Oliver Hardy
American comic actor famous as one half of Laurel and Hardy (1892–1957)
Oliver Norvell Hardy (born Norvell Hardy; January 18, 1892 – August 7, 1957) was an American comic actor and one half of Laurel and Hardy, the double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted from 1926 to 1957. He appeared with his comedy partner Stan Laurel in 107 short films, feature films, and cameo roles. He was credited with his first film, Outwitting Dad, in 1914. In most of his silent films before joining producer Hal Roach, he was billed on screen as Babe Hardy.
Early life and education
Oliver Hardy was born Norvell Hardy on January 18, 1892, in Harlem, Georgia. His father, Oliver, was a Confederate States Army veteran of the American Civil War who had been wounded at the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862, and was a recruiting officer for Company K, 16th Georgia Regiment. The elder Oliver Hardy assisted his father in running the remnants of the family's cotton plantation. He then bought a share in a retail business and was elected full-time Tax Collector for Columbia County, Georgia. Hardy's mother, Emily Norvell, was the daughter of Thomas Benjamin Norvell, who was descended from Hugh Norvell of Williamsburg, Virginia, and Mary Freeman. The elder Hardy and Norvell married March 12, 1890; it was her second marriage and his third.
“Oliver Hardy” enters the record as american comic actor famous as one half of Laurel and Hardy (1892–1957). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Oliver, Hardy and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Oliver Hardy” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Oliver, Hardy and American provides the most credible route into that argument.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q72911. VIAF identifies the subject as 79076872. The Library of Congress control number is n79088947. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1892, 1957, 1926 and 1914.
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This entry incorporates text from “Oliver Hardy” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.