W. C. Fields by Himself", it was shown that Fields was married (and subsequently estranged from his wife), and financially supported their son and loved his grandchildren. Fields was born William Claude Dukenfield in Darby, Pennsylvania, the oldest child of a working-class family. His father, James Lydon Dukenfield (1840–1913), was from an English family that emigrated from Sheffield, England in 1854. James Dukenfield served in Company M of the 72nd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment in the American Civil War and was wounded in 1863. Fields' mother, Kate Spangler Felton (1854–1925), was a Protestant of British ancestry. The 1876 "Philadelphia City Directory "lists James Dukenfield
William Courtenay (actor) years he appeared alternatively in plays and motion pictures. His first of five sound films, "Evidence" for Warner Brothers, is lost. His penultimate sound film "Three Faces East" with Constance Bennett is restored and on DVD. William Courtenay died at Rye, New York on April 20, 1933. His widow Virginia died in 1946. William Courtenay (actor) William Courtenay (June 19, 1875 – April 20, 1933) was a noted Broadway star and later film actor. He was born William Hancock Kelly. At age 19 in 1894, before his Broadway career took off, Courtenay appeared in Alexander Black's slide show "Miss Jerry".