Sterling Holloway


Holloway, circa 1930s

Born: Sterling Price Holloway Jr.; January 4, 1905; Cedartown, Georgia, U.S.
Died: November 22, 1992 (aged 87); Los Angeles, California, U.S.

Sterling Price Holloway Jr. (January 4, 1905 – November 22, 1992) was an American actor and voice actor who appeared in over 100 films and 40 television shows. He did voice acting for The Walt Disney Company, playing Mr. Stork in Dumbo, Adult Flower in Bambi, the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland, Kaa in The Jungle Book, Roquefort the Mouse in The Aristocats, and the title character in Winnie the Pooh, among many others.

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Early life

Born in Cedartown, Georgia, Holloway was named after his father, Sterling Price Holloway (1864–1930), who, in turn, was named after a prominent Confederate general, Sterling "Pap" Price. His mother was Rebecca DeHaven Boothby (1879–1963). He had a younger brother named Boothby (1909–1978). The family owned a grocery store in Cedartown, where his father served as mayor in 1912. After graduating from Georgia Military Academy in 1920 at the age of fifteen, he left Georgia for New York City, where he attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. While there, he befriended actor Spencer Tracy, whom he considered one of his favorite working colleagues.

Career

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Television


Holloway with William Bendix on The Life of Riley, 1957


Holloway with Andy Griffith on The Andy Griffith Show, 1962

Holloway easily made the transition from radio to television. He appeared on the Adventures of Superman as "Uncle Oscar", an eccentric inventor, and played a recurring role on The Life of Riley. He guest-starred on Fred Waring's CBS television program in the 1950s and appeared on Circus Boy as a hot air balloonist. Some other series on which he performed include Five Fingers ( episode "The Temple of the Swinging Doll" ), The Untouchables, The Real McCoys ( "The Jinx" ), Hazel, Pete and Gladys, The Twilight Zone ( "What's in the Box" ), The Brothers Brannagan, Gilligan's Island, The Andy Griffith Show, The Donald O'Connor Show, Peter Gunn, F Troop, and Moonlighting. During the 1970s, Holloway did commercial voice-overs for Purina Puppy Chow dog food and sang their familiar jingle, "Puppy Chow/For a full year/Till he's full-grown!" He also provided the voice for Woodsy Owl in several 1970s and 1980s United States Forest Service commercials. He auditioned for the well-known comic book character Garfield in 1982, but lost to Lorenzo Music. He provided voice-over work for the 1984 commercial of Libby's baked beans.

Personal life and death

Holloway was a lifelong Democrat who supported the campaign of Adlai Stevenson during the 1956 United States presidential election. Holloway adhered to Methodism. Throughout his life, Holloway remained a bachelor. He once said this was because he felt lacking in nothing and did not wish to disturb his pattern of life. He adopted a son, Richard Holloway.

Fellow Winnie the Pooh cast member Hal Smith (who originated the character Owl) had taken over the role of Winnie the Pooh for the 1981 short Winnie the Pooh Discovers the Seasons. Holloway was given the chance to return to the role for The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh but, at 83 years old, could no longer perform the voice as he had in the past; Jim Cummings took over the role as well as most of Holloway's other voice roles, including Kaa in Jungle Cubs and The Jungle Book 2. Holloway died of a cardiac arrest at the Good Samaritan Hospital in the morning on November 22, 1992, at the age of 87.

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Sterling Holloway in The Twilight Zone

Repent6
52 subscribers

120,752 views Sep 23, 2011
Sterling Price Holloway, Jr. (January 4, 1905 -- November 22, 1992) was an American character actor who appeared in 150 films and television shows. He was also a voice actor for The Walt Disney Company. He was well-known for his distinctive tenor voice, and is best remembered for voicing Walt Disney's Winnie-the-Pooh from 1966 to 1977. (Taken from Wikipedia).

Sterling Holloway guest stars in Rod Serling's "The Twilight Zone" in an episode called "What's in the box", originally aired in March 13th, 1964.

Show Twilight Zone : What's in the Box

The end of a Perfect Day" what a wonderful movie of old; wonderful memories made

JOHN WESLEY
1.55K subscribers

205,856 views May 19, 2007

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Just look at this!! What a voice! I didn't know he could sing so beautifully. Simply beautiful rendition of a beautiful song by Sterling Holloway. He has to clear his throat but it is very original and believing whether it was intentional, I don't know. Very rare find of him singing such a beautiful heart warming song, and a wonderful movie! Thanks to the writer of "A Perfect Day" Carrie Jacobs-Bond, circa 1910

#GeneAutry #SingingCowboy #SterlingHolloway
The Cass County Boys & Sterling Holloway - Great Grand-Dad (Twilight on the Rio Grande 1947)

Gene Autry
22.9K subscribers

11,333 views Sep 22, 2016
Gene Autry supervises the Cass County Boys and Pokie's (played by Sterling Holloway) performance of "Great Grand-Dad" over the telephone from the 1947 Republic Pictures film "Twilight on the Rio Grande."

© Autry Qualified Interest Trust and The Autry Foundation

Read about the film here:
https://www.geneautry.com/geneautry/motionpictures/filmography/twilightontheriogrande.html

Buy the DVD here:
https://www.geneautry.com/musicmovies/dvds/twilightonriogrande.html

Visit the Official Gene Autry website for more about America's Favorite Singing Cowboy, Gene Autry!
http://www.geneautry.com