Sterling Price Holloway Jr. (January 14, 1905 – November 22, 1992) was an American 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.
Early life Born in Cedartown, Georgia, on January 14, 1905, Holloway was named after his father, Sterling Price Holloway, who, in turn, was named after a prominent Confederate general, Sterling "Pap" Price. His mother was Rebecca DeHaven Boothby. He had a younger brother named Boothby. The family owned a grocery store in Cedartown, where his father served as mayor in 1912. After attending Georgia Military Academy, he left Georgia in 1920 at the age of fifteen and went to 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
Stage In his late teens, Holloway toured with the stock company of The Shepherd of the Hills, performing in one-nighters across much of the American West before returning to New York where he performed with the Theatre Guild production of Fata Morgana and appeared in the Rodgers and Hart revue The Garrick Gaieties in the mid-1920s. A talented singer, he introduced "Manhattan" in 1925 and the following year sang "Mountain Greenery".
Films and shorts
He moved to Hollywood in 1926 to begin a film career that lasted almost fifty years. His bushy red hair and foggy distinctive voice meant that he almost always appeared in comedies. His first film was The Battling Kangaroo (1926), a silent picture. Over the following decades, Holloway would appear with Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Lon Chaney Jr., Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Bing Crosby, and John Carradine. In 1942, during World War II, Holloway enlisted in the United States Army at the age of 37 and was assigned to the Special Services. He helped develop a show called "Hey Rookie", which ran for nine months and raised $350,000 for the Army Relief Fund. In 1945, Holloway played the role of a medic assigned to an infantry platoon in the critically acclaimed film A Walk in the Sun. Between 1946 and 1947, he played the comic sidekick in five Gene Autry Westerns.Rothel. His final film role was Hobe Carpenter, a friendly moonshiner who helps Harley Thomas (David Carradine) in Thunder and Lightning (1977).
With Walt Disney Walt Disney originally considered Holloway for the voice of Sleepy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), but chose Pinto Colvig instead. Holloway's voice work in animated films began with Dumbo (1941), as the voice of Mr. Stork. Holloway was the voice of the adult Flower in Bambi (1942), the narrator of the Antarctic penguin sequence in The Three Caballeros (1944), and the narrator in the Peter and the Wolf sequence of Make Mine Music (1946). He was the voice of the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland (1951); the narrator in The Little House (1952), Susie the Little Blue Coupe (1952), Lambert the Sheepish Lion (1952), and Goliath II (1960); Amos Mouse from Ben and Me (1953); Kaa the snake in The Jungle Book (1967); and Roquefort the mouse in The Aristocats (1970). He is perhaps best remembered as the voice of Winnie the Pooh in Disney's Winnie the Pooh featurettes through 1977. He was honored as a Disney Legend in 1991, the first person to receive the award in the voice category. A majority of his roles were inherited by voice actor Jim Cummings following his death.
Radio and recordings Holloway acted on many radio programs, including The Railroad Hour, The United States Steel Hour, Suspense, Lux Radio Theater, and The Shadow. In the late 1940s, he could be heard in various roles on NBC's "Fibber McGee and Molly". His voice retained a touch of its Southern drawl and was instantly recognizable. Holloway was chosen to narrate many children's records, including Uncle Remus Stories (Decca), Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes (Disneyland Records), Walt Disney Presents Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories (Disneyland Records), and Peter And The Wolf (RCA Victor).
Television
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.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Holloway had live parts in two of The Bell System Science Series educational films, and a voice part in a third. In 1969, Holloway narrated a summary of the Super Bowl III game, titled Joe and the Magic Bean, with “Joe” being New York Jets player Joe Namath, and the “magic bean” being the football.
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 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 an audition to return to the role for The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, which turned out to be a perfunctory offer as the producers believed he was too old to handle the strain of recording a full series (an assumption that angered Holloway's agent) even though he was still capable of performing the voice; 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. As late as 1991, Berkeley Breathed had shown interest in hiring Holloway to voice Opus the Penguin for his animated adaptation of A Wish for Wings That Work; for reasons unknown, Breathed was unable to contact Holloway, and Michael Bell voiced the character instead. Holloway died of a cardiac arrest at the Good Samaritan Hospital on November 22, 1992. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean.
Art collection
Holloway was an avid art collector, important in the early careers of many local Los Angeles area artists such as Edward Kienholz and Billy Al Bengston. His large, eclectic, and mostly contemporary collection was sold off piecemeal prior to his death due to his failing health. The collection was a central element in his life outside of his work, building his home on a hillside overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Laguna Beach, California to serve primarily as a gallery in which to display his collection. His instructions to his architect, Paul Sterling Hoag, were that it should be the home "primarily for his paintings and sculpture and only secondarily for himself." The design of the house included unique elements such as large built-in flat file drawers to hold prints and other unmounted works from his collection as well as features specifically designated for certain notable artworks, such as the commissioned revolving wooden sunshade panels made by Robert Cremean which faced the setting sun, and sculptured front doors by John Mason. The whole layout of the house was optimized for the appreciation of the displayed works of art, more similar to the design of a gallery than a home.
Filmography
Feature films
Casey at the Bat (1927) as Elmer Putnam American Madness (1932) as Oscar (uncredited) Blonde Venus (1932) as Joe, Hiker (uncredited) Faithless (1932) as Photographer (uncredited) Rockabye (1932) as Speakeasy Pianist (uncredited) Lawyer Man (1932) as Olga's Dining Friend (uncredited) Hard to Handle (1933) as Andy Heaney (uncredited) Blondie Johnson (1933) as Red Charley Fast Workers (1933) as Pinky Magoo Hell Below (1933) as Seaman Jenks Elmer, the Great (1933) as Nick Kane Picture Snatcher (1933) as Journalism Student (uncredited) Adorable (1933) as Emile, Karl's Valet (uncredited) International House (1933) as Sailor Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) as Second Hat Delivery Boy (uncredited) Professional Sweetheart (1933) as Stu When Ladies Meet (1933) as Jerome – the Caddy (uncredited) Wild Boys of the Road (1933) as Ollie, another hobo Dancing Lady (1933) as Pinky – the Show's Author Advice to the Lovelorn (1933) as Benny Alice in Wonderland (1933) as Frog Going Hollywood (1933) as Radio Remote Technician (uncredited) The Cat and the Fiddle (1934) as Flower Messenger (uncredited) Strictly Dynamite (1934) as Elmer Fleming Back Page (1934) as Bill Giddings Operator 13 (1934) as Wounded Union Soldier (uncredited) Murder in the Private Car (1934) as Office Boy (uncredited) Tomorrow's Children (1934) as Dr. Dorsey Down to Their Last Yacht (1934) as Freddy Finn Gift of Gab (1934) as Sound Effects Man The Merry Widow (1934) as Mischka the orderly Girl o' My Dreams (1934) as Spec Early A Wicked Woman (1934) as Peter Lottery Lover (1935) as Cadet Harold Stump Life Begins at 40 (1935) as Chris Doubting Thomas (1935) as Mr. Spindler I Live My Life (1935) as Max 1,000 Dollars A Minute (1935) as Pete Rendezvous (1935) as Taxi Driver (uncredited) Palm Springs (1936) as Oscar Career Woman (1936) as George Rogers Join the Marines (1937) as Alfred, the Steward Maid of Salem (1937) as Miles Corbin – Cow Herder When Love Is Young (1937) as Orville Kane The Woman I Love (1937) as Duprez Varsity Show (1937) as Trout Behind the Mike (1937) as Tommy Astor Of Human Hearts (1938) as Chauncey Ames Doctor Rhythm (1938) as Luke (Ice-Cream Man) Held for Ransom (1938) as RFD Mailman (uncredited) Professor Beware (1938) as The Groom Spring Madness (1938) as Buck St. Louis Blues (1939) as Boatman (uncredited) East Side of Heaven (1939) as Accordion player (uncredited) Nick Carter, Master Detective (1939) as Bee-Catcher The Blue Bird (1940) as Wild Plum Remember the Night (1940) as Willie Hit Parade of 1941 (1940) as Soda Jerk Street of Memories (1940) as Student Barber Little Men (1940) as Reporter Cheers for Miss Bishop (1941) as Chris Jensen Meet John Doe (1941) as Dan The Great Awakening (1941) as Otto, the bookkeeper Top Sergeant Mulligan (1941) as Frank Snark Dumbo (1941) as Mr. Stork (voice) Look Who's Laughing (1941) as Rusty, Soda Jerk (uncredited) Don't Get Personal (1942) as Lucky The Lady Is Willing (1942) as Arthur Miggle (uncredited) Star Spangled Rhythm (1942) as Sterling - 'Sweater, Sarong & Peekaboo Bang' number Bambi (1942) as Adult Flower (voice, uncredited) Iceland (1942) as Sverdrup Svenssen Here We Go Again (1942) as Tommy, Western Union Messenger (uncredited) The Three Caballeros (1944) as Prof. Holloway (voice) Wildfire (1945) as Alkali Jones A Walk in the Sun (1945) as McWilliams Make Mine Music (1946) as Narrator (segment "Peter and the Wolf") (voice) Death Valley (1946) as Slim Sioux City Sue (1946) as Nellie Bly Her Wonderful Lie (1947) Trail to San Antone (1947) as Droopy Stearns Twilight on the Rio Grande (1947) as Pokie Saddle Pals (1947) as Waldo T. Brooks Jr. Robin Hood of Texas (1947) as Droopy Haynes Addio Mimí! (1949) as Aristide