The son of an American Civil War veteran of the Confederate States Army and Emily Norvell, Oliver Hardy was the youngest of five children. His father Oliver died when Hardy was less than a year old. It was not the only misfortune that befell the family. When he was 17, his older brother Sam visited the brothers’ home and together they decided to go swimming in an old mill on the Oconee River. Sam climbed a tree and dived from an overhanging branch into the river. Having tragically misjudged the depth of the water, he broke his neck on the rocks below the surface. Oliver and the brothers jumped into the river and pulled Sam out. They ran him home, but it was too late: Sam was dead. Decades later, in an appearance on the TV show This Is Your Life, Hardy was visibly moved by recalling that loss of Sam, making it evident what trace she had left on him. Little interested in formal education, he showed an early interest in music and theater. At the age of 8 he was performing in musical shows and his mother, recognized his talent for singing, decided to send him to Atlanta to study music with the singing teacher Adolf Dahm-Petersen.
January 18, 2022 | 07:18
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