- When he died in 1957, his partner, Stan Laurel, pledged he would never perform again. Despite offers, he never did.
- At clubs and restaurants, he pointed out the stars he recognized as if he were a tourist to Hollywood. "Look, there's Norma Shearer", he would say. It never occurred to him that he was as famous as the people who fascinated him.
- While he and Stan Laurel were between contracts with Hal Roach, John Wayne asked him to co-star in The Fighting Kentuckian (1949), a film Wayne was producing. Wayne and Hardy had previously appeared together on stage for a wartime benefit, and Wayne knew the value of comedy in his pictures. Hardy at first refused, fearing rumors of a breakup with Stan; but Laurel encouraged his partner to take the role and Hardy delivered a memorable light comedy performance.
- His father, also named Oliver Hardy, was a successful lawyer who died when Norvell, as he was known to his family, was ten months old. At a time when few women had careers, his mother supported the family by running a highly successful hotel.
- An avid sportsman, he became interested in hunting. After he shot his first deer, he walked to the animal expecting to field-dress it. However, the deer was still alive, and looked Hardy directly in the eyes. He never picked up a gun again.
- Suffered a severe stroke on 9/12/56 that left him paralyzed and unable to speak.
- Appeared in over 400 movies.
- A popular Lakeside Country Club foursome consisted of Oliver Hardy, Bing Crosby, W.C. Fields and Babe Ruth.
- According to letters written by Stan Laurel, he had advanced cancer at the time of his death from two strokes.
- Throughout their association with Hal Roach, L&H had separate contracts, with Stan's salary being considerably higher than Hardy's. This didn't bother Hardy one bit, as he acknowledged that Stan did much more than he during the making of their films.
- Posthumously awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1500 Vine St. on 2/8/60.
- Despite rumors over the years, he did not die from the effects of obesity--quite the contrary. Dieting on doctor's orders, he took off too much weight too fast, going from 300+ pounds to 150 in a matter of a few weeks, weakening his constitution well past the danger point. It was becoming dangerously underweight in this manner that brought about his final illness and death.
- Because of his weight, most people don't realize that he was almost 6'2" tall, and towered over all his co-stars except the 6'5" Tiny Sandford.
- He was voted, along with partner Stan Laurel, the 45th Greatest Movie Star of all time by "Entertainment Weekly.".
- A heavy smoker, he had been suffering from heart problems since the filming of Utopia (1951), and his weight had ballooned from 250 to 350 lb.
- Used Babe Hardy for a screen name until convinced by a numerologist that the longer screen name, Oliver Hardy, would bring him success.
- Shared the nickname "Babe" with another beloved comedian of his time, Curly Howard. Hardy got the name as a child by a Florida barber because of his "baby" face; Howard by his family because he was the youngest, or "baby".
- Noted sci-fi novelist Ray Bradbury was a big fan of Stan and Ollie, attending Sons of the Desert meetings when he could and wrote a number of short stories about them, including "The Laurel and Hardy Love Affair", "The Laurel and Hardy Alpha Centauri Farewell Tour" and "Another Fine Mess", which was set on the steps seen in The Music Box (1932).
- Appears on sleeve of The Beatles' album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band".
- Stan Laurel put Hardy's trademark "camera look" and his love of golf to good use. He held many of the "camera look" shots till the end of the day, when he knew Hardy was dying to get to the golf course. Hardy's frustration in these looks is quite real.
- Billy Wilder planned on doing a film with him and Stan Laurel in the 1950s. The film would have opened with each of them sleeping in one of the letter O's of the Hollywood sign. The plot centered on a woman coming between them. The project was aborted owing to Ollie's failing health.
- When John Wayne offered Ollie a part in his film The Fighting Kentuckian He'd previously worked with Ollie on a charity tour of 'What Price Glory' and thought he'd be perfect as the food loving Kentuckian. Ollie wasn't keen at first not wanting people to think that he and Stan had split up but when he mentioned it to Stan, who was ill with diabetes and unable to work, Stan said 'Babe just because I'm sick and can't work , there's no reason you shouldn't. Do it' So Ollie signed on, causing John to say to fellow cast member Paul Fix 'Nobody's gonna remember Vera in our film because all they're gonna remember is Oliver Hardy and me doing our comedy scenes. The film did decent business and got good reviews with quite a few praising Oliver.
- Wife Virginia Lucille Jones tells the story of Hardy her brother, and several others building elaborate chicken coops for the birds they raised. In true L&&H fashion, they were too big to move out the door of the shed where they had been built, and had to be taken apart and reconstructed outside.
- A man of many interests, he was an excellent cook, card player, golfer, singer and dancer and, unlike "Ollie", was always impeccably tailored. Off camera he and Stan Laurel both combed their hair straight back, as was the fashion of their time.
- Oliver "Norvell" Hardy's father Oliver Hardy (1844-92) was a sergeant in Company K, 16th Georgia Infantry of the Confederate States Army. Oliver's unit fought with the Army of Northern Virginia from the Seven Days' Battles to Gettysburg. Oliver, Jr. was the son of Oliver Sr. and his third wife.
- Despite his weight ballooning at times to 350 lb., he found it almost impossible to cut back on the size of his meals. His favorite restaurant meal was a 32-ounce steak cooked medium-well, potatoes fried in pure lard, a salad and a pot of coffee.
- He was the only child of Oliver Hardy and his third wife; Oliver had three girls and his third wife had two girls and two boys by their previous marriages.
- His given first name was Norvell, the name his family always used. He took the name Oliver out of respect for his father, who died when Norvell was still an infant. He also liked the "over-the-top" sound of introducing himself as "Oliver Norvell Hardy" in the films.
- Twidling his tie and his nervous laugh to cover some embarrasment originated before he met Stan.
- In their films Stan wore a bowler hat a size or two smaller so that it sat higher on his head. In the films where they mix up their hats, Ollie wore a larger size than normal so that it would look humorously oversized on Stan while Stan's was substituted for an even smaller size to go on Ollie's head. Although they were identified with bowlers, they actually wore more other hats in their many films and when they were on their European tours they eagerly donned the appropriate national hat of the country they were in: berets in Paris, Tam O Shanter in Scotland, After Ollie's death Stan never wore a bowler again.
- Interred at Pierce Brothers Valhalla Memorial Park, North Hollywood, CA.
- Subject of one of five 29¢ US commemorative postage stamps celebrating famous comedians, issued in booklet form 29 August 1991. He is shown with his partner Stan Laurel. The stamp designs were drawn by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld. The other comedians honored in the set are Edgar Bergen (with alter ego Charlie McCarthy), Jack Benny, Fanny Brice, and Bud Abbott and Lou Costello.
- Was a member of the Lakeside Country Club.
- He studied law at Georgia State University and vocal music at Atlanta Conservatory of Music .
- When Stan Laurel's daughter, Lois Laurel, was little she disliked Ollie because he always seemed to bully her dad in their films, so Stan incorporated a revenge scene at the end of 'One Good Turn (1931)' where Stan gets to take his revenge on Ollie.
- Stan and Ollie believed that they got most of their laughs by combining dumbness with dignity, making the audience feel that they were superior to them.
- On returning from their 1947 tour of Britain Stan Laurel was diagnosed with diabetes. While he was recuperating Ollie appeared on stage in an all-star charity production of "What Price Glory?" for the Masquers Club with John Wayne, Ward Bond and Maureen O'Hara, with Ollie playing the town mayor. Wayne was so impressed him that he asked him to take a role in his film The Fighting Kentuckian (1949). Ollie initially turned the film down, not wishing to harm the L&H team, but Stan Laurel persuaded him to make it.
- Unlike Stan, who answered virtually all of his fan mail personally, he seldom answered his directly. An autographed photo was generally all he replied.
- After their appearance on Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy (1954) they were contracted by Hal Roach to star in a series of hour-long TV specials but they were never made.
- Was of the opinion that the world would be a better place if people treated one another with more respect.
- His half brother Sam Tant drowned in a river in Milledgeville, GA. Ollie dived in, pulled him out and tried artificial respiration but it was too late.
- While working in films in Florida Ollie applied to join the Solomon Lodge of the Freemasons in Jacksonville on 3/20/1916 and was accepted. Some while after that several of the brethren saw Ollie in a drunken state staggering about and behaving abusively. The following day he was summoned to appear before the lodge to explain his behavior. He admitted that while the brethren were correct in what they saw, what they had failed to see was a camera filming the scene which was for his next film.
- While his comedy partner remained at the studios after work had officially ended, he would leave immediately so he could play golf.
- He and partner Stan Laurel have been and continue to be very popular in Hungary under the name of "Stan és Pan".
- Still popular in Brazil where he and partner Stan Laurel are known as "O Gordo e O Magro" (Fat and Skinny).
- If it wasn't for his burning his arm while cooking a leg of lamb, Stan Laurel would never have been coaxed into taking over his role in a film and Leo McCarey would not have noticed their comedy chemistry.
- He, in a partnership that included Bing Crosby and Gary Cooper, built the Del Mar racetrack in Del Mar, CA, in 1937.
- He and Stan were inducted into the British show business organization The Grand Order of Water Rats on 3/30/1947.
- Entered St. Vincent's Hospital to have his tonsils removed the day after filming wrapped on March of the Wooden Soldiers (1934).
- By the time they produced their first true L&H film Ollie was 35 and Stan 37.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content