Anita Garvin on AllMovie

Unforgettable chasing a cherry around and around on her plate in the Laurel & Hardy two-reeler From Soup to Nuts (1928), a sliding tiara constantly tipping over her forehead, statuesque Anita Garvin remains a favorite foil for devotees of the immortal comedy team. She claimed to have begun her show business career at the age of 12 as one of the Mack Sennett Bathing Beauties, a statement that perhaps should be taken with a grain of salt. There were stints with both Earl Carroll's Vanities and the Follies; she later toured in Sally starring Marilyn Miller. Moviestruck from an early age, Garvin defected from the last production in Los Angeles, incurring the wrath of Florenz Ziegfeld who (she always maintained) threatened to blackball her. By 1925, however, she was playing the Other Woman in The Sleuth, a two-reeler starring Stan Laurel. Their friendship would earn Garvin her slot with Roach, where she remained well into the sound era, reportedly without ever signing a contract. Aside from her work with Laurel and partner Oliver Hardy, Garvin was equally busy in the comedies of Charley Chase, who always used her whenever his character needed a shrewish wife. Divorced from actor Jerry Drew (1898-1992), Garvin later wed bandleader "Red" Stanley (1900-1980), with whom she operated a Hollywood restaurant in the 1930s. She continued to appear in the occasional film until at least 1940, but was almost forgotten when Laurel & Hardy fans brought her back to the limelight in the 1970s. A frequent guest at Hal Roach reunions, Garvin spent her final years as a very outspoken resident of the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, CA.