W.C. Fields

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Arts & Culture

W.C. Fields

American actor

Also known as: William Claude Dukenfield

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Mar 1, 2024 • Article History

W.C. Fields in David Copperfield

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Category: Arts & Culture

Original name:: William Claude Dukenfield

Born:: January 29, 1880, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.

Died:: December 25, 1946, Pasadena, California (aged 66)

Notable Works:: “The Bank Dick”

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W.C. Fields (born January 29, 1880, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.—died December 25, 1946, Pasadena, California) was an actor whose flawless timing and humorous cantankerousness made him one of America’s greatest comedians. His real-life and screen personalities were often indistinguishable, and he is remembered for his distinctive nasal voice, his antisocial character, and his fondness for alcohol. Owing to a preponderance of fabricated studio publicity, as well as Fields’s own penchant for lying about his past, most biographies of Fields are inaccurate. He did not, as has been widely reported, run away from home at age 11 after dropping a heavy wooden ...(100 of 1149 words)

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