Editing Stanley Holloway (section)

====1950s and 1960s stage and screen====
[[File:Stanley Holloway Alfred P. Doolittle My Fair Lady 1957.JPG|thumb|200px|alt=photo of three smiling men, standing together; the two on the outside are looking at Holloway who stands between them.|Holloway (centre) as Alfred P. Doolittle on Broadway in ''My Fair Lady'', 1957]]
In 1954 Holloway joined [[the Old Vic]] theatre company to play Bottom in ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'', with [[Robert Helpmann]] as Oberon and [[Moira Shearer]] as Titania. After playing at the [[Edinburgh Festival]], the [[Royal Shakespeare Company]] took the production to New York, where it played at the [[Metropolitan Opera|Metropolitan Opera House]] and then on tour of the US and Canada. The production was harshly reviewed by critics on both sides of the Atlantic, but Holloway made a strong impression.{{#tag:ref|Both the anonymous critic of ''The Times'' and [[Brooks Atkinson]] in ''[[The New York Times]]'' thought the production slow and old-fashioned, and took particular exception to the use of [[Felix Mendelssohn|Mendelssohn]]'s incidental music.<ref>"Old Vic Company in New York&nbsp;– Edinburgh Production Harshly Criticized", ''The Times'', 23 September 1954, p. 10.</ref> The performances of Holloway and his colleagues are preserved on an [[His Master's Voice (British record label)|His Master's Voice]] sound recording of the production (His Master's Voice catalogue number ALP1262-4 (1955)). ''[[Gramophone (magazine)|The Gramophone]]''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s critic wrote, "the great comedian Stanley Holloway retained his perfect timing but gave his lines their full Shakespearean weight".<ref>Postgate, Mary. [http://www.gramophone.net/Issue/Page/December%201986/137/857874/ "Spoken Word"], ''The Gramophone'', December 1986, p. 137</ref>|group= n}} Holloway said of the experience: "Out of the blue I was asked by the Royal Shakespeare Company to tour America with them, playing Bottom. ... From that American tour came the part of Alfred Doolittle in ''[[My Fair Lady]]'' and from then on, well, just let's say I was able to pick and choose my parts and that was very pleasant at my age."<ref>''The New York Times; Obituary'' 31 January 1982, p. 36</ref> Holloway's film career continued simultaneously with his stage work; one example was the 1956 comedy ''[[Jumping for Joy]]''. American audiences became familiar with his earlier film roles when the films began to be broadcast on television in the 1950s.<ref name=Ginell/>

{{Quote box |quoted=true |bgcolor=#F5F9FC |salign=center | quote = Mr. Stanley Holloway's undeserving dustman [Doolittle] is a pure joy. It is a turn from the old music hall, broad and full-blooded.| source = ''[[The Times]]'', 1 May 1958<ref>"Shaw with the Broadway touch", ''The Times'', 1 May 1958, p. 3</ref>|align=right| width=25%}}
In 1956 Holloway created the role of Alfred P. Doolittle in the original [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] production of ''[[My Fair Lady]]''. The librettist, [[Alan Jay Lerner]], remembered in his memoirs that Holloway was his first choice for the role, even before it was written. Lerner's only concern was whether, after so long away from the musical stage, Holloway still had his resonant singing voice. Holloway reassured him over a lunch at [[Claridge's]]: Lerner recalled, "He put down his knife and fork, threw back his head and unleashed a strong baritone note that resounded through the dining room, drowned out the string quartet and sent a few dozen people off to the osteopath to have their necks untwisted."<ref>Lerner, pp. 62–63</ref> Holloway had a long association with the show, appearing in the original 1956 Broadway production at the [[Mark Hellinger Theatre]], the 1958 London version at the [[Theatre Royal, Drury Lane]], and the [[My Fair Lady (film)|film version]] in 1964, which he undertook instead of the role of Admiral Boom in ''[[Mary Poppins (film)|Mary Poppins]]'' that he had been offered the same year.<ref>Andrews, p. 121</ref> In ''[[The Manchester Guardian]]'', [[Alistair Cooke]] wrote, "Stanley Holloway distils into the body of Doolittle the taste and smell of every pub in England."<ref>Cooke, Alistair. "Shavian Source of a Delicious Daydream", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 20 March 1956, p. 5</ref> Also in 1964, he appeared as Bellomy in the [[Hallmark Hall of Fame]] television production of ''[[The Fantasticks]]''.<ref>[http://www.fantasticksonbroadway.com/news/events/2012/johndavidson/ "Hallmark Hall of Fame – ''The Fantasticks''"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403061313/http://www.fantasticksonbroadway.com/news/events/2012/johndavidson/ |date=3 April 2015 }}, Fantasticks on Broadway, accessed 23 March 2015</ref>

[[File:Our man higgins 1962.JPG|thumb|left|200px|alt=publicity shot of elderly man and young female sitting between three poles|Holloway and Regina Groves in ''Our Man Higgins'', 1962]]
Looking back in 2004, Holloway's biographer [[Eric Midwinter]] wrote, "With his cockney authenticity, his splendid baritone voice, and his wealth of comedy experience, he made a great success of this role, and, as he said, it put him 'bang on top of the heap, in demand' again at a time when, in his mid-sixties, his career was beginning to wane".<ref name=dnb/><ref>Holloway and Richards, p. 12</ref> His performances earned him a [[Tony Award]] nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical and an [[Academy Award]] nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Following his success on Broadway, Holloway played Pooh-Bah in a 1960 US television [[Bell Telephone Hour]] production of ''[[The Mikado]]'', produced by the veteran [[Gilbert and Sullivan]] performer [[Martyn Green]]. Holloway appeared with [[Groucho Marx]] and [[Helen Traubel]] of the Metropolitan Opera.<ref>Shepherd, Marc. [http://gasdisc.oakapplepress.com/mikmarx.htm ''Mikado&nbsp;– Bell Telephone Hour''], The Gilbert and Sullivan Discography, accessed 11 April 2011</ref> His notable films around this time included ''[[Alive and Kicking (1959 film)|''Alive and Kicking'']]'' in 1959, co-starring [[Sybil Thorndike]] and [[Kathleen Harrison]],<ref>"Cinemas", ''The Observer'', 14 June 1959, p. 25</ref> and ''[[No Love for Johnnie]]'' in 1961 opposite [[Peter Finch]].<ref>"Weaknesses of plot mar 'No Love for Johnnie'", ''The Guardian'', 24 April 1961, p. 19</ref> In 1962, Holloway took part in a studio recording of ''[[Oliver!]]'' with [[Alma Cogan]] and [[Violet Carson]], in which he played Fagin.<ref>[https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/003258768 ''Oliver!''] studio cast recording, 1962 LP, Capitol, accessed 14 September 2011</ref>

In 1962 Holloway played the role of an English butler called Higgins in a US television sitcom called ''[[Our Man Higgins]]''. It ran for only a season. His son [[Julian Holloway|Julian]] also appeared in the series.<ref name=times>Obituary, ''The Times'', 1 February 1982, p. 10</ref> In 1964 he again appeared on stage in [[Philadelphia]] in ''Cool Off!'', a short-lived [[Faust]]ian spoof.<ref>{{cite web |last=Mandelbaum |first=Ken |date=24 June 2004 |title=Obscure Recordings: Cool Off! |url=https://www.broadway.com/buzz/10675/obscure-recordings-cool-off/ |website=Broadway.com |access-date=23 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200514041904/https://www.broadway.com/buzz/10675/obscure-recordings-cool-off/ |archive-date=14 May 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> He returned to the US a few more times after that to take part in ''[[The Dean Martin Show]]'' three times and ''[[The Red Skelton Show]]'' twice. He also appeared in the 1965 war film ''[[In Harm's Way]]'', together with [[John Wayne]] and [[Kirk Douglas]].<ref>Crowther, Bosley. [https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F02E1DC163EE03ABC4F53DFB266838E679EDE "In Harm's Way"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', 7 April 1965</ref>