Person
Roscoe Arbuckle
Smith Center, Kansas, USA
Roscoe Arbuckle (March 24, 1887 - June 29, 1933), widely known to audiences as “Fatty” Arbuckle, was an American silent film actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter. He starte…
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Roscoe Arbuckle (March 24, 1887 - June 29, 1933), widely known to audiences as “Fatty” Arbuckle, was an American silent film actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter. He started at the Selig Polyscope Company and eventually moved to Keystone Studios, where he worked with Mabel Normand and Harold Lloyd as well as with his nephew, Al St. John. He also mentored Charlie Chaplin, Monty Banks and Bob Hope, and brought vaudeville star Buster Keaton into the movie business. Arbuckle was one of the most popular silent stars of the 1910s and one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood at the time. In one of the earliest Hollywood scandals, Arbuckle was the defendant in three widely publicized trials between November 1921 and April 1922 for the rape and manslaughter of actress Virginia Rappe. Rappe had fallen ill at a party hosted by Arbuckle at San Francisco's St. Francis Hotel in September 1921, and died four days later. A friend of Rappe accused Arbuckle of raping and accidentally killing her. The first two trials resulted in hung juries, but the third acquitted Arbuckle. The third jury took the unusual step of giving Arbuckle a written statement of apology for his treatment by the justice system. Despite Arbuckle's acquittal, the scandal largely halted his career and has mostly overshadowed his legacy as a pioneering comedian.
Filmography
Movies and shows, newest first
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2026
A Brave Engineer: Buster Keaton's Last Ride
Movie Self (Archival)
- 2025
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2020
Charlie Chaplin, The Genius of Liberty
Movie archive footage
-
2015
Looking for Mabel Normand
Movie Self (archive footage)
-
2009
The Parrott Chase
Movie (archive footage) (uncredited)
-
2007
Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema
Movie Self (archive footage)
-
2006
Buster Keaton: From Silents to Shorts
Movie (archive footage)
-
2004
So Funny It Hurt: Buster Keaton & MGM
Movie Self (archive footage)
-
2003
Chaplin Today: The Gold Rush
Movie Self (archive footage)
-
2003
Murders of Hollywood
Movie Self (archive footage)
-
1995
The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies
Movie Self (archive footage)
-
1995
The Casting Couch
Movie
-
1992
The Chaplin Puzzle
Movie (archive footage)
-
1988
Hollywood Scandals and Tragedies
Movie (archive footage) (uncredited)
-
1981
The Muppets Go to the Movies
Movie Keystone Kop (archive footage) (uncredited)
-
1962
Crazy Days
Movie Various (archive footage) (uncredited)
More credits
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1961
Days of Thrills and Laughter
Movie Self (archive footage)
-
1960
When Comedy Was King
Movie (archive footage) (uncredited)
-
1943
Happy Times and Jolly Moments
Movie (archive footage)
-
1933
Tomalio
Movie Wilbur
-
1933
In the Dough
Movie Slim
-
1933
Close Relations
Movie Wilbur Wart
-
1933
How've You Bean?
Movie
-
1933
Buzzin' Around
Movie Cornelius
-
1932
It's a Cinch
Movie Director
-
1932
Hey, Pop!
Movie Fatty
-
1932
Niagara Falls
Movie Director
-
1932
Gigolettes
Movie Director
-
1932
Hollywood Lights
Movie Director
-
1932
Mother's Holiday
Movie Director
-
1932
Hollywood Luck
Movie Director
-
1932
Bridge Wives
Movie Director
-
1932
Keep Laughing
Movie Director
-
1932
Anybody's Goat
Movie Director
-
1932
Moonlight and Cactus
Movie Director
-
1931
Stars of Yesterday
Movie Self
-
1931
Smart Work
Movie Director
-
1931
Idle Roomers
Movie Director
-
1931
The Tamale Vendor
Movie Director
-
1931
Once a Hero
Movie Director
