Acting · Darby, Pennsylvania, USA · Born January 29, 1880
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.
MovieW.C. Fields: 6 Short Films
2000
MovieHidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults
1999
as (archive footage)
MovieVaudeville
1997
as Self (archive footage)
MovieThe Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender
1997
as Self (archive footage)
MovieMae West and the Men Who Knew Her
1994
as Self (archive footage)
MovieHollywood Heaven: Tragic Lives, Tragic Deaths
1990
as (archive footage)
MovieW.C. Fields: Straight Up
1986
MovieGoing Hollywood: The '30s
1984
as (archive footage)
MovieHollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
1983
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
TVWogan
1982
as Self
MovieOops, Those Hollywood Bloopers!
1982
as Self (archive footage)
MovieThe Hollywood Clowns
1979
as (archive footage)
Bob Hope's World of Comedy
1976
as Self - Tribute Montage (archive footage)
MovieThat's Entertainment, Part II
1976
as (archive footage)
MovieHooray for Hollywood
1976
as Self (archive footage)
MovieBrother, Can You Spare a Dime?
1975
as Self (archive footage)
MovieThe Movie Orgy
1968
as Self (archive footage)
MovieThe Big Parade of Comedy
1964
as Wilkins Micawber in 'David Copperfield' (archive footage)
MovieDown Memory Lane
1949
as (archive footage)
MovieSensations of 1945
1944
as W.C. Fields
MovieSong of the Open Road
1944
as W.C. Fields
MovieFollow the Boys
1944
as W. C. Fields
MovieShow-Business at War
1943
as Self
MovieTales of Manhattan
1942
as Professor Pufflewhistle (uncredited)
MovieNever Give a Sucker an Even Break
1941
as The Great Man
MovieThe Bank Dick
1940
as Egbert Sousé
MovieCavalcade of the Academy Awards
1940
as Self (archive footage)
MovieMy Little Chickadee
1940
as Cuthbert J. Twillie
MovieYou Can't Cheat an Honest Man
1939
as Larson E. Whipsnade
MovieThe Big Broadcast of 1938
1938
as T. Frothingill Bellows / S.B. Bellows
MoviePoppy
1936
as Eustace McGargle
MovieMan on the Flying Trapeze
1935
as Ambrose Wolfinger
MovieMississippi
1935
as Commodore Jackson
MovieDavid Copperfield
1935
as Wilkins Micawber
MovieIt's a Gift
1934
as Harold Bissonette
MovieMrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch
1934
as Mr. Stubbins
MovieThe Old-Fashioned Way
1934
as The Great McGonigle / Squire Cribbs in 'The Drunkard'
MovieHollywood on Parade No. B-10
1934
as Self
MovieYou're Telling Me!
1934
as Sam Bisbee
MovieSix of a Kind
1934
as Sheriff John Hoxley
MovieAlice in Wonderland
1933
as Humpty-Dumpty
MovieTillie and Gus
1933
as Augustus Winterbottom
MovieThe Barber Shop
1933
as Cornelius O'Hare
How to Break 90 #3: Hip Action
1933
as Himself
MovieInternational House
1933
as Professor Quail
MovieThe Pharmacist
1933
as Mr. Dilweg
MovieThe Fatal Glass of Beer
1933
as Mr. Snavely
MovieThe Dentist
1932
as Dentist
MovieIf I Had a Million
1932
as Rollo La Rue
MovieMillion Dollar Legs
1932
as The President
MovieHer Majesty, Love
1931
as Bela Toerrek
MovieThe Golf Specialist
1930
as J. Effingham Bellweather
MovieFools for Luck
1928
as Richard Whitehead
MovieTillie's Punctured Romance
1928
as Ring Master
MovieThe Circus: Premiere
1928
as Self
MovieTwo Flaming Youths
1927
as Gabby Gilfoil
MovieRunning Wild
1927
as Elmer Finch
MovieThe Potters
1927
as Pa Potter
MovieSo's Your Old Man
1926
as Samuel Bisbee
MovieIt's the Old Army Game
1926
as Elmer Prettywillie
MovieThat Royle Girl
1925
as Professor Royle
MovieSally of the Sawdust
1925
as Professor Eustance McGargle
MovieJanice Meredith
1924
as A British Sergeant
MoviePool Sharks
1915
