Will Hay Collection [DVD]

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Top 100 Movie Lists – BFI's 360 Classic Feature Films". Archived from the original on 27 October 2009 . Retrieved 16 March 2007. {{ cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL ( link)

Hay worked with Gainsborough Pictures from 1935 to 1940, during which time he developed a partnership with Graham Moffatt, playing an insolent overweight schoolboy, and Moore Marriott as a toothless old man. Hay's 1937 film, with Moffatt and Marriott, Oh, Mr. Porter! was credited by The Times as being "a comic masterpiece of the British cinema", [9] while the writer Jimmy Perry cited the film as an influence on key character development for Dad's Army. [10]Ask a Policeman is a 1939 British comedy film directed by Marcel Varnel and starring Will Hay, Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt. The society has since grown to over 8000 members (as of Sept 2023) and his work is now reaching new generations of fans. The society has hosted several annual 'Hay Day's with members attending from around the world, including Hay's family and the last actor to work with him, the late John Clark (Just William).

The film critic Barry Norman included it among his 100 best films of all time, and fellow critic Derek Malcolm also included the film in his Century of Films, describing it as "perfectly representing a certain type of bumbling British humour", [10] despite being directed by a Parisian director. 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 is widely regarded as one of the most prolific and influential British comedians of all time. [6] Comedians who have cited Hay as an influence include Ken Dodd, [43] Eric Morecambe, Tommy Cooper, Harry Worth, [22] Harry Enfield, Jimmy Perry and David Croft. [10] Ronnie Barker also cited Hay as an influence, and in 1976 hosted a documentary on BBC Radio that discussed Hay's life and career. [6] Legacy [ edit ] The Will Hay Appreciation Society's 'Buggleskelly' memorial bench to Will Hay and his co-stars, unveiled on Sunday 14 October 2018 in Cliddesden, Hampshire, the filming location for 'Oh, Mr. Porter!' Moffatt's life story was made into a short film by The Will Hay Appreciation Society which features interviews from his three children, Richard, Chris and Jayne. The film is called Graham Moffatt: Britain's Favourite Fat Boy. [1] The film was produced by Gainsborough Pictures, distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and released on 28 August, 1939.The plot of Oh, Mr Porter was loosely based on the Arnold Ridley play The Ghost Train. The title was taken from Oh! Mr Porter, a music hall song. Stubbins is taken in with a wealthy American who gives Stubbins an advance to trace his family roots. The American and his gang plan to rob a bank and Stubbins office is conveniently located and they just want him out of the way. In 2009 a biography of Hay by Graham Rinaldi was published with a foreword by Ken Dodd. Hay never published an autobiography during his lifetime; however, when ill in the 1940s, he had begun writing one, entitled I Enjoyed Every Minute. Excerpts from this unpublished autobiography were included in the 2009 book. [43]