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 "Stage" Boyd William "Stage" Boyd William H. Boyd (December 28, 1889, in New York City, New York – March 20, 1935, in Los Angeles, California) was an American actor billed as William "Stage" Boyd or William Stage Boyd. Boyd was an early 20th century stage actor who appeared in two Broadway plays and then worked in motion pictures. To avoid confusion with the better-known performer working under the same name, William Boyd (best known for playing Hopalong Cassidy), Boyd adopted the name William "Stage" Boyd to emphasize his experience on the legitimate stage. Such experience was considered an advantage to an actor