Actors - Stan Laurel

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	Actors - Stan Laurel

Stan Laurel (June 16, 1890 – February 23, 1965), born Arthur Stanley Jefferson, was a comedian and member of the comedy team Laurel and Hardy.

Birth and early youth

Arthur Stanley Jefferson was born on June 16, 1890 in his grandparents' house in Ulverston, England. He was the second of five children. His father, A. J. Jefferson, managed a number of different theatres; his mother, Madge, was an actress. Arthur lived with his grandparents until the age of six, when he moved in with his father and began his education. As a child, Laurel liked the theatre so much that when he was nine he set up a theatre in the attic featuring neighbourhood children as supporting actors.

Education

The first school Jefferson went to was in Gainford. He later went to the King James Grammar School in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, and also went to school in Glasgow, where he finished his education and went to work in the box office of the Metropole Theatre, which his father managed. His father encouraged him to get into theatre management, but Stan had other plans.

At sixteen, he went to Mr. E. Pickard for a 'try out' in his theatre. The act went reasonably well. Although his father did not like the idea, he encouraged him in the field of comedy. In 1907, Stan joined a number of travelling groups until finally he became a member of Fred Karno's traveling group as a bit player. He quickly became the understudy to the group's star performer, Charlie Chaplin. The group went to the United States in 1910 and 1913, but eventually broke up — so Stan and some fellow members tried their luck in vaudeville. From 1916 to 1918, Laurel teamed up with Alice and Baldwin Cooke, who would become lifelong friends. After having been cast for Nuts in May in 1917, he remained in the USA.

Marriage

Stan Laurel married four women (one of them twice):

1926–35 Lois Nielson
1935–37 Virginia Ruth Rogers (first time)
1938–40 Vera Ivanova Shuvalova ("Illeana")
1941–46 Virginia Ruth Rogers (second time)
1946–65 Ida Kitaeva Raphael, who outlived him

Mae Charlotte Dahlberg was his common-law wife from c.1918 till 1925.

Mae Dahlberg

At around 1918 he met Mae Dahlberg. For a number of years they worked together in vaudeville theatre. It was also at this time that he adopted his stage name of Stan Laurel, the origins of which are uncertain but seems to have been from a suggestion from Mae. From this point onwards, as is often convention with common-law marriages, Mae referred to herself as Mae Laurel. After making their first movie, Nuts in May, Universal offered him a contract, which he accepted. The two then worked together to make two-reel comedies, such as 'Under Two Jags' and 'When Nights Were Cold'. The contract was meagre, and was cancelled because of a reorganisation in the studio. Mae and Stan returned to their vaudevile act.

Hal Roach Studios

In 1924, he signed a contract with Joe Rock. The contract asked Stan to make twelve two-reel comedies. In 1925 Mae began interfering in Stan's work, and Joe Rock offered her some cash and a one-way ticket to her native Australia. Without any problems, Laurel then finished the twelve movies. He next joined the Hal Roach studio as a writer and director, but because of the contract with Rock, he wasn't allowed to act. However, he couldn't stay away from the camera long and he soon got back to acting. Much of his work was with Oliver Hardy (1892–1957), but Laurel was also teamed with Lois Nielson, whom he wed in August 1926.

Laurel and Hardy

:For the main article, see Laurel and Hardy
.

The first encounter of the two comedians in a film took place in The Lucky Dog (1921). They first appeared in the same Hal Roach film in Forty-Five Minutes From Hollywood (1926), and their first 'official' film was The Second Hundred Years (June 1927). This was the birth of the Laurel and Hardy partnership that would last for the next 30 years.

On December 10th, 1927, another birth took place, that of Laurel's daughter, Lois. In 1929, Stan and Ollie (Oliver Hardy's nickname) made a transition from making silent movies to talking pictures. Their first talking picture was Unaccustomed As We Are.

At Hal Roach Studios, Stan did not have the creative control he wanted, but it was nonetheless productive and profitable. Stan arranged for his lifelong friends, Alice and Baldwin Cooke, to work at the studio. In 1930, Lois Nielson, his wife, gave birth to a boy. However, he was two months premature and died nine days later. In spite of his sorrow, Laurel began filming Pardon us.

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