Providing a detailed account of W.C. Fields's artistic path to the cinema, this biography aims to disentangle the facts from the lies and myths nurtured by Fields himself. It traces the origins of his comedy in the vaudeville sketches which he wrote himself, and then follows his career from stage to silent screen, revealing the sources of his familiar ''talkie'' routines. The book also highlights Fields's later struggle - against studio heads, censorship, alcohol addiction and illness - to create some of the most celebrated scenes in the history of cinema humour.