W.C. Fields

Birthday:

01/29/1880

Place of birth:

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.



Credits

I Know A Riddle (2004)
W.C. Fields: 6 Short Films (2000)
The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender (1997)
Self (archive footage)
Mae West and the Men Who Knew Her (1994)
Self (archive footage)
Hollywood Heaven: Tragic Lives, Tragic Deaths (1990)
(archive footage)
W.C. Fields: Straight Up (1986)
Going Hollywood: The '30s (1984)
(archive footage)
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage (1983)
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers! (1982)
Self (archive footage)
The Hollywood Clowns (1979)
(archive footage)
That's Entertainment, Part II (1976)
(archive footage)
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? (1975)
Self (archive footage)
The Movie Orgy (1968)
Self (archive footage)
The Big Parade of Comedy (1964)
Wilkins Micawber in 'David Copperfield' (archive footage)
Hollywood: The Selznick Years (1961)
'David Copperfield' (archive footage) (uncredited)
Down Memory Lane (1949)
(archive footage)
Sensations of 1945 (1944)
W.C. Fields
Song of the Open Road (1944)
W.C. Fields
Follow the Boys (1944)
W. C. Fields
Show-Business at War (1943)
Self
Tales of Manhattan (1942)
Professor Pufflewhistle
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941)
The Great Man
The Bank Dick (1940)
Egbert Sousé
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards (1940)
Self (archive footage)
My Little Chickadee (1940)
Cuthbert J. Twillie
You Can't Cheat an Honest Man (1939)
Larson E. Whipsnade
The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938)
T. Frothingill Bellows / S.B. Bellows
Poppy (1936)
Eustace McGargle
Man on the Flying Trapeze (1935)
Ambrose Wolfinger
Mississippi (1935)
Commodore Jackson
David Copperfield (1935)
Wilkins Micawber
It's a Gift (1934)
Harold Bissonette
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1934)
Mr. Stubbins
The Old-Fashioned Way (1934)
The Great McGonigle / Squire Cribbs in 'The Drunkard'
You're Telling Me! (1934)
Sam Bisbee
Six of a Kind (1934)
Sheriff John Hoxley
Alice in Wonderland (1933)
Humpty-Dumpty
Tillie and Gus (1933)
Augustus Winterbottom
The Barber Shop (1933)
Cornelius O'Hare
How to Break 90 #3: Hip Action (1933)
Himself
International House (1933)
Professor Quail
The Pharmacist (1933)
Mr. Dilweg
The Fatal Glass of Beer (1933)
Mr. Snavely
Hollywood on Parade No. B-7 (1933)
Self
The Dentist (1932)
Dentist
If I Had a Million (1932)
Rollo La Rue
Million Dollar Legs (1932)
The President
Her Majesty, Love (1931)
Bela Toerrek
The Golf Specialist (1930)
J. Effingham Bellweather
Fools for Luck (1928)
Richard Whitehead
Tillie's Punctured Romance (1928)
Ring Master
The Circus: Premiere (1928)
Self
Two Flaming Youths (1927)
Gabby Gilfoil
Running Wild (1927)
Elmer Finch
The Potters (1927)
Pa Potter
So's Your Old Man (1926)
Samuel Bisbee
It's the Old Army Game (1926)
Elmer Prettywillie
That Royle Girl (1925)
Professor Royle
Sally of the Sawdust (1925)
Professor Eustance McGargle
Janice Meredith (1924)
A British Sergeant
Pool Sharks (1915)
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941)
Story
The Bank Dick (1940)
Screenplay
My Little Chickadee (1940)
Screenplay
You Can't Cheat an Honest Man (1939)
Story
Man on the Flying Trapeze (1935)
Director
Man on the Flying Trapeze (1935)
Story
It's a Gift (1934)
Story
The Old-Fashioned Way (1934)
Story
The Barber Shop (1933)
Writer
The Pharmacist (1933)
Writer
The Fatal Glass of Beer (1933)
Writer
Too Many Highballs (1933)
Story
The Dentist (1932)
Writer
The Golf Specialist (1930)
Writer
Pool Sharks (1915)
Writer