W.C. Fields

Person

W.C. Fields

Acting January 29, 1880

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 qu…

IMDb

Known for

Popular titles

Wogan

Wogan

5.3 1982 TV Show
The Bank Dick

The Bank Dick

6.5 1940 Movie
It's a Gift

It's a Gift

6.4 1934 Movie
David Copperfield

David Copperfield

6.7 1935 Movie
Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland

6.1 1933 Movie
If I Had a Million

If I Had a Million

6.5 1932 Movie
That's Entertainment, Part II

That's Entertainment, Part II

7.0 1976 Movie
The Fatal Glass of Beer

The Fatal Glass of Beer

6.0 1933 Movie
Tales of Manhattan

Tales of Manhattan

6.4 1942 Movie
Pool Sharks

Pool Sharks

5.2 1915 Movie
The Dentist

The Dentist

5.9 1932 Movie
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break

Never Give a Sucker an Even Break

7.0 1941 Movie

Photos

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Biography

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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.

Filmography

Movies and shows, newest first

  1. 2000
    W.C. Fields: 6 Short Films

    Movie

  2. 1999
    Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults

    Movie (archive footage)

  3. 1997
    Vaudeville

    Movie Self (archive footage)

  4. 1997
    The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender

    Movie Self (archive footage)

  5. 1994
    Mae West and the Men Who Knew Her

    Movie Self (archive footage)

  6. 1990
    Hollywood Heaven: Tragic Lives, Tragic Deaths

    Movie (archive footage)

  7. 1986
    W.C. Fields: Straight Up

    Movie

  8. 1984
    Going Hollywood: The '30s

    Movie (archive footage)

  9. 1983
    Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage

    Movie Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

  10. 1982
    Wogan

    TV show Self

  11. 1982
    Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers!

    Movie Self (archive footage)

  12. 1979
    The Hollywood Clowns

    Movie (archive footage)

  13. 1976
    Bob Hope's World of Comedy

    Movie Self - Tribute Montage (archive footage)

  14. 1976
    That's Entertainment, Part II

    Movie (archive footage)

  15. 1976
    Hooray for Hollywood

    Movie Self (archive footage)

  16. 1975
    Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

    Movie Self (archive footage)

More credits
  1. 1968
    The Movie Orgy

    Movie Self (archive footage)

  2. 1964
    The Big Parade of Comedy

    Movie Wilkins Micawber in 'David Copperfield' (archive footage)

  3. 1949
    Down Memory Lane

    Movie (archive footage)

  4. 1944
    Sensations of 1945

    Movie W.C. Fields

  5. 1944
    Song of the Open Road

    Movie W.C. Fields

  6. 1944
    Follow the Boys

    Movie W. C. Fields

  7. 1943
    Show-Business at War

    Movie Self

  8. 1942
    Tales of Manhattan

    Movie Professor Pufflewhistle (uncredited)

  9. 1941
    Never Give a Sucker an Even Break

    Movie The Great Man

  10. 1940
    The Bank Dick

    Movie Egbert Sousé

  11. 1940
    Cavalcade of the Academy Awards

    Movie Self (archive footage)

  12. 1940
    My Little Chickadee

    Movie Cuthbert J. Twillie

  13. 1939
    You Can't Cheat an Honest Man

    Movie Larson E. Whipsnade

  14. 1938
    The Big Broadcast of 1938

    Movie T. Frothingill Bellows / S.B. Bellows

  15. 1936
    Poppy

    Movie Eustace McGargle

  16. 1935
    Man on the Flying Trapeze

    Movie Ambrose Wolfinger

  17. 1935
    Mississippi

    Movie Commodore Jackson

  18. 1935
    David Copperfield

    Movie Wilkins Micawber

  19. 1934
    It's a Gift

    Movie Harold Bissonette

  20. 1934
    Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch

    Movie Mr. Stubbins

  21. 1934
    The Old-Fashioned Way

    Movie The Great McGonigle / Squire Cribbs in 'The Drunkard'

  22. 1934
    Hollywood on Parade No. B-10

    Movie Self

  23. 1934
    You're Telling Me!

    Movie Sam Bisbee

  24. 1934
    Six of a Kind

    Movie Sheriff John Hoxley