Sterling Holloway

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Sterling Price Holloway, Jr. (January 4, 1905 - November 22, 1992) was a perennial voice actor for the Walt Disney Studios, who began with a cameo role in Dumbo and later became a Disney legend as the voice of Winnie the Pooh.

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[edit] Early career

A historical marker stands at the birthplace of Sterling Holloway in Cedartown, Georgia.
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A historical marker stands at the birthplace of Sterling Holloway in Cedartown, Georgia.

Holloway was named after Confederate General Sterling "Pap" Price. He was born in Cedartown, Georgia in 1905. After attending the Georgia Military Academy in College Park, he attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. Holloway made his way through the Theater Guild to appear in the first joint venture of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, Garrick Gaieties, a series of revues in the 1920s. With his light tenor voice, young Holloway made a foray into a professional singing career. He introduced the Rodgers and Hart standard "I'll Take Manhattan" in 1925, and in the 1926 edition of Garrick Gaities where he introduced their "Mountain Greenery" ("...where God paints the scenery").

[edit] Voice

In 1926, Holloway moved to Hollywood to begin a movie career that was to last for almost fifty years. Though he was one of the busiest character actors in the movies (and an excellent athletic dancer), he soon found his niche as a voice actor. In 1941, Holloway's unique voice was heard in his first Walt Disney animated film, Dumbo, where he was the voice of "Mr. Stork." He 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 also voiced Kaa in The Jungle Book, Roquefort the mouse in The Aristocats, and the Cheshire cat in Alice in Wonderland:

"If you do not know where you are going... any road will take you there."

His greatest fame was achieved as the voice of the title character in the Winnie-the-Pooh featurettes, a role that he voiced until his retirement in 1979. Disney honored him as an official Disney legend in 1991. He died, aged 87, the following year.

Holloway served in World War II as a member of the Army's Special Services unit. He produced a show for servicemen and toured with it near the front lines in North Africa and Italy.

Holloway also voiced the original Cheerios Honey-Nut Bee.

His last voice acting credit was as the Narrator in the Moonlighting episode Atomic Shakesphere.

[edit] Television

Sterling Holloway had a long career as a character actor in live-action films as well, with his memorably comic face, tousled sandy hair and squeaky voice. On TV, he had a recurring role as the lovable Uncle Oscar, an eccentric inventor in Adventures of Superman series, and also had a recurring role on The Life of Riley. He guest-starred in such TV shows as The Untouchables, Hazel, The Twilight Zone, Gilligan's Island, The Andy Griffith Show, and Moonlighting (his final appearance on film, narrating a Shakespeare-themed episode).

Holloway took on the unlikely role of a Mafia hitman in his last film Thunder and Lightning (1977).

In later years Holloway amassed a major collection of modern art, and was an occasional lecturer on the subject.

[edit] Filmography

Features:

Short Subjects:

[edit] Television Work

Preceded by
none		 Winnie the Pooh Voice
1966-1979		 Succeeded by
Hal Smith

[edit] See also

[edit] External links and references

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