Stan Laurel

Stan Laurel (born Arthur Stanley Jefferson; June 16, 1890 – February 23, 1965) was a British comic
actor, writer and director, famous as the first half of the comedy double-act Laurel and Hardy,
whose career stretched from the silent films of the early 20th century until post-World War II.

Actor, screenwriter, and producer Stan Laurel was born to British stage performers. He started
acting on stage in his mid-teens in music halls and theaters before touring the U.S. in 1910 and
1912 as Charlie Chaplin's understudy. He remained in the States to perform in vaudeville and, in
1917, supplemented his stage work by appearing as clownish misfit types in comedy shorts often
spoofing dramatic films of the period. One of these was a two-reeler called Lucky Dog (1918), in
which he appeared totally by accident with Oliver Hardy.

The two would not appear together again until 1926, when they both found themselves working for
comedy producer Hal Roach. Laurel, who had been hired by Roach as a gagman/director, was persuaded
to appear in front of the camera and, thus, auspiciously again with Hardy. It soon became obvious
that the two men had a certain comic onscreen chemistry, and they ended up starring together as an
incredibly popular comedy team in more fifty films in the 1930s and early '40s, with their 1932
three-reeler The Music Box winning an Oscar for Best Short Subject.

Laurel, the creative member of the team, had numerous run-ins with producer Roach; the actor wanted
the team's films to aspire to the higher quality productions of their contemporaries, while Roach
was firmly content with maintaining a low-budget norm. Laurel had a few short-lived victories,
serving as producer on the team's Our Relations (1936) and Way out West (1937). The team left Roach
in 1940 to seek more artistic control over their work, but were given even less at Fox and MGM. In
the late '40s and early '50s, they enjoyed touring English music halls while continuing to make
films. After Hardy's death in 1957, Laurel stopped performing but kept active. He died from a heart
attack in 1965.