy. He died from a heart attack 4 years later at the age of 74.
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