Rare pictures of Laurel and Hardy in their Hollywood heyday

They were the most beloved double-act of all time. Even Morecambe and Wise yielded to no-one in their admiration for Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.
Comic duo Oliver Hardy (left) and Stan Laurel arrive at Southampton on board the liner 'Queen Elizabeth', 10th February 1947. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)Comic duo Oliver Hardy (left) and Stan Laurel arrive at Southampton on board the liner 'Queen Elizabeth', 10th February 1947. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Comic duo Oliver Hardy (left) and Stan Laurel arrive at Southampton on board the liner 'Queen Elizabeth', 10th February 1947. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Paired by the Hollywood producer Hal Roach in the dying days of the silent era, they not only survived the transition to talkies but transcended the new barriers of language, becoming as famous in Copenhagen as they were in California. Gog og Gokke, the Danes called them.

Many of these pictures from the archive were taken in their golden years, when they turned out two-reelers that are funny nearly a century later.

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Even in their later years, when they graduated to features and to the bigger and more controlling Hollywood studios, audiences never fell out of love with them.

Comedy duo Stan Laurel (1890 - 1965) and Oliver Hardy (1892 - 1957) share an impromptu cup of coffee at a railway station in the sketch 'A Spot Of Trouble', performed on stage during their tour of the UK, 25th February 1952. The plot was a reworking of their 1930 comedy short 'Night Owls'.  (Photo by John Pratt/Keystone Features/Getty Images)Comedy duo Stan Laurel (1890 - 1965) and Oliver Hardy (1892 - 1957) share an impromptu cup of coffee at a railway station in the sketch 'A Spot Of Trouble', performed on stage during their tour of the UK, 25th February 1952. The plot was a reworking of their 1930 comedy short 'Night Owls'.  (Photo by John Pratt/Keystone Features/Getty Images)
Comedy duo Stan Laurel (1890 - 1965) and Oliver Hardy (1892 - 1957) share an impromptu cup of coffee at a railway station in the sketch 'A Spot Of Trouble', performed on stage during their tour of the UK, 25th February 1952. The plot was a reworking of their 1930 comedy short 'Night Owls'. (Photo by John Pratt/Keystone Features/Getty Images)

This was evident even on their final screen appearance, in December 1954, when they were surprised on the American version of This Is Your Life. The gasp that went around the theatre when their names were revealed could be heard right across America.

They were old by then, having had to cut short a final tour of Britain when Hardy’s health failed. And Hollywood producers had left them behind. But when their old films began appearing on television shortly afterwards, a whole new generation discovered them.

The Hal Roach studio was a big player in early TV, and wanted to film new material for the small screen with its former stars, but Roach and Laurel in particular were not easy bedfellows. Roach’s refusal to negotiate with them as a team meant they earned a fraction of the fees Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton could command. That, coupled with a string of expensive divorces and Hardy’s penchant for gambling, denied them the opulent lifestyle their success might have brought.

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Ollie died in 1957, at 65, and Stan eight years later, at 74. Neither was independently wealthy.

11th February 1947:  American film star and comedian Oliver Hardy with his British born partner Stan Laurel and his wife, Virginia Laurel on board a ship in England.  (Photo by Express/Express/Getty Images)11th February 1947:  American film star and comedian Oliver Hardy with his British born partner Stan Laurel and his wife, Virginia Laurel on board a ship in England.  (Photo by Express/Express/Getty Images)
11th February 1947: American film star and comedian Oliver Hardy with his British born partner Stan Laurel and his wife, Virginia Laurel on board a ship in England. (Photo by Express/Express/Getty Images)

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1930:  Laurel and Hardy pictured in a still from their film 'Another Fine Mess'.  (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)1930:  Laurel and Hardy pictured in a still from their film 'Another Fine Mess'.  (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
1930: Laurel and Hardy pictured in a still from their film 'Another Fine Mess'. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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