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.
Fotos
Películas (65)
Marlene Dietrich: Home Movies
2024 · Self
The Great Man: W.C. Fields
2005 · Self (archive footage)
W.C. Fields: 6 Short Films
2000
Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults
1999 · (archive footage)
Vaudeville
1997 · Self (archive footage)
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 · Self (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)
Hooray for Hollywood
1976 · Self (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)
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 (uncredited)
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break
1941 · The Great Man, Story
The Bank Dick
1940 · Egbert Sousé, Screenplay
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
1940 · Self (archive footage)
My Little Chickadee
1940 · Cuthbert J. Twillie, Screenplay
You Can't Cheat an Honest Man
1939 · Larson E. Whipsnade, Story
The Big Broadcast of 1938
1938 · T. Frothingill Bellows / S.B. Bellows
Poppy
1936 · Eustace McGargle
Man on the Flying Trapeze
1935 · Ambrose Wolfinger, Story
Mississippi
1935 · Commodore Jackson
David Copperfield
1935 · Wilkins Micawber
It's a Gift
1934 · Harold Bissonette, Story
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch
1934 · Mr. Stubbins
The Old-Fashioned Way
1934 · The Great McGonigle / Squire Cribbs in 'The Drunkard', Story
Hollywood on Parade No. B-10
1934 · Self
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, Writer
How to Break 90 #3: Hip Action
1933 · Himself
International House
1933 · Professor Quail
The Pharmacist
1933 · Mr. Dilweg, Writer
The Fatal Glass of Beer
1933 · Mr. Snavely, Writer
Too Many Highballs
1933 · Story
The Dentist
1932 · Dentist, Writer
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, Writer
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, Theatre Play
That Royle Girl
1925 · Professor Royle
Sally of the Sawdust
1925 · Professor Eustance McGargle
Janice Meredith
1924 · A British Sergeant
Pool Sharks
1915 · Writer
