43 Facts About Will Hay

William Thomson Hay was an English comedian who wrote and acted in a schoolmaster sketch that later transferred to the screen, where he played other authority figures with comic failings.

Will Hay was one of two sons and three daughters of William Robert Hay and his wife, Elizabeth.

In 1914 Will Hay began working with the impresario Fred Karno who had previously helped Stan Laurel and Charlie Chaplin achieve success.

Will Hay first performed his schoolmaster character in 1910 which he based upon a colleague of his sister, who was a teaching mistress.

The acts in which Will Hay performed the schoolmaster sketch became known as "The Fourth Form at St Michael's".

Will Hay toured with the act and appeared in the United States, Canada, Australia and South Africa.

The Harbottle character was one of the most appreciated in Will Hay's act, a dim-witted, nearly deaf old man who is still in school because he's so backward.

The character later featured in Will Hay's films portrayed by Moore Marriott.

Will Hay famously performed the schoolmaster routine at the 1925 Royal Command Performance before King George V and Queen Mary.

Will Hay published a magazine piece entitled Philosophy of Laughter, in which he discussed the psychology of comedy.

Will Hay is widely regarded as one of the most prolific and influential British comedians of all time.

Will 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.

Will Hay often portrayed incompetent authority figures who attempt to conceal their incompetence but whose true traits are gradually exposed.

Will Hay is often compared to W C Fields, who typically portrayed characters similar to those of Hay, being misanthropic, self-centered scoundrels who nevertheless remain sympathetic.

Will Hay had become interested in film making while touring in the United States in the 1920s, although, at the time he doubted he had a future in this field.

Will Hay was ranked 8th in 1936,4th in 1937 and 3rd in 1938.

Will Hay's film was widely seen as subversive towards authority, and it was granted an 'A' certificate by the British Board of Film Classification.

Boys Will Be Boys is widely regarded as Hay's break-out film.

Many years later, the Radio Times Guide to Films gave Boys Will Hay Be Boys three stars out of five, observing that the film contains "the blend of bluster and dishonesty that makes his films irresistible".

Will Hay was known to dislike working with the pair, describing their partnership as "a three legged stool".

Will Hay had expressed concern that Moore Marriott, who portrayed Harbottle, received a bigger reaction from audiences than he did.

Will Hay left Gainsborough and began working with Ealing Studios in 1940, in an attempt to break up his partnership with Moffatt and Marriott.

Will Hay was scheduled to star in another film for Ealing in 1943, Bob's Your Uncle, but his diagnosis of cancer prevented him from proceeding.

Will 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.

The half-hour weekly Will Hay Programme began in August 1944, and was broadcast live from the BBC Paris Theatre in Lower Regent Street.

Will Hay is noted for having discovered a Great White Spot on the planet Saturn in 1933.

Will Hay, using the same title when giving lectures on astronomy.

Will Hay was an advocate for education on astronomy and considered those who had an interest in astronomy "the only men who see life in its true proportion".

Just before Will Hay died, a few items of his equipment were donated to the British Astronomical Association.

Will Hay has an asteroid named in his honour - Asteroid 3125 Hay.

In 1907 Will Hay married Gladys Perkins, whom he had known since he was 15, but they legally separated on 18 November 1935.

Will Hay was very funny when you saw him on the screen, but in life all those people are very, very strange.

Will Hay was known to be a hypochondriac, and would often complain of illness to his colleagues when working.

Will Hay was a passionate aviator, and gave flying lessons to Amy Johnson.

In 1946 while on holiday, Will Hay suffered a stroke which left the right side of his body crippled and affected his speech.

Will Hay was told by his doctors that he would in all likelihood only make a partial recovery.

Will Hay's health had improved slightly by the following year, when he had plans to become a film producer but, in 1947, his friend Marcel Varnel, who had directed many of Hay's films, died in a car accident, and Hay postponed his plans.

Will Hay made his last public appearance on Good Friday 1949.

Will Hay died at the age of 60 on 18 April 1949 at his flat in Chelsea, London, three days later following a further stroke.

Will Hay's body was buried in Streatham Park Cemetery in London.

The humour of Will Hay's films has been described as subversive and similar to that of fellow English comedian Frank Randle.

Will Hay's films are often characterised as exhibiting traits of anti-authoritarianism and having a satirical approach towards how authority figures are portrayed.

Will Hay never published an autobiography during his lifetime; however, when ill in the 1940s, he had begun writing one, entitled I Enjoyed Every Minute.