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person_profile-W.C. Fields

W.C. Fields Died at age: 66

Actor | Producer

Fullname:

W.C. Fields

Date of Birth:

Jan 29, 1880

Country of birth:

USA

Died:

Dec 25, 1946

Biography of

W.C. Fields

    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.

Photos of

W.C. Fields

Photos ( 4 Photos

Filmography of

W.C. Fields

Found 52 Movies in total

... 2000

... 1999

The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender

Self (archive footage) ( Actor )

... 1997

Mae West and the Men Who Knew Her

Self (archive footage) ( Actor )

... 1994

... 1990

... 1986

Going Hollywood: The '30s

(archive footage) ( Actor )

... 1984

Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage

Self (archive footage) (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1983

Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers!

Self (archive footage) ( Actor )

... 1982

The Hollywood Clowns

(archive footage) ( Actor )

... 1979

That's Entertainment, Part II

(archive footage) ( Actor )

... 1976

Hooray for Hollywood

Self (archive footage) ( Actor )

... 1976

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

Self (archive footage) ( Actor )

... 1975

The Movie Orgy

Self (archive footage) ( Actor )

... 1968

Hollywood My Home Town

Self (archive footage) ( Actor )

... 1965

The Big Parade of Comedy

Wilkins Micawber in 'David Copperfield' (archive footage) ( Actor )

... 1964

Hollywood: The Selznick Years

'David Copperfield' (archive footage) (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1961

Down Memory Lane

(archive footage) ( Actor )

... 1949

Sensations of 1945

W.C. Fields ( Actor )

... 1944

Song of the Open Road

W.C. Fields ( Actor )

... 1944

Follow the Boys

W. C. Fields ( Actor )

... 1944

Tales of Manhattan

Professor Pufflewhistle ( Actor )

... 1942

Never Give a Sucker an Even Break

The Great Man ( Actor )

Story

... 1941

The Bank Dick

Egbert Sousé ( Actor )

Screenplay

... 1940

My Little Chickadee

Cuthbert J. Twillie ( Actor )

Screenplay

... 1940

You Can't Cheat an Honest Man

Larson E. Whipsnade ( Actor )

Story

... 1939

The Big Broadcast of 1938

T. Frothingill Bellows / S.B. Bellows ( Actor )

... 1938

Poppy

Eustace McGargle ( Actor )

... 1936

Man on the Flying Trapeze

Ambrose Wolfinger ( Actor )

Story

... 1935

Mississippi

Commodore Jackson ( Actor )

... 1935

David Copperfield

Wilkins Micawber ( Actor )

... 1935

It's a Gift

Harold Bissonette ( Actor )

Story

... 1934

Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch

Mr. Stubbins ( Actor )

... 1934

The Old-Fashioned Way

The Great McGonigle / Squire Cribbs in 'The Drunkard' ( Actor )

Story

... 1934

You're Telling Me!

Sam Bisbee ( Actor )

... 1934

Six of a Kind

Sheriff John Hoxley ( Actor )

... 1934

Alice in Wonderland

Humpty-Dumpty ( Actor )

... 1933

Tillie and Gus

Augustus Winterbottom ( Actor )

... 1933

International House

Professor Quail ( Actor )

... 1933

If I Had a Million

Rollo La Rue ( Actor )

... 1932

Million Dollar Legs

The President ( Actor )

... 1932

Her Majesty, Love

Bela Toerrek ( Actor )

... 1931

Fools for Luck

Richard Whitehead ( Actor )

... 1928

Tillie's Punctured Romance

Ring Master ( Actor )

... 1928

Two Flaming Youths

Gabby Gilfoil ( Actor )

... 1927

Running Wild

Elmer Finch ( Actor )

... 1927

The Potters

Pa Potter ( Actor )

... 1927

So's Your Old Man

Samuel Bisbee ( Actor )

... 1926

It's the Old Army Game

Elmer Prettywillie ( Actor )

... 1926

That Royle Girl

Professor Royle ( Actor )

... 1925

Sally of the Sawdust

Professor Eustance McGargle ( Actor )

... 1925

Janice Meredith

A British Sergeant ( Actor )

... 1924