Biographie

Almost backed out of the original Broadway production of "My Fair Lady" during rehearsals when he felt that director Moss Hart wasn't paying enough attention to his character. Finally Hart took him aside and said, "Look, Stanley, I am rehearsing a girl who has never played a major role in her life, and an actor who has never sung on the stage in his life. You have done both. If you feel neglected it is a compliment." Holloway burst out laughing and never brought up the subject again.

Appeared with Rex Harrison in the stage production of "My Fair Lady". Harrison had a reputation for being very abrupt with his fans. One night after a performance of the show, Holloway and Harrison left by the stage door. It was late, cold and pouring rain and there was an old woman standing alone outside the door. When she saw Harrison, she asked him for his autograph. He told her to "Sod off", and she was so enraged at this that she rolled up her program and hit Harrison with it. Holloway congratulated him on not only making theater history, but, for the first time in world history, "the fan has hit the shit".

In My Fair Lady (1964), he was the only member of the main cast to do his own singing. Rex Harrison and Wilfrid Hyde-White talked their way through their songs, while Audrey Hepburn and Jeremy Brett were dubbed.

Was almost not asked to repeat his stage performance as Alfred Dolittle in My Fair Lady (1964) because producer Jack L. Warner thought that he was too old at 73 and not a big enough star. However, after James Cagney turned the part down, Holloway was cast.

Prior to going into show business, he worked as a porter at the Billingsgate fish market.