biography
| name: |
Fields, W C
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originally William Claude Dukenfield
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1879–1946)
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| biography:
| Film actor and screenwriter, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. The son of a Cockney-English immigrant, he had little education but learned of life on the streets and took up juggling. By age 14 he was working professionally, and he soon began to appear in vaudeville and in Europe as ‘The Tramp Juggler’. During 1915–21 he was one of the stars in the Ziegfeld Follies, but his comic patter was becoming as important as his juggling skills, and in 1924 he had his first Broadway role as a comic actor. He began to make silent films, and went on to major stardom in the talking films and radio, where his inimitable raspy voice completed his characterization of a bulbous-nosed, child-hating, habitually tipsy misanthrope. In fact, his real-life personality was not unlike the one he cultivated in the films. He deeply distrusted most established institutions and sentiments, going so far as to keep his money in savings accounts in scores of banks and under fictitious names. He wrote the screenplays for many of his films, including the still popular classics You Can't Cheat an Honest Man (1939), My Little Chickadee (1940), The Bank Dick (1941), and Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941). His popularity has survived his demise, and he remains one of the archetypal American comedians. |
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