Will Hay

Did You Know?

• Hay was born at 23 Durham Street in Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, one of five children.
• By his late teens he was fluent in Italian, French and German and worked as an interpreter.
• His last public appearance was on Good Friday, 15 April 1949; he died of a stroke three days later.

Career

Will Hay was twenty-one when he saw W. C. Fields juggle in Manchester and decided to become an actor. His first paid work came at a theatre in Belper. In 1910 he debuted his schoolmaster character, inspired by a teaching mistress who worked with his sister. At first he played the role in drag as a schoolmistress, but later turned it into a headmaster.

During the early 1900s he found modest success as a stand-up comedian and after-dinner speaker. In 1914 he joined Fred Karno, the impresario who had launched Stan Laurel and Charlie Chaplin, and stayed for four years. The schoolmaster sketch grew into a full routine called "The Fourth Form at St. Michael's," which Hay took on tour through the United States, Canada, Australia, and South Africa. While in South Africa he taught himself to count to five in Afrikaans.

His wife Gladys often appeared in his sketches, playing either a schoolboy or the character Harbottle. Harbottle was a dim, nearly deaf old man stuck in school because of his slowness, and became one of Hay's most popular characters. In the films, Moore Marriott later played Harbottle. Hay performed the schoolmaster routine at the 1925 Royal Command Performance for King George V and Queen Mary.

He also wrote a magazine article called Philosophy of Laughter, where he explored why people laugh. He argued that when a custard pie is thrown on stage, the audience briefly fears it is coming at them, then feels relief when it does not hit them, and that relief produces laughter.

Astronomy

In June 1932, Hay joined the British Astronomical Association, and by November he was also a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. He is remembered for spotting a Great White Spot on Saturn in 1933. He kept his astronomy work apart from his comedy career, publishing and lecturing under the name W.T. Hay. A strong believer in astronomy education, he told the Daily Mail in 1933 that if everyone were astronomers, war would end. He was a friend of William Herbert Steavenson, later President of the Royal Astronomical Society. Some of his equipment went to the British Astronomical Association shortly before his death. The asteroid 3125 Hay bears his name.

Personal life

In 1907 Hay married Gladys Perkins, whom he had known since age 15. They legally separated on 18 November 1935 but never divorced, as Gladys was a Roman Catholic. They had two daughters and a son: Gladys Elspeth, William Edward, and Joan Athol. After the separation, he began a long-term relationship with Randi Kopstad of Norway.

Off-screen, Hay was described as somewhat eccentric, serious, and private; some thought he may have had a dark side. Peter Ustinov, who made his film debut in The Goose Steps Out as a straight man to Hay, said in a 1990 interview that Hay was not very funny and that he was always wrapped in a blanket at certain hours having tea, during which everyone stopped talking. Hay was known to be a hypochondriac and often complained of illness. He was a passionate aviator and gave flying lessons to Amy Johnson.

In 1946 he suffered a stroke that crippled the right side of his body and affected his speech; doctors said he would likely only partially recover. He spent time in South Africa on medical advice for the climate. His health improved slightly by 1947, when he planned to become a film producer, but after his friend Marcel Varnel died in a car accident that year, Hay postponed those plans.

Legacy

The Will Hay Appreciation Society, founded in 2009 by British artist Tom Marshall, aims to preserve Hay's legacy and introduce his work to new audiences; as of October 2023 it had over 8000 members. In October 2018 the society unveiled a memorial bench to Hay, Moore Marriott, and Graham Moffatt in Cliddesden, Hampshire, the filming location for Buggleskelly in Oh, Mr Porter!, with music producer Pete Waterman and Hay's family present. The humour of Hay's films has been described as subversive and similar to that of Frank Randle, often exhibiting anti-authoritarianism and satirical portrayals of authority figures. A 2009 biography by Graham Rinaldi included a foreword by Ken Dodd and excerpts from Hay's unpublished autobiography I Enjoyed Every Minute. Roy Hudd defined Hay as the "supreme master" of sketch comedy.