W. C. Fields (1880-1946)
William Claude Dukenfield (January 29, 1880[1] – December 25, 1946), better known as W. C. Fields, was an American comedian, actor, juggler and writer.[2] Fields' comic persona was a misanthropic and hard-drinking egotist, who remained a sympathetic character despite his snarling contempt for dogs, children, and women.
The characterization he portrayed in films and on radio was so strong it was generally identified with Fields himself. It was maintained by the publicity departments at Fields' studios (Paramount and Universal) and was further established by Robert Lewis Taylor's biography, W.C. Fields, His Follies and Fortunes (1949). Beginning in 1973, with the publication of Fields' letters, photos, and personal notes in grandson Ronald Fields' book W.C. Fields by Himself, it was shown that Fields was married (and subsequently estranged from his wife), and financially supported their son and loved his grandchildren.
However, Fields' friend Madge Evans, an actress, told a visitor in 1972 that Fields so deeply resented intrusions on his privacy by curious tourists walking up the driveway to his Los Angeles home that he would hide in the shrubs by his house and fire BB pellets at the trespassers' legs. Some years later, Groucho Marx told a similar story on his live performance album, An Evening with Groucho.
Quotes·Quotations by W. C. Fields
Attitudes
¶ I am free of all prejudice. I hate everyone equally.
References
[1]^ "Conflicts over the true facts of W.C. Fields' life begin at the moment he was born. His original biographer, Taylor, even got this wrong, dating his birth at 9 April 1879, which would have made him an authentic bastard, as his parents were only married on 18 May of the same year. According to family lore, the Great Man was born on 29 January 1880". Louvish, Simon Man on the Flying Trapeze: The Life and Times of W. C. Fields. Faber & Faber, 1999. ISBN 0-393-04127-1 p. 28.
[2]^ Obituary Variety, January 1, 1947, page 46.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._C._Fields