Arbuckle was born in San Antonio, Texas on July 9, 1866, of Scottish descent. He began in theater in the 1890s, when he was in his 30s. His first Broadway play, "Why Smith Left Home", was in 1899. Some of his many Broadway successes were "The County Chairman" (1903) (which he made as a silent film in 1914), "The Round Up" (1907) with Julia Dean (and which Roscoe Arbuckle made as a silent in 1920) and revivals of older plays like "The Rivals" and "She Stoops To Conquer". He entered silent films with Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company in 1914 as an established Broadway star.