As the bawdy character Mo McCackie, Rene was one of the most well-known and successful Australian comedians of the early 20th century, and the local answer to Charlie Chaplin.

[2] Born in Adelaide, Colony of South Australia, Rene was the fourth of seven children of Hyam van der Sluys, or Henry Sluice, a Jewish-Dutch cigar maker and his Jewish-English wife Amelia, née Barnett.

Around 1905, the Sluice family moved to Melbourne; Harry was briefly an apprentice jockey and thereafter maintained a keen interest in racing; his brothers Albert and Lou were prominent bookmakers.

[3] Of medium height, with dark hair, a pale smooth complexion with large soulful brown eyes and heavy lids, 'Boy Roy' (his stage name) had an appealing pathos.

After the Princess Theatre season ended they moved to the Grand Opera House, playing feature parts in the pantomime spectacular The Bunyip, and over the next fifteen years (albeit with an 18-month break) cemented their reputation as one of Australia's greatest larrikin comedy duos.

On 29 March 1917 at St Stephen's Presbyterian Church, Sydney, Henry van der Sluice married actress Dorothy "Dolly" Davis; it was a tempestuous partnership which soon ended in a separation.

[7] Following his departure from the Stiffy and Mo company Rene went on to appear with outstanding success in a straight play, Give and Take (starring opposite American comedian Harry Green).

A number of historians have recorded the New Zealand tour as Stiffy and Mo's last time together on stage, but research undertaken in the early-2000s has revealed that the pair actually played their final season together at Fullers' Theatre, Sydney between 1 and 7 December 1928.

Three weeks after the start of the King's Theatre season, the couple joined other cast members in presenting matinee productions of Mother Goose, while also appearing in Clowns in Clover at night.

Film was not his medium, however, as rapport with a live audience was essential to his comedy,[10] and this is partly reflected in its poor acceptance by critics and lower than expected box-office return.

Strike Me Lucky's storyline centres on the friendship between Mo McIsaac, who is broke and behind in his rent, and Miriam, a young girl who claims to be an orphan, but who is in fact the runaway daughter of a rich aristocrat.

Turning to radio in 1946, Rene signed a contract with Colgate-Palmolive Pty Ltd to appear in program Calling the Stars with a live audience at the 2GB theatrette in Sydney; his much-acclaimed "McCackie Mansion" segment was a highlight.

By the time his radio contract expired in 1950 he was plagued by ill health, but he appeared once in McCackie Manor for the Australian Broadcasting Commission in 1951 and, in 1952, starred in The New Atlantic Show, again capturing a nationwide audience.

Rene died of atherosclerotic heart disease at his home at Kensington, New South Wales, on 22 November 1954, and was buried in the Jewish section of Rookwood Cemetery.

Although largely unknown overseas, "Mo" was hailed by visiting celebrities, such as Dame Sybil Thorndike and Jack Benny, as a comic genius in the company of Charlie Chaplin.

Lecherous, leering and ribald, he epitomized the Australian "lair",[1] always trying to "make a quid" or to "knock off a sheila", yet some of his funniest moments were when he was being "posh", as in his outrageous parody, with Sadie, of Noël Coward's Private Lives.