A lot of famous people include Tommy as one of their all-time heroes.
But who did Tommy really admire? The people below earned Tommy's full admiration and respect.
Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
A uniquely funny double act. Laurel and Hardy's partnership at the Hal Roach studio began
in 1926. Within a year of their first joint appearance, they were being touted as the new
comedy team.
After collaborating on many silent films, they took the transition to the talking film in their
stride. As their success spread throughout the world, they began making feature films as
well and won an Oscar for their short subject entitled "The Music Box" (1932).
Jacques Tati
One of the great comic icons of French cinema, a Gallic equivalent of Charlie Chaplin.
Tati honed his comic skills in French music halls, eventually appearing in several short
subjects in the 1930s and 1940s, some of which he also wrote and directed.
In his first feature, Jour de Fete (1949), Tati played a village postman obsessed with
modernizing his already-simple job. Four years later, in Mr. Hulot's Holi- day (1953), he
introduced the umbrella-toting, raincoat-clad Everyman for whom nothing-even a seaside
vacation-goes right.
Arthur Askey
For the best part of forty years, big-hearted Arthur Askey was a stalwart of the the British
entertainment scene. He had become a top seaside entertainer by 1926.
National fame came in January 1938 with the first broadcast of BandWaggon, a British radio
comedy show. He was a major figure in radio, television, variety and panto. Tommy loved
the way Askey's act showed so much energy, never standing still for a minute. He based
his own stage manner on Arthur.
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank Keaton VI (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966), always known as Buster
Keaton, was a popular and influential American silent-film comic actor and filmmaker.
His trademark was physical comedy with a stoic, deadpan expression on his face, earning
him the nickname The Great Stone Face. His innovative work as a director made basic
contributions to the development of the art of cinema.
A 2002 world-wide poll by Sight and Sound ranked Keaton's The General as the 15th best
film of all time.
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Max Miller
Britain’s top comedian in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. He excelled as a stand-up comic
playing in large variety theatres where his skill was such that he could hold an audience
in the palm of his hand.
Tommy went to see Max at the old Met. in Edgware Road. Max gave him one of his hats
as a memento, and he predicted a great future for Tommy. Tommy idolized the man,
thinking of him almost as a guardian angel when it came to his career. One of the corner
stones of Tommy's stage act was 'Ophelia', a number that Max first performed in 1937.
