FATTY ARBUCKLE Biography - Other artists & entretainers

 
 

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FATTY ARBUCKLE

Name: Roscoe Conkling Arbuckle                                                       
Born: 24 March 1887 Smith Center, Kansas, U.S.                                       
Died: 29 June 1933 New York, New York, USA                                           
                                                                                     
Roscoe Conkling Arbuckle, also known as Fatty Arbuckle (March 24, 1887 - June 29,   
1933), was an American silent film comedian, director, and screenwriter.             
Arbuckle is noted as one of the most popular actors of his era, but he is best       
remembered for a heavily publicized criminal prosecution that ended his career.     
Although he was acquitted by a jury with a written apology, the trial's scandal     
ruined the actor, who would not appear on screen again for another 10 years.         
                                                                                     
Born in Smith Center, Kansas, to Mollie and William Goodrich Arbuckle, he had       
several years of Vaudeville experience, including work at Idora Park in Oakland,     
California. One of his earliest mentors was comedian Leon Errol. He began his       
film career with the Selig Polyscope Company in July 1909. Arbuckle appeared         
sporadically in Selig one-reelers until 1913, moved briefly to Universal             
Pictures and became a star in producer-director Mack Sennett's Keystone Cops         
comedies.                                                                           
                                                                                     
Arbuckle was also a talented singer. After Enrico Caruso heard him sing he urged     
the comedian to "give up this nonsense you do for a living, with training you       
could become the second greatest singer in the world".                               
                                                                                     
On August 6, 1908 he married Araminta Estelle Durfee (1889-1975), the daughter       
of Charles Warren Durfee and Flora Adkins. Durfee starred in many early comedy       
films under the name Minta Durfee, often with Arbuckle.