a b "Hay, William Thomson [Will] (1888–1949)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (onlineed.). Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/ref:odnb/37522. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) Archive of Channel 4 Review (UK)". Archived from the original on 29 August 2005 . Retrieved 16 March 2007. {{ cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL ( link) In March 1952 he was admitted to hospital in Kettering after two weeks of hiccuping. [3] He still made sporadic cinema film appearances in minor parts, the last being in the 1963 film 80,000 Suspects, directed by Val Guest, who was a writer of many of the films that Moffatt starred in with Will Hay and Moore Marriott. [4] Personal life and death [ edit ] a b c d e "The Essay, British Film Comedians: Will Hay". BBC Radio 3. 13 April 2015 . Retrieved 9 May 2017.

The plot of Oh, Mr Porter was loosely based on the Arnold Ridley play The Ghost Train. The title was taken from Oh! Mr Porter, a music hall song. Hay decided to become an actor when he was 21 after watching W. C. Fields perform a juggling act in Manchester. In the early years of the twentieth century Hay experienced some moderate success as a stand-up comedian and an after-dinner speaker. [5] Hay's first professional job came when he was offered a contract to perform at a theatre in Belper. [5] In 1914 Hay began working with the impresario Fred Karno who had previously helped Stan Laurel and Charlie Chaplin achieve success. He worked with Karno for four years. [5] He first performed his schoolmaster character in 1910 which he based upon a colleague of his sister, who was a teaching mistress. [4] The characterisation was initially performed in drag as a schoolmistress, but he transferred the character to a headmaster. [6] The society has since grown to over 8000 members (as of Sept 2023) and his work is now reaching new generations of fans. The society has hosted several annual 'Hay Day's with members attending from around the world, including Hay's family and the last actor to work with him, the late John Clark (Just William). Moffatt married Joyce Muriel Hazeldine in 1948. He died on 2 July 1965 in Bath, Somerset from heart failure at the early age of 45. His ashes were scattered in the English Channel at the village of Beer in Devon. He is survived by his three children Richard, Jayne and Chris. [5] Tributes [ edit ] The Will Hay Appreciation Society's plaque commemorating Graham Moffatt, best known as 'Albert'. The Will Hay Appreciation Society' was founded in 2009 by British artist Tom Marshall and aims to preserve Hay's legacy and bring his work to a new generation of fans. As of October 2023, the organisation has over 8000 members. [44] The Will Hay Appreciation Society unveiled a memorial bench to Will Hay, Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt in October 2018, in Cliddesden, Hampshire, the filming location for 'Buggleskelly' in Oh, Mr. Porter!. The bench was unveiled by Pete Waterman. [45]Hay, W.T. (1933). "The spot on Saturn". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 94: 85. Bibcode: 1933MNRAS..94...85H. doi: 10.1093/mnras/94.1.85 . Retrieved 11 May 2017. Hay's tenure with Ealing was a box office success and his films were critically acclaimed, but have been described as not at the level of his Gainsborough films with Moffatt and Marriott. [6] Radio career [ edit ] a b Mobberley, Martin P.; Goward, Kenneth J. (April 2009). "Will Hay (1888-1949) and his telescopes". Journal of the British Astronomical Association. 119 (2): 67–81. Bibcode: 2009JBAA..119...67M. Colonel Stephens' New Locomotives". The Colonel Stephens Railway Museum, Tenterden, Kent . Retrieved 13 May 2011. Marriott was born at Alpha Place, Yiewsley, Middlesex, on 14 September 1885, the son of George Matthew Marriott (1859–1940), who was then a commercial traveller, and his wife, Edith Rousby, née Coleman (1864–1946). His parents were actors, and his father became a theatrical manager. Moore Marriott made his stage debut at the age of five. He had originally intended to train as an architect, but instead he became an actor in films. [3] Rather like Wilfrid Brambell and Clive Dunn later, he became typecast as playing old men when he was still relatively young. He had a special set of artificial teeth which he would put in to play his 'old man' characters. He had no teeth in real life and took four different sets of false teeth with him to achieve variety in his characters.

a b "Jimmy Perry obituary: Creator of Dad's Army who used his own life experiences in much-loved sitcom". The Independent. London. 24 October 2016 . Retrieved 9 May 2017. Will Hay (1888 - 1949) was a British comic actor who toured the music halls of the world with his 'schoolmaster' routine. In the 1930s he moved into films, starring in classics like 'Oh, Mr. Porter!' (1937), joined by his co-stars Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt. Hay was also a keen amateur astronomer, a polyglot, a pilot (he taught Amy Johnson to fly) and of course a brilliant comic writer and director. The film critic Barry Norman included it among his 100 best films of all time, and fellow critic Derek Malcolm also included the film in his Century of Films, describing it as "perfectly representing a certain type of bumbling British humour", [10] despite being directed by a Parisian director. Porter writes a note and places it in Harbottle's 'medicine' bottle. He throws it through the window of the station master's office when they pass a large station,alerting the authorities. The entire railway goes into action, closing lines and re-routing trains until Gladstone can crash into a siding where the gun runners are arrested by waiting police.

Comedians who have cited Hay as an influence include Ken Dodd, [43] Eric Morecambe, Tommy Cooper, Harry Worth, [22] Harry Enfield, Jimmy Perry and David Croft. [10] Ronnie Barker also cited Hay as an influence, and in 1976 hosted a documentary on BBC Radio that discussed Hay's life and career. [6] Legacy [ edit ] The Will Hay Appreciation Society's 'Buggleskelly' memorial bench to Will Hay and his co-stars, unveiled on Sunday 14 October 2018 in Cliddesden, Hampshire, the filming location for 'Oh, Mr. Porter!'

Gregory, Paul. "Northiam". Weston Clevedon and Portishead Railway. Archived from the original on 18 March 2012 . Retrieved 13 May 2011. His first film for the studio was Boys Will Be Boys, whose screenplay was written by Hay himself. The movie's satire on the public school system was loosely based on the Narkover vein of humour in the work of Daily Express columnist, Beachcomber. Hay's film was widely seen as subversive towards authority, and it was granted an 'A' (adult) certificate by the British Board of Film Classification. [11] Boys Will Be Boys is widely regarded as Hay's break-out film. Writing for The Spectator, Graham Greene described the film as "very amusing", and Hay's portrayal of Dr. Smart as "competent", though Green thought Claude Dampier's portrayal of Second Master Finch (Hay's adversary) was the film's "finest performance". [14] Many years later, the Radio Times Guide to Films gave Boys Will Be Boys three stars out of five, observing that the film contains "the blend of bluster and dishonesty that makes his films irresistible". [15]

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Hay worked with Gainsborough Pictures from 1935 to 1940, during which time he developed a partnership with Graham Moffatt, playing an insolent overweight schoolboy, and Moore Marriott as a toothless old man. Hay's 1937 film, with Moffatt and Marriott, Oh, Mr. Porter! was credited by The Times as being "a comic masterpiece of the British cinema", [9] while the writer Jimmy Perry cited the film as an influence on key character development for Dad's Army. [10] a b c d e "Will Hay: the lost master of British comedy". The Daily Telegraph. London. 16 January 2009 . Retrieved 10 May 2017. The Will Hay Appreciation Society was founded in 2009 by British artist Tom Marshall, and aims to preserve the legacy of Will Hay, Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt and to bring their work to a new generation of fans. As of June 2019, the organisation has over 4200 members. [6] The Will Hay Appreciation Society unveiled a memorial bench to Will Hay, Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt in October 2018, in Cliddesden, Hampshire the filming location for Oh, Mr. Porter!. The bench was unveiled by Pete Waterman. [7] Selected items are only available for delivery via the Royal Mail 48® service and other items are available for delivery using this service for a charge.