W.C. Fields, Acting - KorPlix:Korean Person Archives

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W.C. Fields
Acting

W.C. Fields
Homepage
https://www.wcfields.com/
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1880-01-29,Darby, Pennsylvania, USA
Gender
Male
Biography
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

6.4

The Bank Dick
1940-11-29

Hollywood on Parade No. B-7

0

Hollywood on Parade No. B-7
1933-01-01

6.2

The Movie Orgy
1968-01-01

International House

5.3

International House
1933-05-27

Alice in Wonderland

6.1

Alice in Wonderland
1933-12-18

I Know A Riddle

0

I Know A Riddle
2004-04-01

Follow the Boys

5.2

Follow the Boys
1944-05-05

Tales of Manhattan

6.2

Tales of Manhattan
1942-08-05

The Hollywood Clowns

0

The Hollywood Clowns
1979-03-23

6.5

It's a Gift
1934-11-30

You Can't Cheat an Honest Man

6.7

You Can't Cheat an Honest Man
1939-02-17

Never Give a Sucker an Even Break

6.8

Never Give a Sucker an Even Break
1941-10-10

6.5

Poppy
1936-06-17

0

Fools for Luck
1928-06-11

My Little Chickadee

6.4

My Little Chickadee
1940-02-09

The Big Broadcast of 1938

5.9

The Big Broadcast of 1938
1938-02-11

The Golf Specialist

5.4

The Golf Specialist
1930-08-22

David Copperfield

6.516

David Copperfield
1935-01-18

Two Flaming Youths

0

Two Flaming Youths
1927-12-17

5.7

The Pharmacist
1933-04-21

5.2

Pool Sharks
1915-09-19

6

The Dentist
1932-12-09

The Fatal Glass of Beer

5.9

The Fatal Glass of Beer
1933-03-03

The Barber Shop

6.2

The Barber Shop
1933-07-28

Man on the Flying Trapeze

5.9

Man on the Flying Trapeze
1935-08-03

Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch

6

Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch
1934-10-28

If I Had a Million

6.6

If I Had a Million
1932-11-18

Her Majesty, Love

6

Her Majesty, Love
1931-12-15

5.8

Six of a Kind
1934-02-09

Janice Meredith

5

Janice Meredith
1924-12-08

7.6

Tillie and Gus
1933-10-13

You're Telling Me!

6.4

You're Telling Me!
1934-04-06

6.7

Mississippi
1935-03-22

Million Dollar Legs

6.6

Million Dollar Legs
1932-07-08

So's Your Old Man

6.1

So's Your Old Man
1926-10-25

Sally of the Sawdust

6.1

Sally of the Sawdust
1925-08-01

Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers!

6

Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers!
1982-01-01

Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage

6.5

Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
1983-02-25

It's the Old Army Game

5

It's the Old Army Game
1926-07-10

5.7

Running Wild
1927-06-10

Sensations of 1945

6.2

Sensations of 1945
1944-06-30

W.C. Fields: Straight Up

0

W.C. Fields: Straight Up
1986-01-02

Going Hollywood: The '30s

10

Going Hollywood: The '30s
1984-01-01

Hollywood: The Selznick Years

3.3

Hollywood: The Selznick Years
1961-12-31

Song of the Open Road

0

Song of the Open Road
1944-06-21

The Circus: Premiere

5.4

The Circus: Premiere
1928-01-13

Hollywood Heaven: Tragic Lives, Tragic Deaths

5.7

Hollywood Heaven: Tragic Lives, Tragic Deaths
1990-01-01

Tillie's Punctured Romance

6

Tillie's Punctured Romance
1928-03-03

The Old-Fashioned Way

7

The Old-Fashioned Way
1934-07-13

Mae West and the Men Who Knew Her

0

Mae West and the Men Who Knew Her
1994-08-09

The Big Parade of Comedy

6.3

The Big Parade of Comedy
1964-09-02

W.C. Fields: 6 Short Films

7

W.C. Fields: 6 Short Films
2000-01-01

How to Break 90 #3: Hip Action

0

How to Break 90 #3: Hip Action
1933-06-23

Show-Business at War

7

Show-Business at War
1943-05-21

Cavalcade of the Academy Awards

6.5

Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
1940-07-31

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

5.7

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
1975-08-06

That's Entertainment, Part II

6.8

That's Entertainment, Part II
1976-05-16

0

The Potters
1927-01-15

The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender

5

The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender
1997-11-01

That Royle Girl

1

That Royle Girl
1925-12-07

Down Memory Lane

0

Down Memory Lane
1949-08-01

4.5

Wogan
1982-05-04

10

Star Life
1990-08-04