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Will Hay is a Actor, Director and Scriptwriter British born on 5 december 1888 at Stockton-on-Tees (United-kingdom)

Will Hay

Will Hay
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Birth name William Thomson Hay
Nationality United-kingdom
Birth 5 december 1888 at Stockton-on-Tees (United-kingdom)
Death 18 april 1949 (at 60 years) at London (United-kingdom)

William Thomson "Will" Hay (6 December 1888 – 18 April 1949) was an English comedian, who achieved fame through his theatrical sketch as a joke-schoolmaster, which he took on world tours. He moved on to films, some of them continuing the schoolmaster theme, in which he also featured as a writer and director. In The Goose Steps Out (1942), his brand of humour was adapted for war propaganda. Hay was also a keen amateur astronomer, who built his own observatory.

Biography

En 1933, il a observé la grande tache blanche de Saturne.

Usually with

Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Will Hay (20 films)

Display filmography as list

Actor

My Learned Friend, 1h14
Directed by Basil Dearden, Will Hay
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Thriller, Comedy, Comedy thriller, Crime
Actors Will Hay, Ronald Shiner, Charles Victor, Claude Hulbert, Eddie Phillips, Mervyn Johns
Roles William Fitch
Rating69% 3.472933.472933.472933.472933.47293
This comedy sees Will Hay playing a seedy lawyer, who finds himself marked for assassination by a forger whom he previously defended unsuccessfully. He teams up with an incompetent solicitor to try to prevent the deaths of others involved.
The Big Blockade, 1h13
Directed by Charles Frend
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, War, Comedy-drama, Documentary
Themes Seafaring films, Politique, Transport films, Documentary films about war, Documentary films about historical events, Political films, Documentary films about World War II
Actors Leslie Banks, Frank Cellier, Will Hay, John Mills, Michael Redgrave, Bernard Miles
Roles Skipper
Rating54% 2.71922.71922.71922.71922.7192
This is a propaganda film in which the British strategy of the economic blockade of Nazi Germany is illustrated through a series of scenes and sketches, combined with documentary footage.
Go to Blazes, 9minutes
Directed by Walter Forde
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy
Actors Will Hay, Dame Thora Hird, Muriel George
Roles Father
Rating68% 3.4121953.4121953.4121953.4121953.412195
When an incendiary bomb strikes his house during the Blitz, Hay fusses so ineptly with his extinguishing equipment that the bomb burns through the floor - and obligingly falls into a bucket of water in the basement. When a second bomb strikes, his daughter shows him how to do the job properly.
The Black Sheep of Whitehall, 1h20
Directed by Basil Dearden, Will Hay
Origin United-kingdom
Genres War, Comedy
Themes Documentary films about war, Documentary films about historical events, Political films, Documentary films about World War II
Actors Will Hay, John Mills, Basil Sydney, Henry Hewitt, Felix Aylmer, Frank Cellier
Roles Prof. Davis
Rating66% 3.3396053.3396053.3396053.3396053.339605
When he is forced to vacate the office of his debt-ridden correspondence college, 'Professor' Will Davis (Will Hay) goes to the Ministry of International Commerce at Whitehall in order to confront his one-and-only student, PR man Bobby Jessop (John Mills). To get Davis off his back, Jessop proposes to get him a job at Whitehall. Jessop then leaves in order to fetch a Professor Davys at the railway station. The professor is a leading economist who has returned from a long stay in South America in order to advise the British government on a trade treaty with the South American nations, which could be crucial to Britain's war effort.
The Goose Steps Out, 1h19
Directed by Basil Dearden, Will Hay
Origin United-kingdom
Genres War, Comedy
Themes Political films
Actors Will Hay, Frank Pettingell, Charles Hawtrey, Charles Hawtrey, Peter Ustinov, Barry Morse
Roles William Potts / Muller
Rating64% 3.243243.243243.243243.243243.24324
Set during the Second World War, The Goose Steps Out recounts the adventures of William Potts (Will Hay) after it is discovered that he is an exact double of a German spy who the British have just captured. Potts is flown into Nazi Germany to impersonate the spy and instructed to seek out and bring back details of a new German secret weapon.
The Ghost of St. Michael's, 1h22
Directed by Marcel Varnel
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy
Themes Spy films, Political films
Actors Will Hay, Claude Hulbert, Charles Hawtrey, John Laurie, Raymond Huntley, Felix Aylmer
Roles Will Lamb
Rating66% 3.342063.342063.342063.342063.34206
An ineffectual science teacher William Lamb (Will Hay) is hired by a school recently transferred because of World War II to the remote Dunbain Castle on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. Posing as (amongst many other things) an Old Etonian, Lamb settles down into his new surroundings and becomes acquainted with the various local Scottish traditions and legends that abound and strikes up a friendship with one of the other masters, Hilary Teasdale (Claude Hulbert).
Charley's (Big-Hearted) Aunt, 1h15
Directed by Walter Forde
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy
Themes Films about sexuality, LGBT-related films, Transgender in film, Films based on plays, LGBT-related films, LGBT-related film, Cross-dressing in film
Actors Arthur Askey, Richard Murdoch, Graham Moffatt, Will Hay, Moore Marriott, Felix Aylmer
Rating58% 2.904662.904662.904662.904662.90466
Oxford students Arthur (Arthur Askey), Stinker (Richard Murdoch), and Albert (Graham Moffatt) are in danger of being "sent down" (expelled) for bad behaviour. Learning the Dean of Bowgate College is an amateur Egyptologist, Arthur—who had just played the lead in a stage version of "Charley's Aunt"—poses as Albert's wealthy Aunt Lucy, who might finance an archeological expedition if the Dean is lenient on her nephew and his friends. Unfortunately, the real Aunt Lucy picks this day to pay a visit to Oxford herself, with calamitous results.
Ask a Policeman, 1h23
Directed by Marcel Varnel
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy, Adventure, Crime
Actors Will Hay, Graham Moffatt, Moore Marriott, Peter Gawthorne, Herbert Lomas, Cyril Chamberlain
Roles Sergt. Dudfoot
Rating73% 3.6892253.6892253.6892253.6892253.689225
Will Hay plays Sergeant Samuel Dudfoot, an inept policeman, stagnating in the sleepy village of Turnbotham Round (pronounced Turnbottom), where there has been no crime for a decade. After the Chief Constable tells them that there is not enough local criminal activity to justify their station's existence, three incompetent policemen decide to start manufacturing crimes to "fiddle the figures". Dudfoot, together with Albert Brown (Graham Moffatt) and Jerry Harbottle (Moore Marriott) create a crime wave by framing motorists in a speed trap and concocting false evidence.
Where's That Fire, 1h22
Directed by Marcel Varnel
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy
Themes Disaster films
Actors Will Hay, Graham Moffatt, Moore Marriott, Charles Hawtrey, Peter Gawthorne, Eric Clavering
Roles Captain Benjamin Viking
Rating70% 3.531323.531323.531323.531323.53132
Will Hay plays the incompetent Fire Captain Viking who fails to find a large fire, gets lost in the process and ends up on a newspaper headline as 'The engine that never made it'.
Convict 99
Convict 99 (1938)
, 1h31
Directed by Marcel Varnel
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy
Actors Will Hay, Graham Moffatt, Moore Marriott, Googie Withers, Peter Gawthorne, Basil Radford
Roles Dr. Benjamin Twist
Rating66% 3.341993.341993.341993.341993.34199
Incompetent Dr Benjamin Twist (Will Hay) is dismissed from his job as headmaster at St. Michaels' School (the school returns in a later film The Ghost of St. Michael's), and applies for a job in another school.
Hey! Hey! USA, 1h20
Directed by Marcel Varnel
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy
Actors Will Hay, Edgar Kennedy, David Burns, Edmon Ryan, Fred Duprez, Gibb McLaughlin
Roles Dr. Benjamin Twist
Rating58% 2.9204152.9204152.9204152.9204152.920415
Old Bones of the River, 1h30
Directed by Marcel Varnel
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy
Themes Films set in Africa
Actors Will Hay, Graham Moffatt, Moore Marriott, Robert Adams, Jack Livesey, Wyndham Goldie
Roles Prof. Benjamin Tibbetts
Rating62% 3.1420953.1420953.1420953.1420953.142095
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.
Oh, Mr. Porter!, 1h25
Directed by Roy Ward Baker, Marcel Varnel
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy
Themes Sports films, Transport films, Rail transport films, Association football films
Actors Stanley Holloway, Will Hay, George Relph, Graham Moffatt, Moore Marriott, Sebastian Smith
Roles William Porter
Rating73% 3.6915153.6915153.6915153.6915153.691515
William Porter (Will Hay) is an inept railway worker who – due to family connections – is given the job of stationmaster at a remote and ramshackle rural Northern Irish railway station in the (fictitious) town of Buggleskelly, situated on the border with the then Irish Free State.
Good Morning, Boys!, 1h19
Directed by Marcel Varnel
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy, Crime
Themes Films about education
Actors Will Hay, Graham Moffatt, Martita Hunt, Peter Godfrey, Peter Gawthorne, Peter Godfrey
Roles Dr. Benjamin Twist
Rating65% 3.2930553.2930553.2930553.2930553.293055
Will Hay plays the roguish headmaster, Dr Twist, of a dubious boarding school for boys. Twist bets on the horses with his pupils and teaches them little. Colonel Willoughby-Gore attempts to sack the incompetent Twist but is foiled when he and his boys, after fraudulently gaining resounding success in a French examination, are invited to Paris by the French ministry of education.