W.C. Fields
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- Jan 29, 1880
- Died
- Dec 25, 1946 (aged 66)
- Place of birth
- Darby, Pennsylvania, USA
- Credits
- 65
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
The Bank Dick
1940Movie
Egbert Sousé
It's a Gift
1934Movie
Harold Bissonette
David Copperfield
1935Movie
Wilkins Micawber
Alice in Wonderland
1933Movie
Humpty-Dumpty
If I Had a Million
1932Movie
Rollo La Rue
The Fatal Glass of Beer
1933Movie
Mr. Snavely
Filmography
The Great Man: W.C. Fields
2005Movie
Self (archive footage)
W.C. Fields: 6 Short Films
2000Movie
Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults
1999Movie
(archive footage)
Vaudeville
1997Movie
Self (archive footage)
The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender
1997Movie
Self (archive footage)
Mae West and the Men Who Knew Her
1994Movie
Self (archive footage)
Hollywood Heaven: Tragic Lives, Tragic Deaths
1990Movie
Self (archive footage)
W.C. Fields: Straight Up
1986Movie
Going Hollywood: The '30s
1984Movie
(archive footage)
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
1983Movie
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Wogan
1982TV
Self
Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers!
1982Movie
Self (archive footage)
The Hollywood Clowns
1979Movie
(archive footage)
That's Entertainment, Part II
1976Movie
(archive footage)
Hooray for Hollywood
1976Movie
Self (archive footage)
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
1975Movie
Self (archive footage)
The Movie Orgy
1968Movie
Self (archive footage)
The Big Parade of Comedy
1964Movie
Wilkins Micawber in 'David Copperfield' (archive footage)
Down Memory Lane
1949Movie
(archive footage)
Sensations of 1945
1944Movie
W.C. Fields
Song of the Open Road
1944Movie
W.C. Fields
Follow the Boys
1944Movie
W. C. Fields
Show-Business at War
1943Movie
Self
Tales of Manhattan
1942Movie
Professor Pufflewhistle (uncredited)
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break
1941Movie
The Great Man
The Bank Dick
1940Movie
Egbert Sousé
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
1940Movie
Self (archive footage)
My Little Chickadee
1940Movie
Cuthbert J. Twillie
You Can't Cheat an Honest Man
1939Movie
Larson E. Whipsnade
The Big Broadcast of 1938
1938Movie
T. Frothingill Bellows / S.B. Bellows
Poppy
1936Movie
Eustace McGargle
Man on the Flying Trapeze
1935Movie
Ambrose Wolfinger
Mississippi
1935Movie
Commodore Jackson
David Copperfield
1935Movie
Wilkins Micawber
It's a Gift
1934Movie
Harold Bissonette
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch
1934Movie
Mr. Stubbins
The Old-Fashioned Way
1934Movie
The Great McGonigle / Squire Cribbs in 'The Drunkard'
Hollywood on Parade No. B-10
1934Movie
Self
You're Telling Me!
1934Movie
Sam Bisbee
Six of a Kind
1934Movie
Sheriff John Hoxley
Alice in Wonderland
1933Movie
Humpty-Dumpty
Tillie and Gus
1933Movie
Augustus Winterbottom
The Barber Shop
1933Movie
Cornelius O'Hare
How to Break 90 #3: Hip Action
1933Movie
Himself
International House
1933Movie
Professor Quail
The Pharmacist
1933Movie
Mr. Dilweg
The Fatal Glass of Beer
1933Movie
Mr. Snavely
The Dentist
1932Movie
Dentist
If I Had a Million
1932Movie
Rollo La Rue
Million Dollar Legs
1932Movie
The President
Her Majesty, Love
1931Movie
Bela Toerrek
The Golf Specialist
1930Movie
J. Effingham Bellweather
Fools for Luck
1928Movie
Richard Whitehead
Tillie's Punctured Romance
1928Movie
Ring Master
The Circus: Premiere
1928Movie
Self
Two Flaming Youths
1927Movie
Gabby Gilfoil
Running Wild
1927Movie
Elmer Finch
The Potters
1927Movie
Pa Potter
So's Your Old Man
1926Movie
Samuel Bisbee
It's the Old Army Game
1926Movie
Elmer Prettywillie
That Royle Girl
1925Movie
Professor Royle
Sally of the Sawdust
1925Movie
Professor Eustance McGargle
Janice Meredith
1924Movie
A British Sergeant
Pool Sharks
1915Movie
Marlene Dietrich: Home Movies
Movie
Self