A director once told him he was "too repulsive" for the [silent] silver screen and he stopped making movies for nearly five years. Following the stock market crash of 1929, the money factor eventually drew him back to making sound pictures.
According to Joe Collura in a full-length article/interview on Sterling in "Classic Images," Sterling was the distant relative of Lady Penelope Boothby, an English stage actress, who was immortalized on canvas by artist Sir Joshua Reynolds.
Although he never married, Sterling Holloway did adopt a son named Richard Holloway who survived him when he died in 1992.
Died on the 29th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination.
Drafted by the Army in 1942 and served with the Special Services. While there he helped develop a military-themed show called "Hey Rookie" which ran for nine months in Los Angeles and profited $350,000 for the Army Relief Fund.
Educated at the Georgia Military Academy and performed in school plays while there.
Enlisted in the U.S. Army on 19 July 1942. Height and weight given as 5' 9" and 124 lb.
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 was an avid art collector.
His big break came in 1925 when he introduced Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's first hit song, "Manhattan," in the Broadway play "Garrick Gaieties."
His father, who was a grocer, was also the mayor of his birthplace, Cedartown, Georgia for a time in 1912.
His first picture was a silent, The Battling Kangaroo (1926) as Napolean French.
Holloway grew up at 301 S. College Street in Cedartown, Georgia. The street which formed the corner on which Holloway's house was located is now known as Sterling Holloway Place.
Holloway was officially named a Disney Legend in 1991.
In his late teens he toured with a stock company of "The Shepherd of the Hills".
Introduced the song standard "Mountain Greenery" along with Bobbie Perkins in "The Garrick Gaities" in 1926.
Never married.
Turned down a contract with Louis B. Mayer at MGM because he didn't want to be a star.
Was associated for a time with the Pasadena Playhouse, and took part in a musical comedy "Hullabaloo" while there in 1931. Somebody saw him in the show and he was cast in Blonde Venus (1932) starring Marlene Dietrich.
Was enrolled with the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York at the age of 15.