W.c. fields cause of death
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The most public warrior in the fight against prohibition, W. C. Fields was born William Claude Dukenfield in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Fields is one of the most quotable entertainers in history:
Once, during Prohibition, I was forced to live for days on nothing but food and water.
I like to keep a bottle of stimulant handy in case I see a snake, which I also keep handy.
His father was a vegetable peddler, and W. C.’s attitude was not always congruent with that of his old man. Wes Gehring records:
An eleven-year-old Fields had left a small shovel in the yard. His father stepped on it [and was struck] in the shin. Young Fields found this funny, and father promptly bounced the shovel off the boy’s head. Fields . . . eventually decided upon, and successfully executed, the dropping of a wooden crate on his father’s head. Feeling that it would now be difficult to maintain any working rapport with Mr. Dukenfield, not to mention the inherent dangers of such one-upmanship, Fields ran away from home.
Although Fields was intermittently on reasonable terms with his family, he
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By Ronald J. Fields Epilogue. W.C. Fields: A Life on Film
I stay up late at night to watch my grandfather's movies, and I still laugh uproariously. But now I see so much more beyond just the laughs. I see an artist at work, and in nearly every one of his films I see the self-portrait of an artist.
There was little difference between Souse, Bissonette, Bisbee, McGargle, McGonigle, Whipsnade and the rest of them, and W.C. Fields. What made this comic mirror of himself more than a banal self-indulgence, however, was the honesty and clarity of his vision. He dug deeply into himself and brought to life something we all recognized, and that made it art. In using his life, his likes, his hates, and his dreams as the blood and guts of his art, he drew a portrait we all understood—a portrait of twentieth-century man, of alienation and redemption. I doubt if Fields actually intended to depict the historical angst of modern man, but he did.
In these modern times man feels bewildered, pressured to conform and a lack of control over his own destiny. The individual has gotten lost in the
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W. C. Fields
American comedian, actor, juggler and writer (1880–1946)
For the American Southern Baptist minister, see Wilmer Clemont Fields.
W. C. Fields | |
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W. C. Fields in 1938 | |
| Born | William Claude Dukenfield (1880-01-29)January 29, 1880 Darby, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | December 25, 1946(1946-12-25) (aged 66) Pasadena, California, U.S. |
| Resting place | Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California, U.S. |
| Other names |
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| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1898–1946 |
| Spouse | Harriet Hughes (m. 1900) |
| Partner(s) | Bessie Poole (1916–1926) Carlotta Monti (1933–1946; his death) |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | wcfields.com |
William Claude Dukenfield (January 29, 1880[1] – December 25, 1946), better known as W. C. Fields, was an American actor, comedian, juggler and writer.[2]
Fields's career in show business began in vaudeville, where he attained international success as a silent juggler.
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