That studio closed after Hardy discovered that the owners were stealing from the payroll. He returned to Jacksonville, where he made films for the Vim Comedy Company. He moved to New York and made films for the Pathé, Casino and Edison Studios. By 1915, Hardy had made 50 short one-reel films at Lubin. He was most often cast as the villain, but he also had roles in comedy shorts, his size complementing the character. He was a big man, standing 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) and weighing up to 300 pounds ( c. 136 kg), and his size placed limits on the roles that he could play.
In his personal life, he was known as "Babe" Hardy and was billed as "Babe Hardy" in many of his later films at Lubin, such as Back to the Farm (1914). The next year, he made his first movie, Outwitting Dad (1914), for the Lubin studio, billed as O. It was at this time that he met Madelyn Saloshin, a pianist, whom he married on November 17, 1913, in Macon, Georgia. He worked in Jacksonville as a cabaret and vaudeville singer at night and at the Lubin Manufacturing Company during the day. A friend suggested that he move to Jacksonville, Florida, where some films were being made, which he did in 1913. He soon became obsessed with the new motion picture industry and was convinced that he could do a better job than the actors that he saw. In 1910, The Palace, a motion picture theater, opened in Hardy's hometown of Milledgeville, and he became the projectionist, ticket taker, janitor and manager. He was inducted into the Grand Order of Water Rats along with Stan Laurel. Hardy was initiated into Freemasonry at Solomon Lodge No. census, and he used "Oliver" as his first name in all subsequent legal records, marriage announcements, etc. He skipped some of his lessons to sing in the Alcazar Theater for $3.50 a week.Īs a teenager, Hardy began styling himself "Oliver Norvell Hardy", adding the first name "Oliver" as a tribute to his father. His mother recognized his talent for singing and sent him to Atlanta to study music and voice with singing teacher Adolf Dahm-Petersen. He joined a theatrical group and later ran away from a boarding school near Atlanta to sing with the group. He had little interest in formal education, although he acquired an early interest in music and theater. In 1905, when he was 13, he was sent to Young Harris College in north Georgia for the fall semester. He was sent to Georgia Military College in Milledgeville as a youngster.
His older brother Sam drowned in the Oconee River Hardy pulled him from the river but was unable to resuscitate him.Īs a child, Hardy was sometimes difficult. His father died less than a year after his birth. He was likely born in Harlem, though some sources say that his birth occurred in Covington, Georgia, his mother's hometown. The family moved to Madison, Georgia, in 1891, the year before Norvell's birth. The elder Hardy and Norvell married Mait was her second marriage and his third. Hardy's mother, Emily Norvell, was the daughter of Thomas Benjamin Norvell, who was descended from Captain Hugh Norvell of Williamsburg, Virginia, and Mary Freeman. He then bought a share in a retail business and was elected full-time Tax Collector for Columbia County, Georgia. The elder Oliver Hardy assisted his father in running the vestiges of the family cotton plantation following the Civil War. His father, Oliver, was a Confederate veteran who had been wounded at the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862, and was a recruiting officer for Company K, 16th Georgia Regiment. Oliver Hardy was born Norvell Hardy in Harlem, Georgia.
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