Stanley Augustus Holloway, OBE, (1 October 1890 — 30 January 1982), was a British actor best known for playing Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady. He had five children, one of which was Julian Holloway, another actor.
He acted on stage before fighting in World War I. Following the war, he starred in the musical Kissing Time after it transferred to the West End. In 1921, he joined the concert party The Co-Optimists at first as a singer, but his skills as an actor and comic quickly became noticed. Once The '30s rolled around, he was a star of variety, Pantomime, and musical comedy.
Once World War II started, Holloway made propaganda films for British Film Institute. He continued appearing in regular films, playing roles in Major Barbara, The Way Ahead, This Happy Breed, and The Way to the Stars. When the war ended, he starred in Brief Encounter and became an Ealing Studios star thanks to his leading roles in Passport to Pimlico, The Lavender Hill Mob, and The Titfield Thunderbolt.
In 1956, he was cast in the musical My Fair Lady, playing Alfred P. Doolittle on Broadway, in the West End, and in the 1964 film adaptation (only appearing in the latter after James Cagney pulled out at the last minute). My Fair Lady brought Holloway international fame and nominations for a Tony and Academy Award. As his career continued, Holloway continued to appear in stage plays and in films including Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter and Up the Front.
He died of a stroke at the age of 91.
Not to be confused with Sterling Holloway.
Works on TV Tropes he appeared in:
Films- This Happy Breed (1944) — Bob Mitchell
- Brief Encounter (1945) — Albert Godby
- Caesar and Cleopatra (1945) — Belzanor
- Hamlet (1948) — Gravedigger
- The Winslow Boy (1948) — As Himself
- Passport to Pimlico (1949) — Arthur Pemberton
- The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) — Alfred "Al" Pendlebury
- The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953) — Walter Valentine
- My Fair Lady (1964) — Alfred P. Doolittle
- In Harm's Way (1965) — Clayton Canfil
- Ten Little Indians (1965) — William Blore
- Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter (1968) — G.G. Brown
- The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970) — Gravedigger
- Up the Front (1972) — The Great Vincento
- The Red Skelton Show, episode "Goofy Goofy Gander" (1965) — Lord Richwealth
