Fields, W C (1880–1946)

US actor and screenwriter. His distinctive nasal speech and professed ill-natured attitudes such as hatred of children and dogs gained him enormous popularity in such films as David Copperfield (1935), My Little Chickadee (1940; co-written with Mae West), The Bank Dick (1940), and Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941).

Originally a vaudeville performer, he appeared in the Ziegfeld Follies 1915–21. He later incorporated his former stage routines, such as juggling and pool playing, into his films. He was also a popular radio performer.