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Born William Claude Dukenfield, Fields ran away from home at age 11 and entered vaudeville. By age 21 he was traveling as a comedy juggling act, becoming a headliner in both North America and Europe. In 1906 he made his Broadway debut in the musical comedy The Ham Tree, signing with impresario Flo Ziegfeld.
Like many vaudevillians, Fields worked in silent films and one-reelers, but he first hit big theatrical fame in 1923 in the Broadway musical Poppy, where he perfected his persona as an oily, failed confidence man. Fields later appeared in talking feature films and short subjects, including the 1934 It's a Gift , which included a version of his stage sketch of trying to sleep on the back porch as a result of nagging family and being bedeviled by noisy neighbors and traveling salesmen.
Fields had an affection for unlikely names and many of his characters bore them. As he was often also a writer on his films, the credits often include quite unusual names.
He also played the Charles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens ( February 7, 1812 June 9, 1870), pen-name " Boz", was an English novelist of the Victorian era. The popularity of his books during his lifetime and to the present is demonstrated by the fact that none of his novels has ever go character Mr. Micawber, in MGM's David CopperfieldThe Personal History, Adventures, Experience, & Observation of David Copperfield the Younger is a 1935 film based upon the Charles Dickens novel. It starred Freddie Bartholomew as young David Copperfield, Frank Lawton as the older David Copperfield, Edna, directed by George CukorGeorge Cukor ( July 7, 1899 January 23, 1983) was an American film director. Born in New York, he worked as a stage producer before his dialogue direction for All Quiet on the Western Front led to work for Paramount Pictures then RKO and MGM. He directed, in 1935Events January January 1 Italian colonies of Tripoli and Kyrenaika are joined together as Libya January 7 World War II: Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French foreign minister Pierre Laval conclude agreement in which each power undertakes not to oppo. In 1936, Fields recreated his signature stage role in PoppyFor the video game character, see Poppy (video game character). cemetery, France. Poppies are often seen as a symbol of World War I A poppy is an annual, biennial, or perennial plant of the Family Papaveraceae, typically with showy flowers borne one per s for Paramount Studios wherein Richard CromwellThis is a page about the American actor Richard Cromwell . For the British ruler and prominent historical figure of the 1700s of the same name, see Richard Cromwell. Richard Cromwell (January 8, 1910 October 11, 1960) was an American actor, born LeRoy Mel, played the suitor of Fields' daughter, Rochelle Hudson .
Illness, worsened by his heavy drinking, stopped Fields' film work for a time, but he made a comeback trading insults with ventriloquist's dummy Charlie McCarthy on radio in 1938. In 1940 he made My Little Chickadee with Mae West, perhaps his best-remembered role, as well as The Bank Dick.
In a final irony, W. C. Fields died on the one holiday he claimed to despise: Christmas Day. He was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, in Glendale, California.
His mistress, Carlotta Monti, is among several others who have chronicled the famous actor's life. She recounts many amusing and insightful anecdotes concerning their life together in her book, W. C. Fields and Me.