page_title: Oliver Hardy
section_title: Early life and education
hierarchical_section_title: Oliver Hardy / Early life and education
caption_attribution_description: English: Historical marker in Milledgeville, Ga., that tells the story of Hardy's time in that town.
context_page_description: Oliver Norvell Hardy was an American comic actor and one half of Laurel and Hardy, the double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted from 1927 to 1955. He appeared with his comedy partner Stan Laurel in 107 short films, feature films, and cameo roles. He was credited with his first film Outwitting Dad in 1914. In most of his silent films before joining producer Hal Roach, he was billed on screen as "Babe Hardy".
context_section_description: Oliver Hardy was born Norvell Hardy in Harlem, Georgia. His father Oliver was a Confederate veteran who had been wounded at the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862 and was 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 following the Civil War. He then bought a share in a retail business and was elected full-time Tax Collector for Columbia County, Georgia. Hardy's mother Emily Norvell was the daughter of Thomas Benjamin Norvell and Mary Freeman, descended from Captain Hugh Norvell of Williamsburg, Virginia. The elder Hardy and Norvell married March 12, 1890; it was her second marriage and his third.
  The family moved to Madison, Georgia in 1891 before Norvell's birth. He was likely born in Harlem, though some sources say that his birth occurred in Covington, Georgia, his mother's hometown. His father died less than a year after his birth. Hardy was the youngest of five children. His older brother Sam drowned in the Oconee River; Hardy pulled him from the river but was unable to resuscitate him.
  As a child, Hardy was sometimes difficult. He was sent to Georgia Military College in Milledgeville as a youngster. In 1905, when he was 13, he was sent to Young Harris College in north Georgia fall semester. He had little interest in formal education, although he acquired an early interest in music and theater. He joined a theatrical group and later ran away from a boarding school near Atlanta to sing with the group. His mother recognized his talent for singing and sent him to Atlanta to study music and voice with singing teacher Adolf Dahm-Petersen. He skipped some of his lessons to sing in the Alcazar Theater for $3.50 a week.
  As a teenager, Hardy began styling himself "Oliver Norvell Hardy", adding the first name "Oliver" as a tribute to his father. He appeared as "Oliver N. Hardy" in the 1910 U.S. census, and he used "Oliver" as his first name in all subsequent legal records, marriage announcements, etc. Hardy was initiated into Freemasonry at Solomon Lodge No. 20 in Jacksonville, Florida. He was inducted into the Grand Order of Water Rats along with Stan Laurel.
caption: Historical marker in Milledgeville, Georgia, that tells the story of Hardy's time in that town.
exif: {"Image Software": "Google", "Image Artist": "Picasa"}