Photos

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.

  • Known ForActing
  • Born29 January 1880 (age 145)
  • Place of BirthDarby, Pennsylvania, USA

W.C. Fields

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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 ForActing
  • Born29 January 1880 (age 145)
  • Place of BirthDarby, Pennsylvania, USA
KNOWN FOR
PHOTOS
CREDITS
Poster
I Know A Riddle
star
-
2004
Poster
W.C. Fields: 6 Short Films
star
7.0
2000
Poster
Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults
star
-
1999
Poster
The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender
star
5.2
1997
Poster
Mae West and the Men Who Knew Her
star
-
1994
Poster
Hollywood Heaven: Tragic Lives, Tragic Deaths
star
5.7
1990
Poster
W.C. Fields: Straight Up
star
-
1986
Poster
Going Hollywood: The '30s
star
10.0
1984
Poster
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
star
6.5
1983
Poster
Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers!
star
6.0
1982
Poster
The Hollywood Clowns
star
-
1979
Poster
That's Entertainment, Part II
star
6.855
1976
Poster
Hooray for Hollywood
star
-
1976
Poster
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
star
5.7
1975
Poster
The Movie Orgy
star
6.5
1968
Poster
The Big Parade of Comedy
star
6.3
1964
Poster
Hollywood: The Selznick Years
star
3.3
1961
Poster
Down Memory Lane
star
-
1949
Poster
Follow the Boys
star
5.3
1944
Poster
Sensations of 1945
star
6.2
1944
Poster
Song of the Open Road
star
-
1944
Poster
Show-Business at War
star
7.0
1943
Poster
Tales of Manhattan
star
6.3
1942
Poster
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break
star
6.905
1941
Poster
The Bank Dick
star
6.496
1940
Poster
My Little Chickadee
star
6.438
1940
Poster
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
star
6.5
1940
Poster
You Can't Cheat an Honest Man
star
6.85
1939
Poster
The Big Broadcast of 1938
star
6.125
1938
Poster
Poppy
star
6.8
1936
Poster
Man on the Flying Trapeze
star
5.9
1935
Poster
David Copperfield
star
6.7
1935
Poster
Mississippi
star
6.7
1935
Poster
It's a Gift
star
6.4
1934
Poster
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch
star
6.0
1934
Poster
Six of a Kind
star
5.769
1934
Poster
You're Telling Me!
star
6.656
1934
Poster
The Old-Fashioned Way
star
7.1
1934
Poster
Hollywood on Parade No. B-7
star
-
1933
Poster
International House
star
5.684
1933
Poster
Alice in Wonderland
star
6.0
1933
Poster
The Pharmacist
star
5.8
1933
Poster
The Fatal Glass of Beer
star
5.946
1933
Poster
The Barber Shop
star
6.227
1933
Poster
Tillie and Gus
star
7.6
1933
Poster
How to Break 90 #3: Hip Action
star
-
1933
Poster
The Dentist
star
6.0
1932
Poster
If I Had a Million
star
6.698
1932
Poster
Million Dollar Legs
star
6.6
1932
Poster
Her Majesty, Love
star
6.0
1931
Poster
The Golf Specialist
star
5.3
1930
Poster
Fools for Luck
star
-
1928
Poster
The Circus: Premiere
star
5.4
1928
Poster
Tillie's Punctured Romance
star
6.0
1928
Poster
Two Flaming Youths
star
-
1927
Poster
Running Wild
star
5.8
1927
Poster
The Potters
star
-
1927
Poster
So's Your Old Man
star
6.556
1926
Poster
It's the Old Army Game
star
5.0
1926
Poster
Sally of the Sawdust
star
6.1
1925
Poster
That Royle Girl
star
1.0
1925
Poster
Janice Meredith
star
5.0
1924
Poster
Pool Sharks
star
5.2
1915