Laurel and Hardy filmography

This list contains only the films that Laurel and Hardy made together. For their solo films see Stan Laurel filmography and Oliver Hardy filmography.
Laurel (left) and Hardy in Bonnie Scotland (1935)

Laurel and Hardy were a motion picture comedy team whose official filmography consists of 106 films released between 1921 and 1951.[1] Together they appeared in 34 silent shorts,A 45 sound shorts, and 27 full-length sound feature films.B In addition to these, Laurel and Hardy appeared in at least 20 foreign-language versions of their films and a promotional film, Galaxy of Stars (1936), produced for European film distributors.[2]

Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and Oliver Hardy (1892–1957) were established as film comedians prior to their teaming, with Laurel appearing in over 50 silent films and Hardy in over 250. (Hardy also appeared in three sound features without Laurel.)[3] Although they first worked together in the film The Lucky Dog (1921), this was a chance pairing and it was not until 1926 when both separately signed contracts with the Hal Roach film studio that they appeared in film shorts together.[4] Laurel and Hardy officially became a team the following year with their 11th silent short film, The Second Hundred Years (1927).[5] The pair remained with the Roach studio until 1940.[6] Between 1941 and 1945, they appeared in eight features and one short for 20th Century Fox and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.[7] After finishing their film commitments, Laurel and Hardy concentrated on stage shows, embarking on a music hall tour of Great Britain.[8] In 1950, they appeared in their last film, Atoll K, a French/Italian coproduction.[9]

In 1932, Laurel and Hardy's short The Music Box won the Academy Award for Live Action Short Film (Comedy).[10][11] In 1960, Laurel was presented with an Academy Honorary Award "for his creative pioneering in the field of cinema comedy."[12] In 1992, 1997, 2012 and 2020 respectively, Big Business (1929), The Music Box, Sons of the Desert (1933) and The Battle of the Century (1927) were added to the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."[11][13][14] For their contributions to cinema, Laurel and Hardy have been awarded separate stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[15][16]

  1. ^ Skretvedt 1994, pp. 71–426, 468–469
  2. ^ Seguin, Chris. "Forgotten Laurel & Hardy film emerges on French DVD". The Laurel and Hardy Magazine. Archived from the original on October 20, 2013. Retrieved September 19, 2013.
  3. ^ Stone 1996, pp. 569–573
  4. ^ Everson 1973, p. 41
  5. ^ Everson 1973, p. 50
  6. ^ Skretvedt 1994, p. 369
  7. ^ McCabe, Kilgore & Bann 1975, pp. 393–397
  8. ^ Skretvedt 1994, pp. 414–417
  9. ^ Skretvedt 1994, p. 417
  10. ^ "The 5th Academy Awards (1932) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on May 7, 2016. Retrieved May 24, 2013.
  11. ^ a b "NY Times.com: The Music Box". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2012. Archived from the original on November 3, 2012. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
  12. ^ "The Official Academy Awards Database". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 2013. Archived from the original on 2009-02-08. Note: Type "Stan Laurel" into the Nominee box and click on search
  13. ^ "25 American films are added to the National Film Registry". The Prescott Courier. Associated Press. December 7, 1992. Archived from the original on May 11, 2020. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
  14. ^ Cannady, Sheryl (December 19, 2012). "2012 National Film Registry Picks in A League of Their Own". Library of Congress. Archived from the original on November 18, 2016. Retrieved September 19, 2013.
  15. ^ "Stan Laurel". Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. 2013. Archived from the original on June 4, 2023. Retrieved September 19, 2013.
  16. ^ "Oliver Hardy". Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. 2013. Archived from the original on March 21, 2023. Retrieved September 19, 2013.