This year is a special one as the original story that made a Cedartown actor a legend came into the public domain for 2022.

Sterling Holloway, the voice of Winnie the Pooh for the classic Disney animated film, would have been 117 years of age today. He was born right here in Cedartown, Georgia, and his name remains a fixture in our community with Holloway Park downtown and a historic marker on the site where his house once stood on College Street and Sterling Holloway Place.

The longtime film and television actor grew up here and helped with the family grocery store, but got his real start in fame when he left Georgia for New York City after graduating from the Georgia Military Academy in 1920 at the age of 15 and attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

It was six years later when he moved to Hollywood that his fame grew in his film career, which spanned 50 years. He served in the Army’s Special Services when he enlisted at the age of 37 in 1942, and appeared in all kinds of shows.

However, most of you know Holloway’s voice and not his face. He worked on Dumbo, Bambi and narrated Peter and the Wolf. However, you’ll know his voice for sure as Winnie the Pooh and the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland, and Kaa the snake in The Jungle Book. He also did voices for The Aristocats.

Winnie the Pooh – this year’s focus after the A.A. Milne and E.H. Shephard story went into the public domain.

The history behind how it became a Disney classic is an interesting tale.

Walt Disney expressed an interest in the film rights to the story all the way back in 1938, but it wasn’t until the 1960s that the studio secured an agreement and in 1966 it was part of a double feature with Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree and two more featurettes before being followed by a full-length film in 1977. It was 11 years after Walt Disney died of lung cancer before his wish came true.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh was all three of the shorts combined to make the movie that is a cornerstone of Disney films. The value of the Winnie the Pooh brand is in the billions today for the company, with 700 million products sold annually as of 2014.

Since the first film, five others have followed since 2000 along with multiple direct to video releases, shows, and merchandising.

Of note, Holloway’s voice was part of other Disney classics. He’s Sleepy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, the adult flower in Bambi, and Roquefort in the Aristocats.

Holloway was honored as a Disney Legend just a year before his death in 1992.

He also appeared on television, making guest star appearances on such places as The Andy Griffith Show, The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, The Untouchables, The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, Adventures of Superman, The Twilight Zone, Gilligan’s Island, and a lot more.

Nowadays in Cedartown, Sterling Holloway is remembered in several ways. His talents are celebrated with a room dedicated to his life and career at the Polk County History Museum downtown, there’s Sterling Holloway Place along with a historic marker indicating where his boyhood home once stood, and the park in front of Polk County Courthouse No. 2 now bears his name, Holloway Park.

This year, the return of the Holloway Hunny Pot Festival in September also honored the legendary actor who continues to make an impact to this day through his image on the silver screen.