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Sterling Holloway (January 4, 1905 - November 22, 1992) was a perennial voice actor for the Walt Disney Studios, who began with a cameo role in Dumbo and later became a Disney legend as the voice of Winnie the Pooh.
Early career
Sterling Price Holloway, Jr. was named after Confederate General Sterling "Pap" Price. He was born in Cedartown, Georgia in 1905. After attending the Georgia Military Academy in College Park, he attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. Holloway made his way through the Theater Guild to appear in the first joint venture of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, Garrick Gaieties, a series of revues in the 1920s. With his light tenor voice, young Holloway made a foray into a professional singing career. He introduced the Rodgers and Hart standard "I'll Take Manhattan" in 1925, and in the 1926 edition of Garrick Gaities he sang "Mountain Greenery" ("...where God paints the scenery").
Voice
In 1930, Holloway moved to Hollywood to begin a movie career that was to last for almost fifty years. Though he was one of the busiest character actors in the movies, he soon found his niche as a voice actor. In 1941, Holloway's voice was heard in his first Walt Disney animated film, Dumbo, where he was the voice of "Mr. Stork." He was the voice of "Flower" in Bambi (1942), the narrator in the Peter and the Wolf sequence of Make Mine Music, Kaa in The Jungle Book, and the Cheshire cat in Alice in Wonderland (1951):
- "If you do not know where you are going... any road will take you there."
His greatest fame was achieved as the voice of Pooh Bear in the Winnie the Pooh series, a role that he voiced until his retirement in 1979. Disney honored him as an official Disney legend in 1991.
Sterling Holloway also voiced the original Cheerios Honey-Nut Bee.
Television
Sterling Holloway had a long career as a character actor in live-action films as well, with his memorably comic face, tousled sandy hair and squeaky voice. On TV, he had a recurring role as "Uncle Oscar" on The Adventures of Superman series, and had a recurring role on The Life of Riley. He appeared in The Untouchables, Hazel, The Twilight Zone, Gilligan's Island, and The Andy Griffith Show
See also
References
- Sterling Holloway (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001359/) at the Internet Movie Database
- The Sterling Holloway Historical Marker, posted at the corner of Sterling Holloway Place and South College Street, Cedartown, Georgia.
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