Information AboutWill Hay |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT WILL HAY | |
| 1888 births | |
| hay, will | |
| 1949 deaths | |
| english film actors | |
| english comedians | |
| english astronomers | |
| english polyglots | |
| people from stockton-on-tees | |
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He was trained as an engineer and joined a firm of engineers but at the age of 21 he gave up that profession for acting. He had a relatively brief screen career: by the time he made his first Film he was in his mid-40s and an established Music Hall Artist , and his last role came less than a decade later. But between 1934 and 1943 he was a prolific and popular film comedian. He was credited on several films as a writer or co-ordinator, and was arguably the dominant He worked at Elstree , then Gainsborough , then Ealing ; the Gainsborough period was the most consistently successful, particularly when he worked with the team of Marcel Varnel ( Director ), Val Guest and Marriott Edgar (writers), and Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt (supporting cast) - as on the railway film '' Oh, Mr Porter! '' ( 1937 ), his most fondly remembered picture with its catchphrase, 'The next train's gone!', spoken by Marriott as the decrepit old stationmaster. Just as Tony Hancock , in some ways a descendant of Hay, would later cut himself off from sidekick Sid James , Hay felt impelled to break up the partnership with Moffatt and Marriott and was, likewise, never quite the same again, although '' The Goose Steps Out '' for Ealing (1942) was an effective anti- Nazi piece of Slapstick , and '' My Learned Friend '', a masterpiece of black comedy which some regard as his best. Aside from his s with a Micrometer he built himself, and designed and built a Blink Comparator . He wrote the book ''Through My Telescope'' in 1935 . He was also one of Britain's first private Pilots and gave flying lessons to Amy Johnson . He was a Polyglot and before entering the acting profession full time, was an accomplished translator - fluent in French , German , Latin , Italian , Norwegian and Afrikaans . In 1943 , Will Hay received treatment for Cancer which left him too weak for theatre and film performances - he returned to his roots in Radio Programming . In 1947 he had a Stroke which left him physically crippled, forcing him into retirement. He died after a further stroke in 1949 . FILMS
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