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).
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.
External links
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/nm0001211
Wikipedia: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q352971
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Filmography (Movies)
I Know A Riddle
Character:(archive footage)
Release Date:01/04/2004
W.C. Fields: 6 Short Films
Character:
Release Date:01/01/2000
Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults
Character:(archive footage)
Release Date:20/07/1999
The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:01/11/1997
Mae West and the Men Who Knew Her
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:09/08/1994
Hollywood Heaven: Tragic Lives, Tragic Deaths
Character:(archive footage)
Release Date:01/01/1990
W.C. Fields: Straight Up
Character:
Release Date:02/01/1986
Going Hollywood: The '30s
Character:(archive footage)
Release Date:01/01/1984
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Character:Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Release Date:25/02/1983
Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers!
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:01/01/1982
The Hollywood Clowns
Character:(archive footage)
Release Date:23/03/1979
That's Entertainment, Part II
Character:(archive footage)
Release Date:16/05/1976
Hooray for Hollywood
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:01/01/1976
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:06/08/1975
The Movie Orgy
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:01/01/1968
The Big Parade of Comedy
Character:Wilkins Micawber in 'David Copperfield' (archive footage)
Release Date:02/09/1964
Down Memory Lane
Character:(archive footage)
Release Date:01/08/1949
Sensations of 1945
Character:W.C. Fields
Release Date:30/06/1944
Song of the Open Road
Character:W.C. Fields
Release Date:21/06/1944
Follow the Boys
Character:W. C. Fields
Release Date:05/05/1944
Show-Business at War
Character:Self
Release Date:21/05/1943
Tales of Manhattan
Character:Professor Pufflewhistle (uncredited)
Release Date:05/08/1942
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break
Character:The Great Man
Release Date:10/10/1941
The Bank Dick
Character:Egbert Sousé
Release Date:29/11/1940
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:31/07/1940
My Little Chickadee
Character:Cuthbert J. Twillie
Release Date:09/02/1940
You Can't Cheat an Honest Man
Character:Larson E. Whipsnade
Release Date:17/02/1939
The Big Broadcast of 1938
Character:T. Frothingill Bellows / S.B. Bellows
Release Date:11/02/1938
Poppy
Character:Eustace McGargle
Release Date:17/06/1936
Man on the Flying Trapeze
Character:Ambrose Wolfinger
Release Date:03/08/1935
Mississippi
Character:Commodore Jackson
Release Date:22/03/1935
David Copperfield
Character:Wilkins Micawber
Release Date:18/01/1935
It's a Gift
Character:Harold Bissonette
Release Date:30/11/1934
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch
Character:Mr. Stubbins
Release Date:28/10/1934
The Old-Fashioned Way
Character:The Great McGonigle / Squire Cribbs in 'The Drunkard'
Release Date:13/07/1934
You're Telling Me!
Character:Sam Bisbee
Release Date:06/04/1934
Six of a Kind
Character:Sheriff John Hoxley
Release Date:09/02/1934
Alice in Wonderland
Character:Humpty-Dumpty
Release Date:18/12/1933
Tillie and Gus
Character:Augustus Winterbottom
Release Date:13/10/1933
The Barber Shop
Character:Cornelius O'Hare
Release Date:28/07/1933
How to Break 90 #3: Hip Action
Character:Himself
Release Date:23/06/1933
International House
Character:Professor Quail
Release Date:27/05/1933
The Pharmacist
Character:Mr. Dilweg
Release Date:21/04/1933
The Fatal Glass of Beer
Character:Mr. Snavely
Release Date:03/03/1933
Hollywood on Parade No. B-7
Character:Self
Release Date:01/01/1933
The Dentist
Character:Dentist
Release Date:09/12/1932
If I Had a Million
Character:Rollo La Rue
Release Date:18/11/1932
Million Dollar Legs
Character:The President
Release Date:08/07/1932
Her Majesty, Love
Character:Bela Toerrek
Release Date:15/12/1931
The Golf Specialist
Character:J. Effingham Bellweather
Release Date:22/08/1930
Fools for Luck
Character:Richard Whitehead
Release Date:11/06/1928
Tillie's Punctured Romance
Character:Ring Master
Release Date:03/03/1928
The Circus: Premiere
Character:Self
Release Date:13/01/1928
Two Flaming Youths
Character:Gabby Gilfoil
Release Date:17/12/1927
Running Wild
Character:Elmer Finch
Release Date:10/06/1927
The Potters
Character:Pa Potter
Release Date:15/01/1927
So's Your Old Man
Character:Samuel Bisbee
Release Date:25/10/1926
It's the Old Army Game
Character:Elmer Prettywillie
Release Date:10/07/1926
That Royle Girl
Character:Professor Royle
Release Date:07/12/1925
Sally of the Sawdust
Character:Professor Eustance McGargle
Release Date:01/08/1925
Janice Meredith
Character:A British Sergeant
Release Date:08/12/1924
Pool Sharks
Character:
Release Date:19/09/1915
Television Appearances
Images
