Roscoe Arbuckle
Acting
Born: 1887-03-22 in Smith Center, Kansas, USA
Biography
Roscoe Arbuckle (March 24, 1887 - June 29, 1933), widely known to audiences as “Fatty” Arbuckle, was an American silent film actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter. He started at the Selig Polyscope Company and eventually moved to Keystone Studios, where he worked with Mabel Normand and Harold Lloyd as well as with his nephew, Al St. John. He also mentored Charlie Chaplin, Monty Banks and Bob Hope, and brought vaudeville star Buster Keaton into the movie business. Arbuckle was one of the most popular silent stars of the 1910s and one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood at the time. In one of the earliest Hollywood scandals, Arbuckle was the defendant in three widely publicized trials between November 1921 and April 1922 for the rape and manslaughter of actress Virginia Rappe. Rappe had fallen ill at a party hosted by Arbuckle at San Francisco's St. Francis Hotel in September 1921, and died four days later. A friend of Rappe accused Arbuckle of raping and accidentally killing her. The first two trials resulted in hung juries, but the third acquitted Arbuckle. The third jury took the unusual step of giving Arbuckle a written statement of apology for his treatment by the justice system. Despite Arbuckle's acquittal, the scandal largely halted his career and has mostly overshadowed his legacy as a pioneering comedian.
Known For
Oh, Doctor!
Dr. Fatty Holepoke
The Alarm
The Cook
The Chef
The Rough House
Mr. Rough
The Masquerader
Film actor
His Wedding Night
Gas station employee
Gasoline Gus
Gasoline Gus
Character Studies
Self (uncredited)
Bright Lights
Fatty
The Sanitarium
Charley Wise
Love
Fatty
The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies
Self (archive footage)
The Rounders
Mr. Fuller
Peeping Pete
Pete's Wife
Those Country Kids
Fatty
A Glimpse of the San Diego Exposition
Himself
Wonder Dogs! Canine Stars of the Silent Era (1898-1928)
The Round-Up
Slim Hoover
Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema
Self (archive footage)
The Knockout
Pug (uncredited)
Making a Living
Tough Guy (uncredited)
Good Night, Nurse!
Fatty
The Muppets Go to the Movies
Keystone Kop (archive footage) (uncredited)
Tango Tangles
Clarinetist
Zip, the Dodger
Zip
The Casting Couch
Charlie Chaplin, The Genius of Liberty
archive footage
When Comedy Was King
(archive footage) (uncredited)
Hollywood
Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle
A Desert Hero
The Sheriff, the Desert Hero
Go West
Woman in Department Store (uncredited)
Crazy Days
Various (archive footage) (uncredited)
Fatty at San Diego
Fatty
Tomalio
Wilbur
Hollywood Scandals and Tragedies
(archive footage) (uncredited)
A Village Scandal
Eddie - the Country Boy