W.C. Fields Overview:

Legendary actor, W.C. Fields, was born William Claude Dukenfield on Jan 29, 1880 in Darby, Pennsylvania. Fields died at the age of 66 on Dec 25, 1946 in Pasadena, CA and was laid to rest in Forest Lawn (Glendale) Cemetery in Glendale, CA.

MINI BIO:

Burly, round-faced, red-nosed American juggler and comedian, with a long history in vaudeville before his serious film career began in the mid-twenties. With sound, his own peculiar, abrasive, embittered, alcohol-oriented delivery really came into its own and, as henpeck or charlatan in turn, he created a series of comedy classics. Wore a fake mustache in films until 1932. Died, from a combination of dropsy, a liver ailment and heart failure, on the day he moaned about more than any other - Christmas Day.

(Source: available at Amazon Quinlan's Film Stars).

HONORS and AWARDS:

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He was honored with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the categories of Radio and Motion Pictures. In addition, Fields was immortalized on a US postal stamp in 1980. He appears on the cover of The Beatles' Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album. Fields was never nominated for an Academy Award.

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W.C. Fields Quotes:

Amelia: Why were you sitting there like a stone image when those men were insulting me?
Harold: I was just waiting for one of 'em to say something to me.


[Peggy finds a litter of assorted kittens on her seat]
Peggy: I wonder what their parents were.
Professor Quail: Careless, my little dove cake, careless.


The Producer: This script is an insult to a man's intelligence. Even mine.


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W.C. Fields on the
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W.C. Fields Facts
Fields always regretted not having more formal education. He traveled with a trunk of books, reading whenever he could, and thought for a time about hiring a tutor. He lavished praise on "Readers' Digest" magazine, in later years.

The last movie he starred in, Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941), included a character he'd always wanted to have in one of his movies: a young woman (in this case his niece, played by Gloria Jean) who loved him unconditionally.

He said that The Marx Brothers were the only act he couldn't follow on the live stage. He is known to have appeared on the same bill with them only once, during an engagement at Keith's Orpheum Theatre in Columbus, OH, in January 1915. At the time the Marx Brothers were touring "Home Again", and it didn't take Fields long to realize how his quiet comedy juggling act was faring against the anarchy of the Marxes. Fields later wrote of the engagement (and the Marxes), "They sang, danced, played harp and kidded in zany style. Never saw so much nepotism or such hilarious laughter in one act in my life. The only act I could never follow . . . I told the manager I broke my wrist and quit.".

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