Sterling Holloway


Sterling Price Holloway Jr. was an American actor who appeared in over 100 films and 40 television shows. He did voice acting for The Walt Disney Company, playing Mr. Stork in Dumbo, Adult Flower in Bambi, the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland, Kaa in The Jungle Book, Roquefort the Mouse in The Aristocats, and the title character in Winnie the Pooh, among many others.
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Early life

Born in Cedartown, Georgia, on January 14, 1905, Holloway was named after his father, Sterling Price Holloway, who, in turn, was named after a prominent Confederate general, Sterling "Pap" Price. His mother was Rebecca DeHaven Boothby. He had a younger brother named Boothby. The family owned a grocery store in Cedartown, where his father served as mayor in 1912. After attending Georgia Military Academy, he left Georgia in 1920 at the age of fifteen and went to New York City, where he attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. While there, he befriended actor Spencer Tracy, whom he considered one of his favorite working colleagues.

Career

Films and shorts

In his late teens, Holloway toured with the stock company of The Shepherd of the Hills, performing in one-nighters across much of the American West before returning to New York where he accepted small walk-on parts from the Theatre Guild and appeared in the Rodgers and Hart revue The Garrick Gaieties in the mid-1920s. A talented singer, he introduced "Manhattan" in 1925 and the following year sang "Mountain Greenery".
He moved to Hollywood in 1926 to begin a film career that lasted almost 50 years. His bushy red hair and foggy distinctive voice meant that he almost always appeared in comedies. His first film was The Battling Kangaroo, a silent picture. Over the following decades, Holloway would appear with Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Lon Chaney Jr., Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Bing Crosby, and John Carradine. In 1942, during World War II, Holloway enlisted in the United States Army at the age of 37 and was assigned to the Special Services. He helped develop a show called "Hey Rookie", which ran for nine months and raised $350,000 for the Army Relief Fund. In 1945, Holloway played the role of a medic assigned to an infantry platoon in the critically acclaimed film A Walk in the Sun. Between 1946 and 1947, he played the comic sidekick in five Gene Autry Westerns. His final role was Hobe Carpenter, a friendly moonshiner who helps Harley Thomas in Thunder and Lightning.

With Walt Disney

Walt Disney originally considered Holloway for the voice of Sleepy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but chose Pinto Colvig instead. Holloway's voice work in animated films began with Dumbo, as the voice of Mr. Stork. Holloway was the voice of the adult Flower in Bambi, the narrator of the Antarctic penguin sequence in The Three Caballeros and the narrator in the Peter and the Wolf sequence of Make Mine Music. He was the voice of the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland ; the narrator in The Little House, Susie the Little Blue Coupe, Lambert the Sheepish Lion, and Goliath II ; Amos Mouse from Ben and Me ''; Kaa the snake in The Jungle Book ; and Roquefort the mouse in The Aristocats. He is perhaps best remembered as the voice of Winnie the Pooh in Disney's Winnie the Pooh'' featurettes through 1977. He was honored as a Disney Legend in 1991, the first person to receive the award in the voice category. A majority of his roles were inherited by voice actor Jim Cummings following his death.

Radio and recordings

Holloway acted on many radio programs, including The Railroad Hour, The United States Steel Hour, Suspense, ''Lux Radio Theater, and The Shadow. In the late 1940s, he could be heard in various roles on NBC's "Fibber McGee and Molly". His voice retained a touch of its Southern drawl and was instantly recognizable. Holloway was chosen to narrate many children's records, including Uncle Remus Stories, Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes, Walt Disney Presents Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories and Peter And The Wolf''.

Television

Holloway easily made the transition from radio to television. He appeared on the Adventures of Superman as "Uncle Oscar", an eccentric inventor, and played a recurring role on The Life of Riley. He guest-starred on Fred Waring's CBS television program in the 1950s and appeared on Circus Boy as a hot air balloonist. Some other series on which he performed include Five Fingers, The Untouchables, The Real McCoys, Hazel, Pete and Gladys, The Twilight Zone, The Brothers Brannagan, Gilligan's Island, The Andy Griffith Show, The Donald O'Connor Show, Peter Gunn, F Troop, and Moonlighting.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Holloway had live parts in two of The Bell System Science Series educational films, and a voice part in a third.
During the 1970s, Holloway did commercial voice-overs for Purina Puppy Chow dog food and sang their familiar jingle, "Puppy Chow/For a full year/Till he's full-grown!" He also provided the voice for Woodsy Owl in several 1970s and 1980s United States Forest Service commercials. He auditioned for the well-known comic book character Garfield in 1982, but lost to Lorenzo Music. He provided voice-over work for the 1984 commercial of Libby's baked beans.

Personal life and death

In addition, Holloway adhered to Methodism. Throughout his life, Holloway remained a bachelor. He once said this was because he felt lacking in nothing and did not wish to disturb his pattern of life. He adopted a son, Richard Holloway.
Fellow Winnie the Pooh cast member Hal Smith had taken over the role of Winnie the Pooh for the 1981 short Winnie the Pooh Discovers the Seasons. Holloway was given an audition to return to the role for The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, which turned out to be a perfunctory offer as the producers believed he was too old to handle the strain of recording a full series even though he was still capable of performing the voice; Jim Cummings took over the role as well as most of Holloway's other voice roles, including Kaa in Jungle Cubs and The Jungle Book 2. As late as 1991, Berkeley Breathed had shown interest in hiring Holloway to voice Opus the Penguin for his animated adaptation of A Wish for Wings That Work; for reasons unknown, Breathed was unable to contact Holloway, and Michael Bell voiced the character instead. Holloway died of a cardiac arrest at the Good Samaritan Hospital on November 22, 1992. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean.

Art collection

Holloway was an avid art collector, important in the early careers of many local Los Angeles area artists such as Edward Kienholz and Billy Al Bengston. His large, eclectic, and mostly contemporary collection was sold off piecemeal prior to his death due to his failing health. The collection was a central element in his life outside of his work, building his home on a hillside overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Laguna Beach, California to serve primarily as a gallery in which to display his collection. His instructions to his architect, Paul Sterling Hoag, were that it should be the home "primarily for his paintings and sculpture and only secondarily for himself." The design of the house included unique elements such as large built-in flat file drawers to hold prints and other unmounted works from his collection as well as features specifically designated for certain notable artworks, such as the commissioned revolving wooden sunshade panels made by Robert Cremean which faced the setting sun, and sculptured front doors by John Mason. The whole layout of the house was optimized for the appreciation of the displayed works of art, more similar to the design of a gallery than a home.

Filmography

Feature films

Short subjects

Television

Discography

  • ”Cold Blooded Penguin” as Narrator
  • ”The Three Caballeros” as Narrator
  • Uncle Remus Stories as Narrator
  • Peter and the Wolf as Narrator
  • Alice in Wonderland as the Cheshire Cat
  • Susie, the Little Blue Coupe as Narrator
  • The Little House as Narrator
  • The Sorcerer's Apprentice/Peter and the Wolf as Narrator
  • The Country Cousin as Narrator
  • Goliath II as Narrator
  • The Grasshopper and the Ants as Narrator
  • The Stories and Songs of Walt Disney's Three Little Pigs as Narrator
  • The Absent Minded Professor as Narrator
  • The Best Stories of Aesop as Narrator
  • Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes as Narrator
  • Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories as Narrator
  • Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree as Winnie the Pooh
  • A Happy Birthday Party with Winnie the Pooh as Winnie the Pooh
  • Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day as Winnie the Pooh/Narrator
  • Winnie the Pooh and the North Pole Expotition as Winnie the Pooh/Narrator
  • Winnie the Pooh and Tigger as Winnie the Pooh/Narrator
  • Winnie the Pooh and the Heffalumps as Winnie the Pooh/Narrator
  • The Aristocats as Roquefort
  • Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too as Winnie the Pooh
  • Winnie the Pooh for President as Winnie the Pooh