Actress, Author. She is most remembered for being the mistress of comedian W. C. Fields. As an actress, after winning the Miss Hollywood beauty pageant, she began as an extra in the 1925 movie "Ben-Hur", later playing several, most often uncredited, bit parts in other movies, including the hit movie, "King Kong" (1933 - she played a girl in the background), "Tarzan the Fearless" (1933 - she played a Priestess of Zar), a dancing girl in "Bonnie Scotland" (1935), a dancer in "The Robin Hood of El Dorado" (1936), and the W. C. Fields classic, "Never Give a Sucker an Even Break" (1941 - she played the receptionist). She moved in with Fields in 1932, and lived with him during the last 14 years of his life; Fields' only legal wife, Harriet "Hattie" Hughes, refused to grant him a divorce. In those days, divorce was difficult to come by, and usually only if both parties agreed. While living with Fields, she claimed that he once hit her with a cane, to stop her from singing while playing her guitar. Fields claimed that it reminded him of his growing up, when his drunken father often sang while beating him. She later wrote an autobiographical novel, "W. C. Fields and Me," published in 1971. She died in her home at Woodland Hills, Los Angeles County, California.
Actress, Author. She is most remembered for being the mistress of comedian W. C. Fields. As an actress, after winning the Miss Hollywood beauty pageant, she began as an extra in the 1925 movie "Ben-Hur", later playing several, most often uncredited, bit parts in other movies, including the hit movie, "King Kong" (1933 - she played a girl in the background), "Tarzan the Fearless" (1933 - she played a Priestess of Zar), a dancing girl in "Bonnie Scotland" (1935), a dancer in "The Robin Hood of El Dorado" (1936), and the W. C. Fields classic, "Never Give a Sucker an Even Break" (1941 - she played the receptionist). She moved in with Fields in 1932, and lived with him during the last 14 years of his life; Fields' only legal wife, Harriet "Hattie" Hughes, refused to grant him a divorce. In those days, divorce was difficult to come by, and usually only if both parties agreed. While living with Fields, she claimed that he once hit her with a cane, to stop her from singing while playing her guitar. Fields claimed that it reminded him of his growing up, when his drunken father often sang while beating him. She later wrote an autobiographical novel, "W. C. Fields and Me," published in 1971. She died in her home at Woodland Hills, Los Angeles County, California.
Bio by: Kit and Morgan Benson
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