Will Hay

Will Hay

Born: December 5, 1888
Died: April 18, 1949
in Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, England, UK
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

William Thomson "Will" Hay (6 December 1888 – 18 April 1949) was an English comedian, actor, film director and amateur astronomer.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Will Hay, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Movies for Will Hay...

Hitler: The Comedy Years
Title: Hitler: The Comedy Years
Character: William Potts (archive footage) (uncredited)
Released: May 10, 2007
Type: Movie
A documentary about the portrayal of Adolf Hitler in popular culture.
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To See Such Fun
Title: To See Such Fun
Released: November 1, 1977
Type: Movie
Compilation of classic British comedy moments
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My Learned Friend
Title: My Learned Friend
Character: William Fitch
Released: October 25, 1943
Type: Movie
An insane murderer is on the loose, and gunning for the men who put him away. Will Hay is on the list, and co-opts Claude Hulbert to try and stop him from meeting a grisly end.
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The Goose Steps Out
Title: The Goose Steps Out
Character: William Potts / Muller
Released: August 1, 1942
Type: Movie
Schoolteacher William Potts is the double of a captured German spy, so he is sent to Germany by British Intelligence to obtain the plans of a new secret weapon, causing chaos in a Hitler Youth school in the process.
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The Black Sheep of Whitehall
Title: The Black Sheep of Whitehall
Character: Prof. Davis
Released: February 23, 1942
Type: Movie
A professor teaching at a correspondence school discovers that a Nazi agent is trying to prevent a trade treaty being signed between England and South America.
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The Big Blockade
Title: The Big Blockade
Character: Skipper
Released: January 19, 1942
Type: Movie
Wartime propaganda piece reporting on the success of the economic blockade of Germany in the early years of the war.
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Go to Blazes
Title: Go to Blazes
Character: Father
Released: January 1, 1942
Type: Movie
Ministry of Information-sponsored comedy short showing wartime audiences how to deal with the threat of incendiary bombs.
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The Ghost of St. Michael's
Title: The Ghost of St. Michael's
Character: Will Lamb
Released: April 1, 1941
Type: Movie
Will Hay, back in his role as a hapless teacher, is hired by a grim school in remotest Scotland. The school soon starts to be haunted by a legendary ghost, whose spectral bagpipes signal the death of one of the staff. Hay, assisted by Claude Hulbert and Charles Hawtrey, has to unravel the mystery before he becomes the next victim.
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Where's That Fire
Title: Where's That Fire
Character: Captain Benjamin Viking
Released: June 29, 1939
Type: Movie
Capt Viking and his incompetent fire crew accidentally foil a plot to steal the crown jewels.
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Ask a Policeman
Title: Ask a Policeman
Character: Sergt. Dudfoot
Released: April 29, 1939
Type: Movie
The mirthful adventures of Police-Sergeant Samuel Dudfoot and his two constables, Albert Brown and Jeremias Harbottle, who stage a fabricated crime-wave to save their jobs---and then find themselves involved in the real thing.
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Old Bones of the River
Title: Old Bones of the River
Character: Prof. Benjamin Tibbetts
Released: December 1, 1938
Type: Movie
Hay plays Professor Benjamin Tibbetts, representative of the Teaching & Welfare Institution for the Reformation of Pagans (otherwise known as T.W.I.R.P for short), and dedicated to spreading education amongst the natives of colonial Africa. As he arrives (still trying to learn the native language via recordings), Professor Tibbetts is tricked into sneaking a gin still into the country by a local prince. Later, Tibbetts makes his way to Kombooli High, where his students wear Eton collars alongside their native garb and Tibbetts finds himself sporting a mortarboard and safari shorts due to the heat. When the Commissioner falls ill with a dose of malaria, Tibbetts is forced to take over his duties, which include collecting the taxes. Upriver, he finds an old paddlesteamer operated by Harbottle (Moore Marriott) and Albert (Graham Moffatt) and the threesome rescue a baby from death by sacrifice.
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Hey! Hey! USA
Title: Hey! Hey! USA
Character: Dr. Benjamin Twist
Released: October 1, 1938
Type: Movie
While working as a porter Benjamin Twists mistakenly ends up on a cruise ship heading for the USA. Upon landing on the American coast Twist takes up work as a professor.
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Convict 99
Title: Convict 99
Character: Dr. Benjamin Twist
Released: September 26, 1938
Type: Movie
A disgraced school master, Benjamin Twist, is mistaken for a tough prison governor and assigned the charge of a prison for particularly hardened criminals. Believing he is being sent to a school rather than a prison, he celebrates accordingly only to find that his drunkenness accidently lands him on the wrong side of the prison bars. The Governorship is eventually restored to him, and he sets about popularising himself amongst the convicts by turning a blind eye to their shady dealings.
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Oh, Mr. Porter!
Title: Oh, Mr. Porter!
Character: William Porter
Released: October 5, 1937
Type: Movie
Comedy in which a bungling railway worker is given the job of stationmaster at a rundown station in rural Ireland, where his sidekicks are a toothless old gaffer and a portly young loudmouth. Hilarious adventures ensue, including a locomotive chase after gunrunners make off with a train.
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Good Morning, Boys!
Title: Good Morning, Boys!
Character: Dr. Benjamin Twist
Released: May 27, 1937
Type: Movie
Dr. Benjamin Twist (Hay) and his pupils become involved with art thieves on a trip to Paris. Hay’s seamy schoolmaster act is supported by a fine cast including Charles Hawtrey and Lilli Palmer.
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Windbag the Sailor
Title: Windbag the Sailor
Character: Captain Ben Cutlet
Released: December 1, 1936
Type: Movie
Will Hay plays a bragging sea captain whose maritime experience actually extends to navigating a coal barge down inland waterways. His tall tales catch him out when he is co-erced into commanding an unseaworthy ship by an unscrupulous shipping agent who means to have it wrecked. This was the first film to couple Will Hay with both Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt.
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Where There's a Will
Title: Where There's a Will
Character: Benjamin Stubbins
Released: August 10, 1936
Type: Movie
Will Hay plays the pennyless, bungling solicitor Benjamin Stubbins, who arrives at his office to find his insolent office boy (Graham Moffatt) with his feet up on the desk, reading a wild west magazine, which Hay confiscates so that he can read it later. Stubbins later takes a job from a group of Americans who claim they want him to track down some ancestors of theirs in Scotland. In reality however they want to use his office so they can rob a safe in the room immediately below his office. Stubbins takes the job (which is designed to keep him out of the office). In the end Stubbins realises his mistake and at a Christmas Eve fancy dress party he informs a group of carol singing policeman about the Americans nefarious activities
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Boys Will Be Boys
Title: Boys Will Be Boys
Character: Dr. Alec Smart
Released: July 1, 1935
Type: Movie
Alec Smart, who is engaged teaching in a prison, applies for the job of headmaster at a nearby public school to replace the previous headmaster who has been convicted of writing forged cheques and has just been sent to prison. Smart appeals to the Governor to write him a good reference which he pretends to. Afterwards he writes his real recommendation which is very negative about Smart's talents. The trustee who works as the Governor's secretary, Faker Brown, "accidentally" gets the two letters mixed up and delivers the one praising Smart. On the basis of the letter, Lady Dorking, the who runs the Board of Governors appoints Smart to the job. This angers her deputy, Colonel Crableigh, who had favoured promoting his nephew, the Deputy head.
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Dandy Dick
Title: Dandy Dick
Character: Rev. Richard Jedd
Released: March 1, 1935
Type: Movie
The Very Reverend Richard Jedd has a problem: the church spire, now in a parlous state of repair, will cost nearly £1,000 to fix. When various money-raising schemes go awry, he is persuaded to waive his principles and bet what’s left of his savings on Dandy Dick, a 10-1 odds-on at the local races. A simple tonic to enhance the nag’s performance seems a good idea… but when the butler decides to intervene, the respectable clergyman finds himself in the middle of a doping scandal – and worse!
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Radio Parade of 1935
Title: Radio Parade of 1935
Character: William Garland
Released: December 12, 1934
Type: Movie
One of the first screen outings for Will Hay. Hay plays the Director General of the National Broadcasting Group (NBG) who hides away in his office unaware that the general feeling about his programming is that it is too high-brow and the public are not happy. However, when he discovers this he decides to take action and promotes Jimmy, his Head of the Complaints Department, to Programme Director. Jimmy decides that a series of variety spectaculars are what the public want and sets about hiring the acts. But obstacles are put in his way and he discovers that the NBG has its own cluster of wannabe variety stars.
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Those Were the Days
Title: Those Were the Days
Character: Magistrate Brutus Poskett
Released: April 2, 1934
Type: Movie
A farce based on Arthur Wing Pinero's play 'The Magistrate' in which the son (John Mills) of a stern magistrate (Will Hay) visits a music hall against the wishes of his father. In true farcical style, the magistrate too ends up at the music hall, and before long all the characters are trying not to avoid each other... Mainly notable (a) because of its depiction of the music hall as seen by a generation which knew it intimately (b) because of its use of music hall acts of the time and (c) because it gave Will Hay his first film role.
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Camera Interviews: Will Hay
Title: Camera Interviews: Will Hay
Released: December 15, 1928
Type: Movie
Will Hay – the schoolmaster laughter-maker at the recent Command Performance. When the cat's away the mice will play.