W. C. Fields
Also known as W.C. Fields, William Claude Dukenfield, William Claude Fields
American comedian, actor, juggler and writer (1880–1946)
Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1879
- Died
- 1946
- Works
- 16
Top works
- Drat!
- I never met a kid I liked
- The Bank Dick
- Best of W. C. Fields
- The Day I Drank a Glass of Water/Cassette (Radio Reruns)
via Open Library + Wikidata
Film & TV
Acting · Darby, Pennsylvania, USA
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…
Known for
- W.C. Fields: 6 Short Films2000
- Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults — (archive footage)1999
- The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender — Self (archive footage)1997
- Vaudeville — Self (archive footage)1997
- Mae West and the Men Who Knew Her — Self (archive footage)1994
Article
William Claude Dukenfield (January 29, 1880 – December 25, 1946), better known as W. C. Fields, was an American actor, comedian, juggler and writer. His career in show business began in vaudeville, where he attained international success as a silent juggler. He began to incorporate comedy into his act and was a featured comedian in the Ziegfeld Follies for several years. He became a star in the Broadway musical comedy Poppy (1923), in which he played a colorful small-time con man. His subsequent stage and film roles were often similar scoundrels or henpecked everyman characters.
Among his trademarks were his physical comedy, raspy drawl, large nose, and grandiloquent vocabulary. His film and radio persona was generally identified with Fields himself. It was maintained by the publicity departments at Fields's studios (Paramount and Universal) and was further reinforced by Robert Lewis Taylor's 1949 biography W. C. Fields, His Follies and Fortunes. Beginning in 1973, with the publication of Fields's letters, photos, and personal notes in grandson Ronald Fields's book W. C. Fields by Himself, it was shown that Fields was married (and subsequently estranged from his wife), financially supported their son and loved his grandchildren.