Laurel and Hardy "nutty burglar" or as a Charlie Chaplin imitator. Oliver Hardy (January 18, 1892 – August 7, 1957) was born Norvell Hardy in Harlem, Georgia. By his late teens, Hardy was a popular stage singer and he operated a movie house in Milledgeville, Georgia, the Palace Theater, financed in part by his mother. For his stage name, he took his father's first name calling himself "Oliver Norvell Hardy" while offscreen his nicknames were "Ollie" and "Babe". The nickname "Babe" originated from an Italian barber near the Lubin Studios in Jacksonville, Florida who would rub Hardy's face with talcum powder and say
Oliver Hardy heart attack and stroke from which he never recovered. Hardy suffered a mild heart attack in May 1954, and he began looking after his health for the first time in his life. He lost more than 150 pounds in a few months, which completely changed his appearance. Letters written by Laurel refer to Hardy having terminal cancer, and some have thought that this was the real reason for Hardy's rapid weight loss. Both men were heavy smokers; Hal Roach said that they were a couple of "freight train smoke stacks". Hardy suffered a major stroke on September 14, 1956 which