Sterling Holloway

Sterling Price Holloway, Jr. (January 4, 1905 – November 22, 1992) was a character actor who appeared in over 150 films and television shows, as well as a perennial voice actor for the Walt Disney Studios.

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").

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.

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. 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 Drake Mallard the duck in Darkwing Duck, Kaa in The Jungle Book, Roquefort the mouse in The Aristocats, and the Cheshire cat in Alice in Wonderland. His greatest fame was achieved as the voice of the title character in Disney's Winnie-the-Pooh featurettes, a role that he voiced until his retirement in 1979. Disney honored him as an official Disney legend in 1991. Holloway also voiced the original Cheerios Honey-Nut Bee. His last voice acting credit was as the Narrator in the Moonlighting episode Atomic Shakesphere.

Radio
He also brought his distinctive voice to radio, where he was heard on such shows as The Railroad Hour, The United States Steel Hour, Suspense and Lux Radio Theater.

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 the 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. He died in 1992 from a cardiac arrest at age 87.

Filmography
Features:
 * American Madness (1932)
 * Blonde Venus (1932)
 * Faithless (1932)
 * Rockabye (1932)
 * Lawyer Man (1932)
 * Hard to Handle (1933)
 * Blondie Johnson (1933)
 * Fast Workers (1933)
 * Hell Below (1933)
 * Elmer, the Great (1933)
 * Picture Snatcher (1933)
 * Adorable (1933)
 * International House (1933)
 * Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
 * Professional Sweetheart (1933)
 * When Ladies Meet (1933)
 * Wild Boys of the Road (1933)
 * Dancing Lady (1933)
 * Advice to the Lovelorn (1933)
 * Going Hollywood (1933)
 * Alice in Wonderland (1933)
 * Tomorrow's Children (1934)
 * The Cat and the Fiddle (1934)
 * Strictly Dynamite (1934)
 * Operator 13 (1934)
 * Murder in the Private Car (1934)
 * The Back Page (1934)
 * Down to Their Last Yacht (1934)
 * Gift of Gab (1934)
 * The Merry Widow (1934)
 * Girl o' My Dreams (1934)
 * A Wicked Woman (1934)
 * Tomorrow's Youth (1935)
 * The Lottery Lover (1935)
 * Life Begins at Forty (1935)
 * Doubting Thomas (1935)
 * I Live My Life (1935)
 * 1,000 Dollars a Minute (1935)
 * Rendezvous (1935)
 * Palm Springs (1936)
 * Career Woman (1936)
 * Join the Marines (1937)
 * Maid of Salem (1937)
 * When Love Is Young (1937)
 * The Woman I Love (1937)
 * Varsity Show (1937)
 * Behind the Mike (1937)
 * Of Human Hearts (1938)
 * Dr. Rhythm (1938)
 * Held for Ransom (1938)
 * Professor Beware (1938)
 * Spring Madness (1938)
 * St. Louis Blues (1939)
 * Nick Carter, Master Detective (1939)
 * Remember the Night (1940)
 * The Blue Bird (1940)
 * Hit Parade of 1941 (1940)
 * Street of Memories (1940)
 * Little Men (1940)
 * Cheers for Miss Bishop (1941)
 * Meet John Doe (1941)
 * New Wine (1941)
 * Top Sergeant Mulligan (1941)
 * Dumbo (1941) (voice)
 * Look Who's Laughing (1941)
 * Don't Get Personal (1942)
 * The Lady Is Willing (1942)
 * Bambi (1942) (voice)
 * Iceland (1942)
 * Here We Go Again (1942)
 * Star Spangled Rhythm (1942)
 * The Three Caballeros (1944) (voice)
 * Wildfire (1945)
 * A Walk in the Sun (1945)
 * Make Mine Music (1946) (voice)
 * Death Valley (1946)
 * Sioux City Sue (1946)
 * Her Wonderful Lie (1947)
 * Trail to San Antone (1947)
 * Twilight on the Rio Grande (1947)
 * Saddle Pals (1947)
 * Robin Hood of Texas (1947)
 * The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend (1949)
 * Alice in Wonderland (1951) (voice)
 * Kentucky Rifle (1956)
 * Shake, Rattle and Rock! (1956)
 * Darkwing Duck (1957) (voice)
 * Alakazam the Great (1960) (voice)
 * The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1960)
 * My Six Loves (1963)
 * It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
 * Batman (1966) (scenes deleted)
 * The Jungle Book (1967) (voice)
 * Live a Little, Love a Little (1968)
 * The Aristocats (1970) (voice)
 * Cries (1975) (documentary) (narrator)
 * Super Seal (1976)
 * Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976)
 * The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977) (voice)
 * Thunder and Lightning (1977)

Short Subjects:
 * The Battling Kangaroo (1926)
 * The Girl from Everywhere (1927)
 * The Girl from Nowhere (1928)
 * One Track Minds (1933)
 * Not the Marrying Kind (1933)
 * Meeting Mazie (1933)
 * Born April First (1934)
 * Pleasing Grandpa (1934)
 * Picnic Perils (1934)
 * Sterling's Rival Romeo (1934)
 * Father Knows Best (1935)
 * My Girl Sally (1935)
 * Bring 'Em Back a Lie (1935)
 * The Pelican and the Snipe (1944) (voice)
 * The Cold-Blooded Penguin (1945) (voice)
 * Unusual Occupations L-5-2 (1945)
 * Peter and the Wolf (1946) (voice)
 * Moron Than Off (1946)
 * Scooper Dooper (1947)
 * Hectic Honeymoon (1947)
 * Mickey and the Beanstalk (1947) (voice)
 * Speaking of Animals No. Y7-1: Dog Crazy (1947)
 * Man or Mouse (1948)
 * Flat Feat (1948)
 * Lambert the Sheepish Lion (1951) (voice)
 * Susie the Little Blue Coupe (1952) (voice)
 * The Little House (1952) (voice)
 * Ben and Me (1953) (voice)
 * Goliath II (1960) (voice)
 * Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966) (voice)
 * Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968) (voice)
 * Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too! (1974) (voice)
 * Man, Monsters and Mysteries (1973) (voice)

Television Work

 * The Life of Riley (1953-1958)
 * Willy 1955
 * Our Mr. Sun (1956) (voice)
 * Hemo the Magnificent (1957)
 * The Restless Sea (1964)
 * The Baileys of Balboa (1964-1965)
 * That Girl (episode 14, Phantom of the Horse Opera) (1966)
 * Tukiki and His Search for a Merry Christmas (1979) (voice)
 * Andy Griffith Show, played Bert, a Traveling Salesman (1962)