Sterling Price Holloway, Jr. (born on January 4, 1905 and died on November 22, 1992) was an American character actor who appeared in 150 films and television shows. He was also a voice actor for The Walt Disney Company, well known for his distinctive tenor voice, and is perhaps best remembered as the original voice of Walt Disney's Winnie The Pooh.
Animated Movies
- Disney's Dumbo (1941) – Mr. Stork
- Disney's Bambi (1942) – Adult Flower the Skunk
- Disney's The Three Caballeros (1944) – the Narrator (The Cold Blooded Penguin segment)
- Disney's Make Mine Music (1946) – the Narrator (Peter and the Wolf segment)
- Disney's Fun and Fancy Free (1947) – the Narrator (Mickey and the beanstalk segment)
- Disney's The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949) – the Narrator
- Disney's Alice and Wonderland (1951) – The Cheshire Cat
- Disney's Ben and Me (1953) – Amos Mouse/Narrator
- Alakazam the Great (1960) – the Narrator
- Disney's The Jungle Book (1967) – Kaa the Snake
- Disney's The Aristocats (1970) – Roquefort the Mouse
- Disney's The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977) – Winnie The Pooh
- Once Upon a Studio – Winnie the Pooh, Cheshire Cat & Kaa the Snake (archive recordings)
Animated Shorts
- Boy Meets Dog (1938) – Narrator
- The Pelican and the snipe (1944) – Narrator
- The Cold Blood Penguin (1945) – Narrator
- Peter and the Wolf (1946) – Narrator
- Mickey and the Beanstalk (1947) – Narrator
- Lambert the Sheepless Lion (1951) – Mr. Stork/Narrator
- Susie the little Blue Coupe (1952) – Narrator
- The Little House (1952) – Narrator
- Ben and Me (1953) – Amos Mouse/Narrator
- Goliath ll (1960) – Narrator
- Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966) – Winnie the Pooh
- Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Tree (1968) – Winnie the Pooh
- Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (1974) – Winnie the Pooh
- Man, Monsters and Mysteries (1973) – Narrator
Death & Legacy
Unmarried through his life, Holloway once explained that this was because he felt lacking in nothing and did not wish to disturb his pattern of life, but he had a foster son, Richard Holloway that survived him (it is unknown exactly when Richard was adopted). Holloway died on November 22, 1992 from cardiac arrest in a Los Angeles hospital. He was cremated and his ashes were buried at sea.
Upon Holloway's death, voice actor Jim Cummings took over the role of Winnie The Pooh in 1988 for The New Adventures of Winnie The Pooh series, and Holloway's other voice roles like Kaa in Jungle Cubs and the Jungle Book II. The show Animaniacs paid tribute to Sterling Holloway by having Jim Cummings (in his Pooh voice) narrate episodes like "Nighty Night Toon and "The Warners and the Beanstalk". Cummings also took over Holloway's other roles like Mr. Stork from Dumbo and the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland. So far Cummings has not voiced Roquefort the Mouse from the Aristocats.
Relationships
Quotes
- "I've always loved the theater very much. I've always been in it. I hate being away from it. I'm very stubborn — I like to do what I want to do. And what I want to do most is theater".
- "I started in show business when I was fifteen years old by enrolling at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. That was in 1920. Some of my classmates included Spencer Tracy, Allen Jenkins, and Pat O'Brien. You know what happened to them".
- "If you do not know where you are going, any road will take you there".
- "Walt came to me, and he's such a stickler for voices, and said when you're finished with what you're doing today on Winnie the Pooh see what you can do with a snake because I can't find the right voice for it. I thought, wouldn't it be funny to have a snake with an aching back because it would be such a long ache?" (About how he became Kaa in Disney's The Jungle Book)
- "I came to Hollywood at a bad time. The movies were in a state of turmoil. Sound was coming in and silents were going out. Nobody thought I was suitable for talkies".
- "I didn't like making silent movies. Perhaps it was because I was from the stage and accustomed to a completely different routine".
Trivia
- His star sign is ???.
- His Chinese Zodiac sign is the ???.
- He was the first person consider to voice Sleepy from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
- Sterling Holloway voiced Sleepy the Dwarf for background tests.
- He did Jock's singing voice in Lady and the Tramp.
- Sterling Holloway said Winnie The Pooh was his favorite role that he love voicing for the Disney Company.
- Holloway was awarded the Disney Legend in 1991 where he was escorted by Winnie the Pooh himself up on stage to receive the award.
- Sterling's adopted son survived his name.
- Walt Disney said during the production of The Jungle Book (the final film he produced before his death), that Sterling Holloway will do a great performance as Kaa the snake. It was true that Hollway did do a great performance as Kaa.
- Kaa the snake is the only villian role that Holloway did.
- His successor for all his Disney character roles is Jim Cummings, who impersonates Holloway's voice very well.
- The memoriable songs for the Disney Franchise that everyone remembers him by are Trust In Me", and "Twas Brilling"/Happy Birthday from Dumbo,"Up Down Touch the Ground","I'm Just a little Black Cloud", "Mind over Matter", "A Rather Blustry Day", "The Rain Rain came down down", and "Hip Hip poohray" from the Many Adventures from Winnie The Pooh.
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh was Sterling Holloway's final performance as Winnie the Pooh.
- Sterling Holloway reprises his role as Mr. Stork in Lambert the Sheepless Lion.
- The street where he grew up during his childhood is named "Sterling Holloway" street in his honor.
- His high pitch voice as Winnie the Pooh in the New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, is what made him famous as Winnie The Pooh all over the world.
- He had major roles in two different film adaptations of "Alice in Wonderland." In Paramount's 1933 version, he played the Frog. In Disney's 1951 animated version, he provided the voice of the Cheshire Cat.
- He and Sebastian Cabot's finale time working together in a disney film project is The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh. The first time was in Disney's The Jungle Book, where Holloway plays a villianous Snake, and Cabot plays a kind Panther.
- Sterling Holloway and Phil Harris were in The Jungle Book, strangely enough their Jungle Book characters never interacted with each other. But their Artisocats characters do.
The people that Sterling Holloway has worked with in Walt Disney films are :
- Verna Felton (in Dumbo & Alice in Wonderland)
- Phil Harris (in The Aristocats)
- Paul Winchell (In the Aristocats & The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh)
- John Fiedler (In The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh)
- Hal Smith (In The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh)
- Bruce Reitherman (In The Jungle Book & The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh)
- Junius Matthews (In The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh)
- Howard Morris (In The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh)
- Clint Howard (In The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh)
- Kathryn Beaumont (In Alice in Wonderland)
- Scatman Crothers (In The Aristocats)
- Eva Gabor (In The Aristocats)
- Nancy Kulp (In The Artisocats)
- Liz English (In The Artisocats)
- 'Dean Clark (In The Artisocats)
- Gary Dubin (In The Artisocats)
- 'Barbara Luddy (In The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh)
- Ralph Wright (In The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh)
- Jerry Colonna (In Make Mine Music)
- Will Wright (In Bambi)
- Sam Edwards (In Bambi)
- Nelson Eddy (In Make Mine Music)
- Edward Brophy (In Dumbo)
- Vito Scotti (In The Artisocats)
Gallery