Main Cast: Rod Steiger, Valerie Perrine, John Marley, Jack Cassidy, Bernadette Peters
Release Year: 1976
Country: US
Run Time: 111 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
W.C. Fields and Me is the film version of the Fields biography written by the comedian's former mistress Carlotta Monti. W. C. Fields was a great comedian in vaudeville and early talking films, who was noted for his ability to say the most hilariously cutting and mean things in a cheery, bright tone of voice. He had amazing skills in the manipulation of objects, from pieces of paper to crooked cue sticks. Rod Steiger plays Fields, while Valerie Perrine portrays Ms. Monti. Jack Cassidy is also on hand as Fields' close friend and drinking crony John Barrymore. The film is not above sacrificing facts for a good story, notably in its recreation of Fields' celebrated "dentist" routine which. W. C. Fields and Me depicts the great juggler/comedian as a straightforwardly mean-spirited man, whereas he is generally believed to have been more complex than that. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Dana Elcar - Agent Dockstedter; Billy Barty - Ludwig; Allan Arbus - Gregory La Cava; Milt Kamen - Dave Chasen; Louis Zorich - Gene Fowler; Andrew Parks - Claude Fields; Eddie Firestone - Private Detective; George Loros - Schmidt; Paul Mantee - Edward; Linda Purl - Ingenue; Hank Rolike - Leon; Clay Tanner - Assistant Director; Elizabeth Thompson - Woman Patient; Kenneth Tobey - Parker; Paul Stewart - Florenz Ziegfeld
Credit
Edith Head - Costume Designer, Bill Jobe - Costume Designer, Fred Brost - First Assistant Director, Arthur Hiller - Director, John C. Howard - Editor, Andrew Horvitch - Editor, Henry Mancini - Composer (Music Score), Stan Winston - Makeup Special Effects, Robert F. Boyle - Production Designer, David M. Walsh - Cinematographer, Peter V. Herald - Production Manager, Jay Weston - Producer, Arthur Jeph Parker - Set Designer, Albert J. Whitlock - Special Effects, Robert L. Hoyt - Sound/Sound Designer, John K. Kean - Sound/Sound Designer, Robert Merrill - Screenwriter, Bob Merrill - Screenwriter, Carlotta Monti - Book Author, Cy Rice - Book Author
