He appeared with his comic partner Oliver Hardy in the film short The Lucky Dog in 1921, although they did not become an official team until late 1927.

He attended services with his religious grandparents at Holy Trinity Church, which is close to Argyle Street and is where his parents were married.

[10]Laurel, who had a lifelong love of fishing, used to take a rod to Ulverston's canal, learning from his uncle John Shaw.

Laurel in later years would recall swinging on a pair of lock gates on the canal as he waited for a bite on his line.

[13][14]Laurel went on frequent excursions from Ulverston railway station into the Lake District with his cousins, grandparents and sometimes his parents.

[16] Laurel visited Ulverston with his comedy partner Oliver Hardy on Tuesday 27 May 1947 at the invitation of the town's urban council.

[3] With a natural affinity for the theatre, Laurel gave his first professional performance on stage at the Panopticon in Glasgow at the age of sixteen, where he polished his skills at pantomime and music hall sketches.

Stan started to do his character as an imitation of Charlie Chaplin, and the Hurleys began to do their parts as silent comedians Chester Conklin and Mabel Normand.

Amongst other performers, Laurel worked briefly alongside Oliver Hardy in the silent film short The Lucky Dog (1921),[9] before the two were a team.

In 1925, she started interfering with Laurel's work, so Rock offered her a cash settlement and a one-way ticket back to her native Australia, which she accepted.

[27] The 12 two-reel comedies were Mandarin Mix-Up (1924), Detained (1924), Monsieur Don't Care (1924), West of Hot Dog (1924), Somewhere in Wrong (1925), Twins (1925), Pie-Eyed (1925), The Snow Hawk (1925), Navy Blue Days (1925), The Sleuth (1925), Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pryde (1925) and Half a Man (1925).

The same year, Hardy, a member of the Hal Roach Studios Comedy All Star players, was injured in a kitchen mishap and hospitalised.

Starting early in 1927, Laurel and Hardy began sharing the screen in several short films, including Duck Soup, Slipping Wives and With Love and Hisses.

Roach Studios' supervising director Leo McCarey noticed the audience reaction to them and began teaming them, leading to the creation of the Laurel and Hardy series later that year.

Laurel found, to his shock, that he and Hardy were hired only as actors, and were not expected to contribute to the staging, writing, or editing of the productions.

When the films proved very successful, Laurel and Hardy were granted more freedom and gradually added more of their own material.

[28] Revisiting his music hall days, Laurel returned to England in 1947 when he and Hardy went on a six-week tour of the United Kingdom performing in variety shows.

[30] The Evening Mail noted: "Oliver Hardy remarked to our reporter that Stan had talked about Ulverston for the past 22 years and he thought he had to see it.

"[30] The tour included a Royal Variety Performance in front of King George VI and his consort Queen Elizabeth in London.

Around this time, Laurel found out that he had diabetes, so he encouraged Hardy to find solo projects, which he did, taking parts in John Wayne and Bing Crosby films.

In 1955, they were planning to do a television series called Laurel and Hardy's Fabulous Fables based on children's stories.

[2] Although he continued to socialise with his fans, he refused to perform on stage or act in another film from then on, as he had no interest in working without Hardy, turning down every offer he was given for a public appearance.

It appears, however, his involvement reached the stage of filming a background matching shot of his old time convertible, with a stand-in seated at the wheel, donning a derby hat.

The new marriage was very volatile, and Illeana accused him of trying to bury her alive in the back yard of their San Fernando Valley home.

Dick Van Dyke gave the eulogy[47] as a friend, protégé and occasional impressionist of Laurel during his later years; he read The Clown's Prayer.

[50] In 1989, a statue of Laurel was erected in Dockwray Square, North Shields, Tyne and Wear, England, where he lived at No.

In 2006, BBC Four showed a drama called Stan, based on Brand's radio play, in which Laurel meets Hardy on his deathbed and reminisces about their career.

[54] In 2008, a statue of Stan Laurel was unveiled in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, on the site of the Eden Theatre.

[citation needed] In 2013 Gail Louw and Jeffrey Holland debuted a short one-man play "...And this is my friend Mr Laurel" at the Camden Fringe festival.

[58] In the 2018 film Stan & Ollie, Steve Coogan portrayed Laurel (a performance which saw him nominated for the BAFTA for Best Actor in a Leading Role) and John C. Reilly played Hardy.