Image of W.C. Fields

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.


Read bio at tmdb | Read bio at Wikipedia
Born:
Jan 29, 1880 In Darby, Pennsylvania, USA
Movie/TV Credits:
53
First Appeared:
In the movie Pool Sharks 1915-09-19
Latest Project:
Movie I Know A Riddle 2004-04-01
Known For
Filmography
Movie I Know A Riddle 2004-04-01
Movie The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender Self (archive footage) 1997-11-01
Movie W.C. Fields: Straight Up Unknown 1986-01-02
Movie Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage Self (archive footage) (uncredited) 1983-02-25
Series Wogan Self 1982-05-04
Movie That's Entertainment, Part II (archive footage) 1976-05-16
Movie Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? Self (archive footage) 1975-08-06
Movie The Movie Orgy Self (archive footage) 1968-01-01
Movie Hollywood My Home Town Self (archive footage) 1965-12-31
Movie The Big Parade of Comedy Wilkins Micawber in 'David Copperfield' (archive footage) 1964-09-02
Movie The Golden Age of Comedy 1957-12-26
Movie Down Memory Lane (archive footage) 1949-08-01
Movie Follow the Boys W. C. Fields 1944-05-05
Movie Sensations of 1945 W.C. Fields 1944-06-30
Movie Song of the Open Road W.C. Fields 1944-06-21
Movie Show-Business at War Self 1943-05-21
Movie Tales of Manhattan Professor Pufflewhistle 1942-08-05
Movie Never Give a Sucker an Even Break The Great Man 1941-10-10
Movie My Little Chickadee Cuthbert J. Twillie 1940-02-09
Movie Cavalcade of the Academy Awards Self (archive footage) 1940-07-31
Movie The Bank Dick Egbert Sousé 1940-11-29
Movie You Can't Cheat an Honest Man Larson E. Whipsnade 1939-02-17
Movie The Big Broadcast of 1938 T. Frothingill Bellows / S.B. Bellows 1938-02-11
Movie Poppy Eustace McGargle 1936-06-17
Movie Mississippi Commodore Jackson 1935-03-22
Movie David Copperfield Wilkins Micawber 1935-01-18
Movie Man on the Flying Trapeze Ambrose Wolfinger 1935-08-03
Movie Six of a Kind Sheriff John Hoxley 1934-02-09
Movie The Old-Fashioned Way The Great McGonigle / Squire Cribbs in 'The Drunkard' 1934-07-13
Movie You're Telling Me! Sam Bisbee 1934-04-06
Movie Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch Mr. Stubbins 1934-10-28
Movie It's a Gift Harold Bissonette 1934-11-30
Movie The Pharmacist Mr. Dilweg 1933-04-21
Movie The Fatal Glass of Beer Mr. Snavely 1933-03-03
Movie International House Professor Quail 1933-05-27
Movie Tillie and Gus Augustus Winterbottom 1933-10-13
Movie How to Break 90 #3: Hip Action Himself 1933-06-23
Movie The Barber Shop Cornelius O'Hare 1933-07-28
Movie Million Dollar Legs The President 1932-07-08
Movie If I Had a Million Rollo La Rue 1932-11-18
Movie The Dentist Dentist 1932-12-09
Movie Her Majesty, Love Bela Toerrek 1931-12-15
Movie The Circus: Premiere Self 1928-01-13
Movie Fools for Luck Richard Whitehead 1928-06-11
Movie Tillie's Punctured Romance Ring Master 1928-03-03
Movie The Potters Pa Potter 1927-01-15
Movie Running Wild Elmer Finch 1927-06-10
Movie It's the Old Army Game Elmer Prettywillie 1926-07-10
Movie So's Your Old Man Samuel Bisbee 1926-10-25
Movie Sally of the Sawdust Professor Eustance McGargle 1925-08-01
Movie That Royle Girl Professor Royle 1925-12-07
Movie Janice Meredith A British Sergeant 1924-12-08
Movie Pool Sharks 1915-09-19
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