On Christmas day 1946, W.C. Fields died to the sound of rain on the roof, except it wasn’t raining. His partner at the time and long time love, Carlotta Monti, knowing that W.C. had very little time to go, went outside and turned the hose on the roof of their sanatorium, to recreate, in his last moments of life, his favourite sound in the world, the sound of rain on the roof.
Born William Claude Dunkerville in 1879, W.C. Fields had an early start to his career, leaving home at the age of eleven to join the vaudeville stages. Although he often told stories which cast a disparaging light over his home situation, some sources say that Fields actually came from a happy, working class home and his parents were actively supportive of his career. Others say however, that his early life was not pleasant and that he ran away from home, finding himself living on the streets for many years before he found his way into the entertainment industry.
Starting on stages of vaudeville Fields began a career as a juggler, developing several physical spoofs, such as a golf spoof and one involving playing a game of pool, many of which found their ways into his later films.
W.C. Fields made over a dozen silent films between 1915 and 1928, making the successful transition into ‘talkies’, working on over thirty sound films between 1930 and 1944, the most famous amongst them including My Little Chickadee and Never Give a Sucker an Even Break. Along with appearing in these films W.C. Fields also wrote many of the scripts, often writing under creative word-play pseudonyms such as “Otis Criblecoblis” (Oh tis scribble cobbles) along with the more ordinary “Charles Bogle”. His characters also bore colourful names such as “Ambrose Wolfinger” and “Larsen E. Whipsnade”. W.C. Fields’ well known physical characteristics, such as a bulbous nose, rotund body and spindly legs provided a comical appearance which complimented his unmistakable on-screen presence. His characters, known for dry asides, often playing on his character of a devious drunkard, delivered many comedy gems, such as this one from Mississippi:
“Whilst travelling through the Andes Mountains, we lost our corkscrew. Had to live on food and water for several days!”
A notorious alcoholic in real life, Fields’ characters (or variations on a stock character) were drunken, scruffy buffoons, known for hating the world, particularly women and children. His real life relationships with women however, differed from this portrayal. He was married to his first wife performer Harriet “Hattie” Hughes for seven years and they had a child together, Claude. Although divorced, W.C. Fields maintained a relationship with Hattie for the rest his life, being a long term correspondent and sending her regular, voluntary child support.
However, notorious for a dry, cynical outlook on the world, the last word should be left to Fields himself: “Start every day off with a smile and get it over with.”