"""The Will Hay Appreciation Society"" was founded in 2009, which aims to preserve Hay's legacy and bring his work to a new generation of fans. As of October 2018, the organisation has over 3000 members. ""The Will Hay Appreciation Society"" unveiled a memorial bench to Will Hay, Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt in October 2018, in Cliddesden, Hampshire the filming location for 'Buggleskelly' in ""Oh, Mr. Porter!"". The bench was unveiled by Pete Waterman. The humour of Hay's films has been described as subversive and similar to that of fellow English comedian Frank Randle. His films are often characterised as"
"Albert ""became part of English folklore during the 1930s, and they remained so during the Second World War."" These monologues employed the Holloway style that has been called ""the understated look-on-the-bright-side world of the cockney working class. ... Holloway's characters are [mischievous, like Albert, or] obstinate, and hilariously clueless. He often told his stories in costume; sporting outrageous attire and bushy moustaches."" In 1932 Harry S. Pepper, with Holloway and others, revived the White Coons Concert Party show for BBC Radio. Beginning in 1934, Holloway appeared in a series of British films, three of which featured his creation Sam Small."
"film star in Britain and was ranked the third highest grossing star at the British Box Office in 1938, behind George Formby and Gracie Fields. He is widely regarded as one of the most prolific and influential British comedians of all-time. Hay worked with Gainsborough Pictures from 1935 to 1940, during which time he developed a partnership with Graham Moffatt, playing an insolent overweight schoolboy, and Moore Marriott as a toothless old man. Hay's 1937 film, with Moffatt and Marriott, ""Oh, Mr. Porter!"" was credited by ""The Times"" as being ""a comic masterpiece of the British cinema"", while the writer"
"The trio appeared in six films together between 1936 and 1940, ""Windbag the Sailor"", ""Oh, Mr. Porter!"", ""Convict 99"", ""Old Bones of the River"", ""Ask a Policeman"" and ""Where's That Fire?"". Hay's 1937 film alongside Moffatt and Marriott, ""Oh, Mr. Porter!"" is often considered to be one of the greatest British comedy films of all-time. The British Film Institute included the film in its 360 Classic Feature Films list; ""Variety"" magazine described the movie as ""amusing, if over-long"", noting that there was ""<nowiki>[n]</nowiki>o love interest to mar the comedy""; and the cult website TV Cream listed it at number 41"
"John Moffatt (actor) Albert John Moffatt (24 September 1922 – 10 September 2012) was an English actor and playwright, known for his portrayal of Hercule Poirot on BBC Radio in twenty-five productions and for a wide range of stage roles in the West End from the 1950s to the 1980s. Moffatt's parents wished him to follow a career in a bank, but Moffatt secretly studied acting and made his stage debut in 1944. After five years in provincial repertory theatre he made his first London appearance in 1946. In the early 1950s he was cast in small parts in productions"
"of Second Master Finch (Hay's adversary) was the film's ""finest performance"". Many years later, the ""Radio Times Guide to Films"" gave ""Boys Will Be Boys"" three stars out of five, observing that the film contains ""the blend of bluster and dishonesty that makes his films irresistible"". During his time with Gainsborough Hay worked with Marcel Varnel, Val Guest, Charles Hawtrey, and Marriott Edgar, as well as Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt, who were Hay's straight men in a number of his films. Moffatt played Albert, the overweight, insolent schoolboy reminiscent of Billy Bunter, while Marriott was the toothless old Harbottle."
"of the shotgun and then the duck falling and screaming all the way to the ground."" Charlie Callas Charlie Callas (born Charles Callias; December 20, 1924 – January 27, 2011) was an American comedian and actor most commonly known for his work with Mel Brooks, Jerry Lewis, and Dean Martin, and his many stand-up appearances on television talk shows in the 1970s. He was also known for his role as Malcolm Argos, the restaurant owner and former con man, on the Eddie Albert and Robert Wagner television series ""Switch"" (1975–1978). Callas was also known as the voice of Elliott the"
"a series of radio plays he had recorded throughout his career, upon his death the plays were broadcast earlier than scheduled beginning with ""Elephants Can Remember"" by Agatha Christie in which Moffatt played Hercule Poirot and Julia McKenzie played Ariadne Oliver. John Moffatt (actor) Albert John Moffatt (24 September 1922 – 10 September 2012) was an English actor and playwright, known for his portrayal of Hercule Poirot on BBC Radio in twenty-five productions and for a wide range of stage roles in the West End from the 1950s to the 1980s. Moffatt's parents wished him to follow a career in"
"Charlie Callas Charlie Callas (born Charles Callias; December 20, 1924 – January 27, 2011) was an American comedian and actor most commonly known for his work with Mel Brooks, Jerry Lewis, and Dean Martin, and his many stand-up appearances on television talk shows in the 1970s. He was also known for his role as Malcolm Argos, the restaurant owner and former con man, on the Eddie Albert and Robert Wagner television series ""Switch"" (1975–1978). Callas was also known as the voice of Elliott the dragon in Disney's live-action/animated musical film ""Pete's Dragon"" (1977). Callas was born in Brooklyn, New York,"
"for his work in the film ""Butterflies Are Free"" (1972), in which he played a blind man, starring opposite Goldie Hawn. In addition to winning the New Star of the Year – Actor award, Albert was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. The following year, he starred opposite Liv Ullmann in the film adaptation of the play ""40 Carats"". Albert appeared as a U.S. Navy fighter pilot in the epic 1976 film ""Midway"", portraying the son of a famous (and fictitious) naval captain (played by Charlton Heston). Later in 1976 he"
"headed by John Gielgud and Noël Coward, and achieved increasingly prominent roles over the next decade. He was a member of the English Stage Company, the Old Vic, and the National Theatre companies. His range was considerable, embracing the classics, new plays, revue and pantomime. Moffatt began broadcasting on radio in 1950 and on television in 1953. His most enduring role was that of Agatha Christie's Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, in a long sequence of radio adaptations of her novels, beginning in the 1980s and continuing at intervals into the 2000s. He was less well known as a film actor,"
"1940. For the purposes of the film, the leading characters are somewhat modified (and, significantly, the screenplay is not written by Priwin): the actor who played Inspector Hornleigh on the BBC, S.J. Warmington, is here replaced by comedian Gordon Harker, and is given a bumbling comedic sidekick, played by Scottish comedy actor Alastair Sim. The BBC series was a serious detective drama. However, in this film the two leading characters play the script for laughs, and the casting of two well known comedy stars in the parts indicates that this was the Director's intention. Furthermore, the pair have dialogue which"
"Byzantium"" (1978), ""The Word"" (1978), ""Peter and Paul"" (1981), ""Goliath Awaits"" (1981) and ""War and Remembrance"" (1988). In the mid-1980s, Albert was reunited with longtime friend and co-star of the ""Brother Rat"" and ""An Angel from Texas"" films, Jane Wyman, in a recurring role as the villainous Carlton Travis in the popular 1980s soap opera ""Falcon Crest"". He also guest-starred on an episode of the '80s television series ""Highway to Heaven"", as well as ""Murder, She Wrote"", and in 1990, he reunited with Eva Gabor for a ""Return to Green Acres"". In 1993, he guest-starred for several episodes on the"
"after him, ""Goodbye Mr. Chips!"" (six-and-a-half months earlier, on February 29, 1940, at the 12th Academy Awards, Robert Donat won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of the main character in ""Goodbye, Mr. Chips""). As various stars are briefly glimpsed sitting on Jack's patio (to the music of Jimmy Van Heusen's and Eddie DeLange's ""Heaven Can Wait""), off to the side, signs indicate ""BOATS"", ""YACHTS"" and ""RAFTS"", with a caricatured George Raft leaning on the last sign and tossing a coin in the manner of the coin-flipping gangster he played in 1932's ""Scarface"". Next, Clark Gable is"
"successful transition to ""talking films"", mainly because of his abilities as a stuntman. In 1930, he appeared alongside William Haines and Leila Hyams in ""Way Out West"", which continued him on the path of western film roles, mostly in Poverty Row films but he also made small or uncredited appearances in major films. During the 1930s he appeared in 66 films—some in which he both acted and did stunt work—almost all being westerns, and appeared with such notable actors and actresses as Harry Carey, Hoot Gibson, Gloria Stuart, Joel McCrea, Edward G. Robinson, Bette Davis, and Humphrey Bogart. In 1939"
"Doug McGrath Doug McGrath (born April 13, 1935) is a Canadian actor whose most notable role was that of ""Peter"" in the acclaimed Canadian film ""Goin' Down the Road"" (1970) and its sequel ""Down the Road Again"" (2011). He also played in acclaimed Canadian films ""Wedding in White"" (1972), ""The Hard Part Begins"" (1973), the original ""Black Christmas"" (1974), ""Russian Roulette"" (1975) and ""Coming Out Alive"" (1980). He had a supporting role as a gym teacher in the cult comedy ""Porky's"" (1981), and also played roles in ""The Escape Artist"" (1982), """" (1983), the Australian comedy ""The Return of Captain"
"his first major theatre success starring in ""Kissing Time"" when the musical transferred to the West End from Broadway. In 1921, he joined a concert party, ""The Co-Optimists"", and his career began to flourish. At first, he was employed chiefly as a singer, but his skills as an actor and reciter of comic monologues were soon recognised. Characters from his monologues such as Sam Small, invented by Holloway, and Albert Ramsbottom, created for him by Marriott Edgar, were absorbed into popular British culture, and Holloway developed a following for the recordings of his many monologues. By the 1930s, he was"
"in nearly 90 television series. He made his guest-starring debut on an episode of ""The Ford Theatre Hour"". This part led to other roles such as ""Chevrolet Tele-Theatre"", ""Suspense"", ""Lights Out"", ""Schlitz Playhouse of Stars"", ""Studio One"", ""Philco Television Playhouse"", ""Your Show of Shows"", ""Front Row Center"", ""The Alcoa Hour"", and in dramatic series ""The Eleventh Hour"", ""The Reporter"", and ""General Electric Theater"". In 1959, Albert was cast as businessman Dan Simpson in the episode ""The Unwilling"" of the NBC Western series ""Riverboat"". In the story line, Dan Simpson attempts to open a general store in the American West despite"
"best comedy films of the 1930s. After a string of financially unsuccessful films, which included roles as a president of a company who is sued for knocking down a boy in an accident in ""Born to Be Bad"" (1934) for 20th Century Fox, a cosmetic surgeon in ""Kiss and Make-Up"" (1934), and a blinded pilot opposite Myrna Loy in ""Wings in the Dark"" (1935), successive poor box office takings and press reports of his fledging marriage to Cherrill, led Paramount to form the conclusion that Grant was now expendable. Grant's prospects picked up in the latter half of 1935 when"
"series titled A Moment With... Each week Mullinger would meet with the likes of Cameron Diaz, Anne Hathaway, Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Matthew McConaughey, Javier Bardem and comedians such as Greg Davies, Jerry Seinfeld, Jackie Mason, Ross Noble and Stewart Lee to discuss what makes them laugh. Since moving to Canada in 2014 he has been the star of Bell Aliant's Blimey! An Englishman in Atlantic Canada. Partially scripted, the show follows Mullinger as he tours around Atlantic Canada performing in theatres, basements, arts centres, vineyards, food markets, aircraft hangars and anywhere else that will have him. It also features"
"as bumbling and incompetent, Albert is quick-witted and clever, creating many inventions to get the others out of trouble. He and the other Musketeers have adventures as they fight with the guards of Cardinal Richelieu and attempt to thwart his plans to take over France. In total there were 26 episodes, the first of which aired in 1993. The show was later translated into English, Dutch, Swedish and Russian and shown in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia and Russia. The characters, apart from Albert (voiced by Jimmy Hibbert), are all generally broad stereotypes of their traditional portrayals in"
"Fat Albert (film) Fat Albert is a 2004 American live-action/animated comedy film based on the Filmation/Group W animated series of the same name created by Bill Cosby. Kenan Thompson stars as the title character. ""Fat Albert"" transforms the cartoon characters into three-dimensional humans, who have to come to grips with the differences that exist between their world and the real world. The film acts as a continuation of the series; Fat Albert and the gang leave their 1970s cartoon world, and enter the 21st century real world to help a teenage girl, Doris Robertson (Kyla Pratt), deal with the challenges"
"George Raft George Raft (born George Ranft; September 26, 1901 – November 24, 1980) was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s. A stylish leading man in dozens of movies, today Raft is mostly known for his gangster roles in the original ""Scarface"" (1932), ""Each Dawn I Die"" (1939), and Billy Wilder's 1959 comedy ""Some Like It Hot"", as a dancer in ""Bolero"" (1934), and a truck driver in ""They Drive by Night"" (1940). Raft said he never regarded himself as an actor. ""I wanted to be me"","
"of artificial teeth which he would put in to play his 'old man' characters. He had no teeth in real life and took four different sets of false teeth with him to achieve variety in his characters. Although he made 131 film appearances from 1912, today he is probably best known as old ""Harbottle"" in a number of comedy films he made with Will Hay and Graham Moffatt, including ""Oh, Mr Porter!"" (1937) and ""Ask a Policeman"" (1939). During the filming of Hay's film ""Dandy Dick"" (1935), Marriott played an uncredited stableboy. During the filming of ""Dandy Dick"", Marriott said"
"singing policeman about the Americans’ nefarious activities. Where There's a Will (1936 film) Where There's a Will is a 1936 British comedy film directed by William Beaudine and starring Will Hay, Graham Moffatt and Norma Varden. It features an incompetent solicitor who unwittingly becomes party to a bank robbery. The film marked the first appearance of Graham Moffatt in a Will Hay film. Moffatt acted as a straight man to Hay, along with Moore Marriott, beginning in the film Windbag the Sailor. Will Hay plays the penniless, bungling solicitor Benjamin Stubbins, who arrives at his office to find his insolent"
"Mr. T vehicle, ""DC Cab"". The movie featured an ensemble cast, many of whom were publicized figures from other areas of showbusiness – comics Paul Rodriguez, Marsha Warfield, singer Irene Cara, bodybuilders David and Peter Paul (the ""Barbarian Brothers"") – but had only modest acting experience. Despite the wide range of performers, and more seasoned actors such as Adam Baldwin as the protagonist Albert, as well as Gary Busey and Max Gail, Mr. T was top billed and the central figure in the film's publicity, with him literally towering over the other characters on the film's poster. While the film,"
"done independently from one another, although occasionally they would share scenes. The monologues were intermingled with numerous sketches and recurring characters. These included: Albert was an elderly ""character actor"" (played by Denys Graham) who would occasionally interrupt either of the performers to ask if he could play a role in the next sketch in order to earn money to pay for a dialysis machine for his daughter Sally, whose picture he would look at from within a locket. But against Albert's wishes, he was always cast in the role of a stunt double, which seemed particularly inappropriate given his frail,"
"heard in 30 years. Directly before the commercial break Sebastian Cabot's photo was shown on national television as a tribute. Sebastian Cabot (actor) Charles Sebastian Thomas Cabot (6 July 1918 – 22 August 1977) was an English film and television actor, best remembered as the gentleman's gentleman, Giles French, opposite Brian Keith's character, William ""Uncle Bill"" Davis, in the CBS-TV sitcom ""Family Affair"" (1966–1971). He was also known for playing the Wazir in the film ""Kismet"" (1955) and Dr. Carl Hyatt in the CBS-TV series ""Checkmate"" (1960–1962). Cabot was also a voice performer in many Disney animated films; he made"
"Allan Graf, Bill Hart, Bob Herron, Norman Howell, Jimmy Medearis, Denney Pierce, Jeff Ramsey, Neil Summers, Mike Washlake, Ted White, Brian J. Williams, Bobby Burns, Linda Fetters, and Keii Johnston, who was the stunt double for Bruce Willis. The running gag throughout the film was that Wyatt Earp cannot drive, though he does so on more than one occasion. Garner was considered an expert stunt driver and did quite a lot of his own driving on his TV series, ""The Rockford Files"" (1974–1980). Edwards went to great lengths to recreate the 1920s Hollywood era, including a recreation of the 1929"
"At the start of the 1930s they went to Hollywood, where Edgar - who had dropped his first name for the professional appellation Marriott Edgar - met his famous half-brother. Holloway was already enjoying some success with the monologue format, with such classics as ""Sam, Pick Oop Tha' Musket"". Edgar asked him if he had heard a story about a couple who had taken their son to the zoo, only to see the lad eaten by a lion. Holloway had indeed heard the story, and shortly afterwards Edgar supplied him with a script. ""The Lion and Albert"" became one of"
"musical comedian George Formby. Fleming's later career included appearances in many television series of the 1950s and 1960s such as ""Fabian of the Yard"", ""Hancock's Half Hour"", ""Dixon of Dock Green"", ""Dr. Finlay's Casebook"", ""The Forsyte Saga"" and ""The Prisoner"". Ian Fleming (actor) Ian Fleming (born Ian Macfarlane; 10 September 1888 – 1 January 1969) was an Australian character actor with credits in over 100 British films. He is perhaps best known for playing Dr. Watson in a series of Sherlock Holmes movies of the 1930s opposite Arthur Wontner's Holmes. He also essayed a number of supporting roles in many"
"Irish, spoke with a received pronunciation English accent, as did Corbett. Brambell was aged 49 when he accepted the role of Albert, only 13 years older than Corbett. For his portrayal, he acquired a second set of ""rotten"" dentures to accentuate his character's poor attitude to hygiene. During its production in the 1960s and 1970s, ""Steptoe and Son"" marked itself out as radical compared to most UK sitcoms. This was an age when the predominant sources of laughter in British comedy were farce, coincidence, slapstick and innuendo. However ""Steptoe and Son"" brought greater social realism. Its characters were not only"
"Charles Hyatt Charles Eglerton Hyatt (14 February 1931 – 29 June 2008) was a Jamaican actor, playwright, director, author and broadcaster. Hyatt was best known as a character actor and comedian who appeared in numerous films and television shows, beginning in the 1960s. Hyatt was born in Kingston, Jamaica, to Herbert Hyatt, a taxi-driver, and Ruth Burke, a homemaker. He attended St Aloysious Boys’ School and St Simon’s College. After making his movie debut in the 1965 film ""A High Wind in Jamaica"", Hyatt had notable performances in the films ""The Bushbaby"" (1969), ""Crossplot"" (1969), ""Freelance"" (1971), ""Love Thy Neighbour"""