W.C. Fields
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- January 29, 1880
- Died
- December 25, 1946 (aged 66)
- Birthplace
- Darby, Pennsylvania, USA
Biography
William Claude Dukenfield was the eldest of five children born to Cockney immigrant James Dukenfield and Philadelphia native Kate Felton. He went to school for four years, then quit to work with his father selling vegetables from a horse cart. At eleven, after many fights with his alcoholic father (who hit him on the head with a shovel), he ran away from home. For a while he lived in a hole in the ground, depending on stolen food and clothing. He was often beaten and spent nights in jail. His first regular job was delivering ice. By age thirteen he was a skilled pool player and juggler. It was then, at an amusement park in Norristown PA, that he was first hired as an entertainer. There he developed the technique of pretending to lose the things he was juggling. In 1893 he was employed as a juggler at Fortescue's Pier, Atlantic City. When business was slow he pretended to drown in the ocean (management thought his fake rescue would draw customers). By nineteen he was billed as "The Distinguished Comedian" and began opening bank accounts in every city he played. At age twenty-three he opened at the Palace in London and played with Sarah Bernhardt at Buckingham Palace. He starred at the Folies-Bergere (young Charles Chaplin and Maurice Chevalier were on the program). He was in each of the Ziegfeld Follies from 1915 through 1921. He played for a year in the highly praised musical "Poppy" which opened in New York in 1923. In 1925 D.W. Griffith made a movie of the play, renamed Sally of the Sawdust (1925), starring Fields. Pool Sharks (1915), Fields' first movie, was made when he was thirty-five. He settled into a mansion near Burbank, California and made most of his thirty-seven movies for Paramount. He appeared in mostly spontaneous dialogs on Charlie McCarthy's radio shows. In 1939 he switched to Universal where he made films written mainly by and for himself. He died after several serious illnesses, including bouts of pneumonia.
Known For
Filmography
Marlene Dietrich: Home Movies
Movie · as Self
The Great Man: W.C. Fields
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
W.C. Fields: 6 Short Films
Movie
Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults
Movie · as (archive footage)
The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
Vaudeville
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
Mae West and the Men Who Knew Her
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
Hollywood Heaven: Tragic Lives, Tragic Deaths
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
W.C. Fields: Straight Up
Movie
Going Hollywood: The '30s
Movie · as (archive footage)
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Movie · as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers!
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
Wogan
TV · as Self · 1 ep
The Hollywood Clowns
Movie · as (archive footage)
That's Entertainment, Part II
Movie · as (archive footage)
Hooray for Hollywood
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
The Movie Orgy
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
The Big Parade of Comedy
Movie · as Wilkins Micawber in 'David Copperfield' (archive footage)
Down Memory Lane
Movie · as (archive footage)
Follow the Boys
Movie · as W. C. Fields
Sensations of 1945
Movie · as W.C. Fields
Song of the Open Road
Movie · as W.C. Fields
Show-Business at War
Movie · as Self
Tales of Manhattan
Movie · as Professor Pufflewhistle (uncredited)
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break
Movie · as The Great Man
The Bank Dick
Movie · as Egbert Sousé
My Little Chickadee
Movie · as Cuthbert J. Twillie
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
You Can't Cheat an Honest Man
Movie · as Larson E. Whipsnade
The Big Broadcast of 1938
Movie · as T. Frothingill Bellows / S.B. Bellows
Poppy
Movie · as Eustace McGargle
David Copperfield
Movie · as Wilkins Micawber
Man on the Flying Trapeze
Movie · as Ambrose Wolfinger
Mississippi
Movie · as Commodore Jackson
Hollywood on Parade No. B-10
Movie · as Self
It's a Gift
Movie · as Harold Bissonette
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch
Movie · as Mr. Stubbins
Six of a Kind
Movie · as Sheriff John Hoxley
You're Telling Me!
Movie · as Sam Bisbee
The Old-Fashioned Way
Movie · as The Great McGonigle / Squire Cribbs in 'The Drunkard'
International House
Movie · as Professor Quail
Alice in Wonderland
Movie · as Humpty-Dumpty
The Fatal Glass of Beer
Movie · as Mr. Snavely
The Pharmacist
Movie · as Mr. Dilweg
The Barber Shop
Movie · as Cornelius O'Hare
Tillie and Gus
Movie · as Augustus Winterbottom
How to Break 90 #3: Hip Action
Movie · as Himself
The Dentist
Movie · as Dentist
If I Had a Million
Movie · as Rollo La Rue
Million Dollar Legs
Movie · as The President
Her Majesty, Love
Movie · as Bela Toerrek
The Golf Specialist
Movie · as J. Effingham Bellweather
Fools for Luck
Movie · as Richard Whitehead
The Circus: Premiere
Movie · as Self
Tillie's Punctured Romance
Movie · as Ring Master
Two Flaming Youths
Movie · as Gabby Gilfoil
Running Wild
Movie · as Elmer Finch
The Potters
Movie · as Pa Potter
So's Your Old Man
Movie · as Samuel Bisbee
It's the Old Army Game
Movie · as Elmer Prettywillie
Sally of the Sawdust
Movie · as Professor Eustance McGargle
That Royle Girl
Movie · as Professor Royle
Janice Meredith
Movie · as A British Sergeant
Pool Sharks
Movie