Will Hay Collection [DVD]

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PICTURES and PERSONALITIES". The Mercury. Hobart, Tas. 10 April 1937. p.5 National Library of Australia . Retrieved 27 April 2012.

Will Hay (1888 - 1949) was a British comic actor who toured the music halls of the world with his 'schoolmaster' routine. In the 1930s he moved into films, starring in classics like 'Oh, Mr. Porter!' (1937), joined by his co-stars Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt. Hay was also a keen amateur astronomer, a polyglot, a pilot (he taught Amy Johnson to fly) and of course a brilliant comic writer and director. In 2009 a biography of Hay by Graham Rinaldi was published with a foreword by Ken Dodd. Hay never published an autobiography during his lifetime; however, when ill in the 1940s, he had begun writing one, entitled I Enjoyed Every Minute. Excerpts from this unpublished autobiography were included in the 2009 book. [43] In 1907 Hay married Gladys Perkins (1889–1982), [36] whom he had known since he was 15, [37]. They legally separated on 18 November 1935. However, they never divorced and Gladys cited the reason for this was that she was a Roman Catholic. [5] They had two daughters and a son: Gladys Elspeth Hay (1909–1979), William Edward Hay (1913–1995) [38] and Joan A. Hay (1917–1975). [39] Following his separation from Gladys in 1935, he was in a long-term relationship with Randi Kopstadt, a native of Norway. [5]Off-screen, Hay was described as being something of an eccentric, and a very serious and private man, and some thought he may have had a dark side due to his demeanour. [11] Peter Ustinov, who made his film debut in The Goose Steps Out as a straight man to Hay, said in a 1990 interview when asked about working with him "Well, Will Hay wasn't very funny but I found that very few comics are"; he also said "And Will Hay was always wrapped in a blanket at certain hours and had his tea, and we all stopped talking while he was having his tea, and then we went on shooting. I don't remember him saying anything memorable, nothing I could remember at all. He was very funny when you saw him on the screen, but in life all those people are very, very strange." [40]

Hay's tenure with Ealing was a box office success and his films were critically acclaimed, but have been described as not at the level of his Gainsborough films with Moffatt and Marriott. [6] Radio career [ edit ] The plot of Oh, Mr Porter was loosely based on the Arnold Ridley play The Ghost Train. The title was taken from Oh! Mr Porter, a music hall song. Gregory, Paul. "Northiam". Weston Clevedon and Portishead Railway. Archived from the original on 18 March 2012 . Retrieved 13 May 2011. He made his last public appearance on Good Friday (15 April) 1949. Hay died at the age of 60 on 18 April 1949 after suffering a stroke at his flat in Chelsea, London. [1] His body was buried in Streatham Park Cemetery in London. [42] Those who were present at Hay's final appearance described him as showing no sign of illness, and said he had discussed his plans for the future. [5] Influences [ edit ]

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a b "Hay, William Thomson [Will] (1888–1949)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (onlineed.). Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/ref:odnb/37522. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

Graham Victor Harold Moffatt (6 December 1919 – 2 July 1965) was an English comedic character actor. He is best known for a number of films where he appeared with Will Hay and Moore Marriott as 'Albert': a plump cheekily insolent street-savvy youth. In 1946 while on holiday, Hay suffered a stroke which left the right side of his body crippled and also affected his speech. He was told by his doctors that he would in all likelihood only make a partial recovery. [5] Following his stroke, he spent time in South Africa on the advice of his doctors, because of the climate. [6] His health had improved slightly by the following year, when he had plans to become a film producer but, in 1947, his friend Marcel Varnel, who had directed many of Hay's films, died in a car accident, and Hay postponed his plans. [5] Death [ edit ] He was known to be a hypochondriac, and would often complain of illness to his colleagues when working. [6] Moffatt's life story was made into a short film by The Will Hay Appreciation Society which features interviews from his three children, Richard, Chris and Jayne. The film is called Graham Moffatt: Britain's Favourite Fat Boy. [1] In Where There's a Will he has a short routine with the rotund Graham Moffatt who plays the office boy who reads western comics.Porter writes a note and places it in Harbottle's 'medicine' bottle. He throws it through the window of the station master's office when they pass a large station,alerting the authorities. The entire railway goes into action, closing lines and re-routing trains until Gladstone can crash into a siding where the gun runners are arrested by waiting police. Will Hay was a comic genius, years ahead of his time and we believe that he deserves to be remembered. Marriott was born at Alpha Place, Yiewsley, Middlesex, on 14 September 1885, the son of George Matthew Marriott (1859–1940), who was then a commercial traveller, and his wife, Edith Rousby, née Coleman (1864–1946). His parents were actors, and his father became a theatrical manager. Moore Marriott made his stage debut at the age of five. He had originally intended to train as an architect, but instead he became an actor in films. [3] Rather like Wilfrid Brambell and Clive Dunn later, he became typecast as playing old men when he was still relatively young. He had a special set of artificial teeth which he would put in to play his 'old man' characters. He had no teeth in real life and took four different sets of false teeth with him to achieve variety in his characters. a b c d e "Will Hay: the lost master of British comedy". The Daily Telegraph. London. 16 January 2009 . Retrieved 10 May 2017.