Abstract
WILLIAM THOMPSON HAY, son of the late W. R. Hay of Aberdeen, was born on December 6, 1888. As a lad, he was apprenticed as an engineer ; but at the age of twenty-one left the workshop and went on the stage. Within ten years he had climbed to the top of the tree as a variety artiste and, as Will Hay, had become famous in the role of comic schoolmaster. During the next twenty years— the years between the two World Wars— he achieved great success in this character, and in the latter part of the period also took the leading role in many film comedies. In the summer of 1946 he had a serious illness from which he never completely recovered, and he died of a heart attack on April 18.
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STEAVENSON, W. Mr. Will Hay. Nature 163, 944 (1949). https://doi.org/10.1038/163944a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/163944a0