By Ralph Schiller
Sterling Holloway
was born Sterling Price Holloway, Jr. on January 4, 1905
in Cedartown, Georgia. The son of a prominent local grocer,
young Sterling left Georgia to pursue a career as a stage actor.
With his thick, bushy, batter-whipped reddish hair, and a
mellow, lilting, velvet voice, Sterling Holloway was destined to
play country hayseeds, bumpkins and rubes in comical roles.
Sterling
moved out to California in 1926 making his screen debut for the
Mack Sennett studios at the tail end of the silent movie
era. His first feature film was Casey at the Bat (1927).
By the 1930’s Sterling Holloway was appearing in one
major feature film after another opposite some of Hollywood’s
greatest stars. In 1933 he played Joe E. Brown’s country cousin
in Elmer The Great (1933), and did a musical comedy dance
number in International House (1933) which starred W.C.
Fields, Bela Lugosi, and George Burns &
Gracie Allen. That same year Holloway also appeared with
Bing Crosby in Going Hollywood for MGM, and was
starring in a series of comedy short subjects at Universal.
In the live-action Alice in Wonderland (1933) for
Paramount. Sterling Holloway played the role of ‘the frog’
alongside nearly every major star on the lot including Gary
Cooper, W.C. Fields, Cary Grant, and Charlotte
Henry. Eighteen years later Holloway would be the only star
from the original tapped for the animated Walt Disney
remake of Alice in Wonderland (1951) when he did the
voiceover of the ‘Cheshire Cat.’ Some of Sterling Holloway’s
other co-stars in the 1930’s included Jeanette MacDonald
and Maurice Chevalier in The Merry Widow (1934),
Joan Crawford in I Live My Life (1935), and two
feature films starring Will Rogers at Fox studios.
Maid Of Salem (1937) starred Claudette Colbert and
Fred MacMurray with Sterling Holloway playing it
straight as Miles Corbin in this lavish historical film
based on the infamous Salem Witch Trials in 17th
century New England.
By
the 1940s Sterling Holloway had also become the Walt Disney
studios’ top voice actor when he lent his magical voice to such
classic animated cartoons like Dumbo (1941), Bambi
(1942), The Three Caballeros (1944), and Peter And The
Wolf (1946). After making Remember The Night
(1940) with Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray,
The Blue Bird (1940) with Shirley Temple, and
Iceland (1942) with Sonja Henie and John Payne,
Sterling Holloway interrupted his non-stop film career to serve
in the U.S. Army during World War Two. After the war Holloway
returned to Hollywood where he gave an outstanding dramatic
performance as a frightened but determined soldier in A Walk
In The Sun (1945) for director Lewis Milestone
starring Dana Andrews.
When cowboy star Gene Autry returned to Republic Pictures
after service in the Army Air Corps, he discovered that his
screen sidekick Smiley Burnette had moved over to
Columbia Pictures. For his remaining year at the studio
Autry tapped Sterling Holloway to play his comical saddle-pal in
five Gene Autry Western feature films. At the same time
(1946–1948) producer Jules White starred Sterling
Holloway in a series of six comedy short subjects over at
Columbia studios. In the comedy short Man or Mouse
(1948) Holloway’s leading lady was Noel Neill, who was
already playing Lois Lane in the Superman (1948)
serial produced at the same studio!
After co-starring in Technicolor as one of the bully boys in the
Preston Sturges comedy The Beautiful Blonde
from Bashful Bend (1949) with Betty Grable for Fox,
Sterling Holloway moved over to television. He had a recurring
role as Waldo Binney on The Life of Riley TV
series starring William Bendix.
In
1953, Sterling Holloway would make the first of three
outstanding appearances on The Adventures of Superman
starring George Reeves! In the second season episode
#39, The Machine That Could Plot Crimes, Holloway
appeared as the highly eccentric, absent-minded but very
dedicated Professor Oscar Quinn. The professor,
who prefers to be called Uncle Oscar has invented and
created a machine named Mr. Kelso that he claims to be
amazing. When asked by gangster Larry McCoy(played by Billy
Nelson, who seems to be a dead ringer for Blinky)
what exactly Mr. Kelso does, Uncle Oscar suddenly straightens
out his stooped shoulders, holds up his chin defiantly, and
proudly says “He thinks!” In fact Mr. Kelso thinks so incredibly
well that McCoy and his partner Nosey (Ben Weldon) use
the primitive computer to accurately plot successful armed
robberies! For a short while Inspector Henderson, the Metropolis
Police Department, and Superman are completely baffled and
foiled by the gang with Mr. Kelso’s brain behind it. Mr. Kelso
was so well-designed by Uncle Oscar that he soon computed he was
being used by the gangsters. The machine then deliberately fed
misinformation to the gang which lead to their apprehension by
the police to the relief of Superman!
Sterling Holloway returned to The Adventures of Superman
near the end of the second season for episode #51, The
Whistling Bird. Uncle Oscar’s niece Nancy Quinn (Allene
Roberts) notifies Jimmy Olsen and Clark Kent about Uncle
Oscar’s latest biochemical invention. As distracted as always,
Uncle Oscar informs the Daily Planet reporters that he is
working on flavored glue for the back of U.S. postage stamps.
The flavors include veal, lamb, vegetable, liver & onions, ham,
and beef stew. Clark licks one of the stamps and proclaims
“Mmmmm! Just like Mother used to make, beef stew!” Uncle Oscar
exhales a sigh of relief, “Thank heavens! For a moment I
thought I added too much salt!” However when Kent pushes the
stamp onto an envelope it explodes like Nitroglycerin! Foreign
agents including one with a Russian accent want the formula for
the glue but Uncle Oscar’s documents lack a vital ingredient
that was memorized by his bird Schyler. Uncle Oscar’s only
passion is for his research and while studying in the park with
Schyler, he ignores the beautiful female agent (Toni Carroll)
who tries to seduce him by dropping a handkerchief. Schyler the
parakeet does have an eye for the ladies and gives the femme
fatale a wolf whistle. Uncle Oscar immediately comes out of his
fog and tells the flirtatious spy, “I want to apologize for
Schyler. I hope you didn’t think that I did that?” Upon leaving
the park, Uncle Oscar finally discovers her handkerchief, picks
it up, sniffs at it, and then throws it away in disgust!
Scyhler and Superman save Jimmy, Nancy, and Uncle Oscar and
round up the ring of foreign spies. There is no reference in
this episode to Mr. Kelso at all, and the great machine is
missing from Uncle Oscar’s laboratory.
Sterling Holloway’s final appearance on The Adventures of
Superman was the episode #53 Through the Time
Barrier which premiered the series third season in color.
Sterling Holloway’s character for some strange reason has been
renamed Professor Twiddle, but it’s really the same old
lovable Uncle Oscar although audiences could now see his
colorful reddish hair. Twiddle tells Perry White, Clark Kent,
Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and a gangster Turk Jackson (James
Hyland) that he has invented a time machine! The Daily
Planet editor and staff are very dubious of a time machine that
looks suspiciously like a converted reel-to-reel tape recorder
and challenge Twiddle to take them back in time. The confident
Professor complies and sets his time machine back to 50,000 B.C.
in prehistoric times and it works! But unfortunately, Professor
Twiddle had neglected to perfect the return process unless he
can remember the name of the missing element he needs. Turk
Jackson is happy to remain in the Jurassic era until Superman
appears showing the gangster just who is the boss. Professor
Twiddle finally remembers the ingredient that he needs which can
be found on meteors and asteroids. Superman flies to the
closest one in outer space and brings back a sample which seems
to fit perfectly into the contact socket on the time machine!
Everyone returns to modern day Metropolis, including a dismayed
Turk Jackson who discovers that the diamonds he was carrying
back with him were only worthless quartz.
According to Gary Grossman’s book Superman: From
Serial to Cereal, Sterling Holloway like Robert Shayne often
had a hard time keeping a straight face while filming the
series. When asked about the sudden violent death of George
Reeves a thoughtful Sterling Holloway said, “I met Reeves
for the first time on Superman and I liked him so very
much. He had such a great sense of humor; he was so full of
life. It was quite a shock when there was none left.”
After his scene-stealing work on The Adventures of Superman,
Sterling Holloway made three guest shots on the frontier
series Circus Boy in 1957 with Mickey Braddock (Dolenz)
playing Uncle Oscar’s Western ancestor and inventor, Elmer
Purdy! Holloway continued to work steady in films and
television playing the overwhelmed fire chief in It’s A Mad,
Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) with Spencer Tracy and an
immortal cast of movie comedy greats. He also co-starred with
Paul Ford in an unsuccessful CBS comedy series The
Baileys of Balboa (1964). In 1962 Sterling Holloway did a
memorable guest shot on The Andy Griffith Show in the
episode The Merchant Of Mayberry where he played a tired,
worn-out traveling salesman who finally finds his niche in that
small town thanks to Sheriff Taylor.
Finally Sterling Holloway’s career would enter another phase
when he was chosen by Walt Disney as the voice of the
title character in the animated cartoon Winnie the Pooh and
the Honey Tree (1966). This cartoon was an enormous success
and Holloway remained as Winnie the Pooh for three more
sequels as well providing voice-overs for other Disney animated
classics like Mickey And The Beanstalk (1947),
Jungle Book (1967), and The Aristocats (1970).
Sterling Holloway’s unique trademark voice finally achieved
screen immortality as Winnie the Pooh Bear.
Sterling Holloway made his 90th and final feature
film Thunder and Lightning in 1977. He died on November
22, 1992 at the age of 87. His hometown of Cedartown, Georgia
renamed the street that he grew up on from Cedar Street to
Sterling Holloway Place in his honor. Sterling Holloway
never married and had no immediate survivors, but this popular
character actor was loved by millions especially children who
were captivated by his wonderful voice.
Sterling Holloway was also beloved by the multitude of fans and
admirers of George Reeves and the Adventures of
Superman who never forgot their unforgettable Uncle
Oscar/Professor Twiddle. At the finale of The Machine
That Could Plot Crimes Uncle Oscar alone at last has a
twinkle in his eyes as he grabs Mr. Kelso’s mouthpiece and asks
the mind machine the following question: “Mr. Kelso, who is
Superman?” Within seconds Mr. Kelso’s signal light goes on,
bells ring, and the answer comes out on a ticker tape! Uncle
Oscar eagerly reads the answer but then with a sigh takes off
his glasses and looks right into the camera telling the audience
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Uncle Oscar as played by Sterling
Holloway was just a big ‘kid’ at heart and we loved him for it.
We
proudly induct Sterling Holloway into The George Reeves Hall
Of Fame.
Glass
House Presents
