Will Hay
| Will Hay | |
|---|---|
Hay in The Ghost of St. Michael's (1941)
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| Birth name | William Thomson Hay |
| Born |
6 December 1888 , County Durham, England |
| Died | 18 April 1949 (aged 60) Chelsea, London, England |
| Resting place | Streatham Park Cemetery, London |
| Spouse | Gladys Perkins (1907–35) (separated) |
| Children | Gladys Elspeth Hay (b. 1909) William E. Hay (b. 1913) Joan A. Hay (b. 1917) |
William Thomson Hay FRAS (6 December 1888 – 18 April 1949) was an English comedian, actor, author, film director and amateur astronomer who first became well known for his theatrical sketch as a joke-schoolmaster which were known as The Fourth Form at St. Michael's, which he toured in countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia and South Africa. From 1934 to 1943, he was a prolific film star in Britain, and was ranked the third highest grossing star at the British Box Office in 1938, behind George Formby and Gracie Fields. He worked with Gainsborough pictures from 1935 to 1940, during which time he developed a partnership with Graham Moffatt, an insolent overweight schoolboy and Moore Marriott, a toothless old man. His 1937 film, with Moffatt and Marriott, Oh, Mr. Porter! has often been cited as one of the greatest British comedy films, with The Times referring to it as "a comic masterpiece of the British cinema" and Jimmy Perry cited the film as an influence for developing the key characters in Dad's Army.
He was also a distinguished amateur astronomer, and in 1933 gained fame for discovering a Great White Spot on Saturn. He built his own observatory, and was a member of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Hay was born at 23 Durham Street in , County Durham, England, to William Robert Hay (1851–1920) and his wife Elizabeth (1859-1910) (née Ebden) who married on 31 May 1883. Hay had one brother, Harold Gordon and three sisters, Evelyn Jane, Lizzie and Annie. When Hay was less than a year old the family moved to Suffolk. Due to his father's successful career as an engineer, the family moved to Hemel Hempstead, then London and finally to Manchester, were his father established his own engineering firm.
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