Oliver Hardy

Oliver Ollie Hardy was an American comic actor famous as one half of Laurel and Hardy, the classic double act that began in the era of silent films and lastedyears, from 1927 to 1951. He was credited with his first film, Outwitting Dad, in 1914. In some of his early works, he was billed as Babe Hardy, using his nickname.

Oliver Hardy was born Norvell Hardy in Harlem, Georgia. His father, Oliver, was a Confederate veteran who was wounded at the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862. After his demobilization as a recruiting officer for Company K, 16th Georgia Regiment, the elder Oliver Hardy assisted his father in running the vestiges of the family cotton plantation. He bought a share in a retail business and was elected fulltime Tax Collector for Columbia County, Georgia. Norvells mother, Emily Norvell, was the daughter of Thomas Benjamin Norvell and Mary Freeman, descended from Captain Hugh Norvell of Williamsburg, Virginia, who had arrived in Virginia before 1635. Hardy and Norvell had married March 12, 1890 it was the second marriage for the widow Emily, and the third for Oliver. He was of paternal English American descent and maternal Scottish American descent.

Source: Wikipedia