This Day in Humor with Mike Durrett


Born 1880: W.C. Fields (William Claude Dukenfield), Vaudeville juggler, radio funnyman, comic writer, and movie star. Not only was he an exceptional physical comedian, but he also possessed a love for the whimsical interpretations and elasticity of the English language. It served him and his audiences well, making Fields' boastful con man character one of the earliest and lingering treasures of motion pictures' sound era. (1934's "It's a Gift", 1935's "Man on the Flying Trapeze," 1940's "The Bank Dick," 1941's "Never Give a Sucker an Even Break.") Quote: "There comes a time in the affairs of man when he must take the bull by the tail and face the situation." Died 1946.

• W.C. Fields Links

Born 1912: "Professor" Irwin Corey, stand-up comedian, posed as one of the world's great thinkers and lecturers, but was a double-talking bumbler.

Born 1915: Bill Peet, animator, who, in various screenwriting capacities, is credited with Walt Disney's "The Three Caballeros" (1945). "Song of the South" (1946), "Alice in Wonderland" (1951), "Peter Pan" (1953), and "One Hundred and One Dalmatians" (1961), among others. Not a fan of his famous employer, Peet claimed to have styled Capt. Hook to resemble Disney. Died 2002.

Born 1923: Paddy Chayefsky, screenwriter (1964's "The Americanization of Emily," 1971's "The Hospital," 1976's "Network"). He won Oscars for "The Hospital," "Network," and the 1953 drama, "Marty." Died 1981.

1964: The premiere of Stanley Kubrick's anti-war movie satire, "Dr Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb!"

Born 1970: Heather Graham, actress, "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" (1999) as Felicity Shagwell, "Bowfinger" (1999), "Anger Management" (2003).

• "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" Links

Born 1975: Sara Gilbert, actress, remembered as Darlene Conner Healy, the surly TV daughter of "Roseanne" (1988-97).

1977: Freddie Prinze, the 23-year-old star of NBC's popular sitcom, "Chico and the Man," died from self-inflicted wounds.

1980: A W.C. Fields stamp was issued by the U.S. Postal Service on the 100th anniversary of his birth.

Copyright ©2003 Mike Durrett. All rights reserved.