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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
January 29, 1880
Died
December 25, 1946
Place of Birth
Darby, Pennsylvania, USA
Also Known As
- William Claude Dukenfield
- Bill Fields
- Charles Bogle
- Mahatma Kane Jeeves
- Otis Criblecoblis
W.C. Fields
1.0 Popularity
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.
Known For
0.0
(archive footage)
I Know A Riddle
2004
7.0
W.C. Fields: 6 Short Films
2000
0.0
(archive footage)
Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults
1999
4.9
Self (archive footage)
The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender
1997
0.0
Self (archive footage)
Mae West and the Men Who Knew Her
1994
5.7
(archive footage)
Hollywood Heaven: Tragic Lives, Tragic Deaths
1990
0.0
W.C. Fields: Straight Up
1986
10.0
(archive footage)
Going Hollywood: The '30s
1984
6.5
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
1983
4.5
Self
Wogan
1982
Credits
I Know A Riddle
as (archive footage)
2004
0.0
W.C. Fields: 6 Short Films
2000
7.0
Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults
as (archive footage)
1999
0.0
The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender
as Self (archive footage)
1997
4.9
Mae West and the Men Who Knew Her
as Self (archive footage)
1994
0.0
Hollywood Heaven: Tragic Lives, Tragic Deaths
as (archive footage)
1990
5.7
W.C. Fields: Straight Up
1986
0.0
Going Hollywood: The '30s
as (archive footage)
1984
10.0
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
1983
6.5
Wogan
as Self
1982
4.5
Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers!
as Self (archive footage)
1982
6.0
The Hollywood Clowns
as (archive footage)
1979
0.0
That's Entertainment, Part II
as (archive footage)
1976
6.9
Hooray for Hollywood
as Self (archive footage)
1976
0.0
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
as Self (archive footage)
1975
6.1
The Movie Orgy
as Self (archive footage)
1968
6.3
The Big Parade of Comedy
as Wilkins Micawber in 'David Copperfield' (archive footage)
1964
6.3
Down Memory Lane
as (archive footage)
1949
0.0
Sensations of 1945
as W.C. Fields
1944
6.2
Song of the Open Road
as W.C. Fields
1944
0.0
Follow the Boys
as W. C. Fields
1944
5.3
Show-Business at War
as Self
1943
7.0
Tales of Manhattan
as Professor Pufflewhistle (uncredited)
1942
6.2
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break
as The Great Man
1941
6.9
The Bank Dick
as Egbert Sousé
1940
6.5
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
as Self (archive footage)
1940
6.5
My Little Chickadee
as Cuthbert J. Twillie
1940
6.4
You Can't Cheat an Honest Man
as Larson E. Whipsnade
1939
6.8
The Big Broadcast of 1938
as T. Frothingill Bellows / S.B. Bellows
1938
6.3
Poppy
as Eustace McGargle
1936
6.8
Man on the Flying Trapeze
as Ambrose Wolfinger
1935
6.0
Mississippi
as Commodore Jackson
1935
6.7
David Copperfield
as Wilkins Micawber
1935
6.6
It's a Gift
as Harold Bissonette
1934
6.3
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch
as Mr. Stubbins
1934
6.0
The Old-Fashioned Way
as The Great McGonigle / Squire Cribbs in 'The Drunkard'
1934
7.1
You're Telling Me!
as Sam Bisbee
1934
6.3
Six of a Kind
as Sheriff John Hoxley
1934
5.8
Alice in Wonderland
as Humpty-Dumpty
1933
6.1
Tillie and Gus
as Augustus Winterbottom
1933
7.6
The Barber Shop
as Cornelius O'Hare
1933
6.3
🎬
How to Break 90 #3: Hip Action
as Himself
1933
0.0
International House
as Professor Quail
1933
5.5
The Pharmacist
as Mr. Dilweg
1933
5.8
The Fatal Glass of Beer
as Mr. Snavely
1933
5.9
Hollywood on Parade No. B-7
as Self
1933
0.0
The Dentist
as Dentist
1932
5.8
If I Had a Million
as Rollo La Rue
1932
6.6
Million Dollar Legs
as The President
1932
6.6
Her Majesty, Love
as Bela Toerrek
1931
6.0
The Golf Specialist
as J. Effingham Bellweather
1930
5.2
Fools for Luck
as Richard Whitehead
1928
0.0
Tillie's Punctured Romance
as Ring Master
1928
6.0
The Circus: Premiere
as Self
1928
5.4
Two Flaming Youths
as Gabby Gilfoil
1927
0.0
Running Wild
as Elmer Finch
1927
5.8
The Potters
as Pa Potter
1927
0.0
So's Your Old Man
as Samuel Bisbee
1926
6.6
It's the Old Army Game
as Elmer Prettywillie
1926
4.8
That Royle Girl
as Professor Royle
1925
1.0
Sally of the Sawdust
as Professor Eustance McGargle
1925
6.1
Janice Meredith
as A British Sergeant
1924
5.0
Pool Sharks
1915
5.2