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 often using new sketches and material that Laurel had written for them. In 1949, Hardy's friend John Wayne asked him to play a supporting role in "The Fighting Kentuckian". Hardy had previously worked with Wayne and John Ford in a charity production of the play "What Price Glory?" while Laurel began treatment for his diabetes a few years previously. He was initially hesitant, but he accepted the role at Laurel's insistence. Frank Capra invited him to play a cameo role in "Riding High" with Bing Crosby in 1950. During 1950–51, Laurel and Hardy made their final film "Atoll K" (also