W.C. Fields
Acting
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
Acting64
movieVaudeville
1997
Self (archive footage)
movieThe Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender
1997
Self (archive footage)
movieMae West and the Men Who Knew Her
1994
Self (archive footage)
movieHollywood Heaven: Tragic Lives, Tragic Deaths
1990
(archive footage)
movieGoing Hollywood: The '30s
1984
(archive footage)
movieHollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
1983
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
tvWogan
1982
Self
movieOops, Those Hollywood Bloopers!
1982
Self (archive footage)
movieThe Hollywood Clowns
1979
(archive footage)
Bob Hope's World of Comedy
1976
Self - Tribute Montage (archive footage)
movieThat's Entertainment, Part II
1976
(archive footage)
movieHooray for Hollywood
1976
Self (archive footage)
movieBrother, Can You Spare a Dime?
1975
Self (archive footage)
movieThe Movie Orgy
1968
Self (archive footage)
movieThe Big Parade of Comedy
1964
Wilkins Micawber in 'David Copperfield' (archive footage)
movieDown Memory Lane
1949
(archive footage)
movieSensations of 1945
1944
W.C. Fields
movieSong of the Open Road
1944
W.C. Fields
movieFollow the Boys
1944
W. C. Fields
movieTales of Manhattan
1942
Professor Pufflewhistle (uncredited)
movieNever Give a Sucker an Even Break
1941
The Great Man
movieThe Bank Dick
1940
Egbert Sousé
movieCavalcade of the Academy Awards
1940
Self (archive footage)
movieMy Little Chickadee
1940
Cuthbert J. Twillie
movieYou Can't Cheat an Honest Man
1939
Larson E. Whipsnade
movieThe Big Broadcast of 1938
1938
T. Frothingill Bellows / S.B. Bellows
moviePoppy
1936
Eustace McGargle
movieMan on the Flying Trapeze
1935
Ambrose Wolfinger
movieMississippi
1935
Commodore Jackson
movieDavid Copperfield
1935
Wilkins Micawber
movieIt's a Gift
1934
Harold Bissonette
movieMrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch
1934
Mr. Stubbins
movieThe Old-Fashioned Way
1934
The Great McGonigle / Squire Cribbs in 'The Drunkard'
movieYou're Telling Me!
1934
Sam Bisbee
movieSix of a Kind
1934
Sheriff John Hoxley
movieAlice in Wonderland
1933
Humpty-Dumpty
movieTillie and Gus
1933
Augustus Winterbottom
movieThe Barber Shop
1933
Cornelius O'Hare
movieInternational House
1933
Professor Quail
movieThe Pharmacist
1933
Mr. Dilweg
movieThe Fatal Glass of Beer
1933
Mr. Snavely
movieThe Dentist
1932
Dentist
movieIf I Had a Million
1932
Rollo La Rue
movieMillion Dollar Legs
1932
The President
movieHer Majesty, Love
1931
Bela Toerrek
movieThe Golf Specialist
1930
J. Effingham Bellweather
movieFools for Luck
1928
Richard Whitehead
movieTillie's Punctured Romance
1928
Ring Master
movieTwo Flaming Youths
1927
Gabby Gilfoil
movieRunning Wild
1927
Elmer Finch
movieThe Potters
1927
Pa Potter
movieSo's Your Old Man
1926
Samuel Bisbee
movieIt's the Old Army Game
1926
Elmer Prettywillie
movieThat Royle Girl
1925
Professor Royle
movieSally of the Sawdust
1925
Professor Eustance McGargle
movieJanice Meredith
1924
A British Sergeant
Writing15
movieThe Bank Dick
1940
Screenplay
movieMy Little Chickadee
1940
Screenplay
movieIt's a Gift
1934
Story
movieThe Barber Shop
1933
Writer
movieThe Pharmacist
1933
Writer
movieThe Dentist
1932
Writer
movieIt's the Old Army Game
1926
Theatre Play
moviePool Sharks
1915
Writer