Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle - Biography - IMDb Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle Biography Showing all 59 items Jump to: Overview (5) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (3) | Trade Mark (3) | Trivia (33) | Personal Quotes (12) | Salary (2) Overview (5) 5' 9" (1.75 m) Mini Bio (1) Roscoe Arbuckle, one of nine children, was the baby of the family who weighed a reported 16 pounds at birth. Born in Smith Center, Kansas, on March 24, 1887, his family moved to California when he was a year old. At age eight he appeared on the stage. His first part was with the Webster-Brown Stock Company. From then until 1913, Roscoe was on the stage, performing as an acrobat, clown and singer. His first real professional engagement was in 1904, singing illustrated songs for Sid Grauman at the Unique Theater in San Jose, CA, at $17.50 a week.

He later worked in the Morosco Burbank stock company and traveled through China and Japan with Ferris Hartman. His last appearance on the stage was with Hartman in Yokahama, Japan, in 1913, where he played the Mikado. Back in Hollywood, Arbuckle went to work at Mack Sennett 's Keystone film studio at $40 a week. For the next 3-1/2 years he never starred or even featured, but appeared in hundreds of one-reel comedies. He would play mostly policemen, usually with the Keystone Kops , but he also played different parts. He would work with Mabel Normand , Ford Sterling , Charles Chaplin , among others, and would learn about the process of making movies from Henry Lehrman , who directed all but two of his pictures. Roscoe was a gentle and genteel man off screen and always believed that Sennett never thought that he was funny. Roscoe never used his weight to get a laugh. He would never be found stuck in a chair or doorway. He was remarkably agile for his size and used that agility to find humor in situations. By 1914 he had begun directing some of his one-reels.

The next year he had moved up to two-reels, which meant that he would need to sustain the comedy to be successful--as it turned out, he was. Among his films were Fatty Again (1914), Mabel, Fatty and the Law (1915), Mabel and Fatty's Wash Day (1915), Mabel and Fatty Viewing the World's Fair at San Francisco (1915), Fatty's Reckless Fling (1915), and many more. For "Mabel and Fatty Viewing the World's Fair at San Francisco", Keystone took the actors to the real World's Fair to use as background; the studio's cost was negligible, while the San Francisco backgrounds made the picture look expensive. By 1917 Roscoe formed a partnership with Joseph M. Schenck , a powerful producer who was also the husband of Norma Talmadge . The company they formed was called Comique and the films that Roscoe made were released through Famous Players on a percentage basis, and soon Arbuckle was making over $1,000 a week. With his own company Roscoe had complete creative control over his productions.

He also hired a young performer he met in New York by the name of Buster Keaton . Keaton's film career would start with Roscoe in The Butcher Boy (1917). Roscoe wrote his own stories first, tried them out and then devised funny twists to generate the laughs. His comedy star was second only to Charles Chaplin. With the success of Comique, Paramount asked Roscoe to move from two-reel shorts to full-length features in 1919. Roscoe's first feature was The Round-Up (1920) and it was successful. It was soon followed by other features, including Brewster's Millions (1921) and Gasoline Gus (1921). Ufortunately, tragedy struck on Labor Day on September 5, 1921 with the arrest and trial of Roscoe Arbuckle on manslaughter charges. Roscoe's roommate had thrown a party in their San Francisco hotel suite, which was crashed by a "starlet" named Virginia Rappe , who fell seriously ill and died three days later from a ruptured bladder. Rappe had accused Arbuckle of raping her prior to passing away, but Rappe had a history of accusing men of rape.

The newspapers, led by William Randolph Hearst , used this incident to generate Hollywood's first major scandal. Roscoe was tried not once but three times for the criminal charges; the trials began in November 1921 and lasted until April 1922; the first two ended with hung juries (the mistrial decision in the second trial was reached on February 3, 1922, the day after Arbuckle's friend and fellow Paramount director William Desmond Taylor was found murdered, and Arbuckle was visibly affected by the news). At his third and final trial in April of 1922, the jury not only returned a "not guilty" verdict but excoriated the prosecution for pursuing a flimsy case with no evidence of Arbuckle having committed any crime; it was at this final trial that the jury went further, writing a personal letter of sympathy and apology to Arbuckle for putting him through this ordeal. He kept it as a treasured memento for the rest of his life. However, Arbuckle's acquittal marked the end of his comedic acting career. Unable to return to the screen, he later found work as a comedy director for Al St.

John , Buster Keaton and others under the pseudonym "William Goodrich" (he was inspired to use this pseudonym by Keaton, who suggested Arbuckle use the name "Will B. Good"). In 1932 producer Samuel Sax signed Roscoe to appear in his very first sound comic short films for Warner Brothers, starting with Hey, Pop! (1932). He completed six shorts and showed the magic and youthful spirit that he had a decade before. With the success of the shorts, Warner Brothers signed Roscoe to a feature film contract, but he died in his sleep on June 29, 1933 , at age 46, the night after he signed the contract. ( 6 August 1908 - 27 January 1925) (divorced) Trade Mark (3) Apart from the fact that he was overweight and thus nicknamed "Fatty," he usually wore bowler-hat and pants whose legs were too short. Rolling perfect cigarettes with a couple quick motions of one hand Remarkable agility and dexterity, especially for a man of his girth Trivia (33) Obese comic actor whose career was ended by a scandal.

Directed under the name William Goodrich. He let it be known that his alternate pseudonym of Will B. Good was evidence of his pledge to walk the straight and narrow. After his career was ruined, Buster Keaton personally supported him as repayment for giving him his break into film. Weighed 300 pounds (ca. 135 kilograms) at the height of his career. Was tried three times for rape and manslaughter of Virginia Rappe . The first trial (November 14-December 4, 1921) ended with the jury deadlocked 10 to 2 in favor of acquittal. The second trial (January 11-February 3, 1922) also ended in a hung jury; this time the majority had ruled against Roscoe - 10 to 2 for conviction. The third trial (March 13-April 12, 1922) finally ended with an acquittal after the jury deliberated for less than 5 minutes compared with 43 hours straight in the first trial and 44 hours in the second trial. Uncle of actor/comedian Al St. John .

It is often reported that Arbuckle's career as an actor ended with the rape trials and that he died forgotten. In fact, Arbuckle was in the midst of starring in a series of successful shorts and was on his way back up when he died. Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith; pg. 21-22. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387 An excellent breakdown of the rape/murder scandal is "Frame-Up!: the Untold Story of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle", by Andy Edmonds. He was the very first actor to be paid a million dollars a year. A screenplay about his life floated around Hollywood for years but never got sold. At one point, John Belushi was considered for the role, then John Candy , then Chris Farley . All three died suddenly and the script has been shelved indefinitely. The legend that his box office clout faltered after the scandal is not entirely true.

Actually his films were making just as much money as they had been before the scandal, the problem was that with all the scathing headlines about him, studios were reluctant about putting him under contract and so he had problems getting work. It was written in his contract that his weight remain above 250 pounds and that he would be given a healthy yearly bonus if he exceeded that by 50 to 100 pounds. He kept his weight well over 300 during his career. Biography in: "American National Biography". Supplement 1, pp. 11-13. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Some filmographies credit him as co-director of the film Sherlock Jr. (1924). The confusion comes from the fact that Buster Keaton did originally hope to have Arbuckle work as his co-director on the film, but ultimately Arbuckle was still too depressed over the scandal that had nearly ended his career three years earlier, and had become difficult to work with, so Keaton went ahead as the sole director of the film.

The claim that Arbuckle was a co-director on the film was substantiated by Minta Durfee ; however, her claims lose credibility when she also stated that Arbuckle was the sole screenwriter of the film. The script was definitely written by Joseph A. Mitchell , Jean C. Havez and Clyde Bruckman , Keaton's usual team of gag-men from this era. Historians agree there is no credibility to the claim that Arbuckle ever directed so much as a frame of the movie. Met Buster Keaton accidentally one day while strolling down Broadway in New York City with vaudeville veteran Lou Anger . Anger, who was an old stage acquaintance of Keaton's, introduced them. Arbuckle immediately invited Keaton to visit the Colony Studio where he was about start a series of two-reel comedies for Joseph M. Schenck . The famous duo was thusly formed. Had a "wonderful" singing voice and was extremely agile. Is the subject of the novel "I, Fatty" by Jerry Stahl . Started his movie career in 1909 with the Selig Polyscope Company. Joined Keystone Studios as a member of the Keystone Kops in 1913.

Is the only person to have the three top silent film comedians, Charles Chaplin , Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd appear in supporting roles in his films; Chaplin assists Arbuckle in The Knockout (1914); Lloyd is his co-star in Miss Fatty's Seaside Lovers (1915); and Keaton supported him in at least 14 shorts. Although he divorced his first wife Minta Durfee in 1925, they did in fact separate as early as in 1917. Signed a contract for Paramount Pictures in 1920 for $1,000,000. Once owned a quarry in southern California. Two months after he sold the quarry, oil was discovered on the property. Began his career as an entertainer in vaudeville at age 12 in order to survive, after his mother died and his alcoholic father had abandoned him. In 1924, he hired Bob Hope as a "cheap act" for his traveling vaudeville show. After seeing Hope perform at the Bandbox Theater in Cleveland, Arbuckle sensed he would be a major star if he just had the right break.

He contacted some friends in Los Angeles and instructed Hope to do the same. Hope eventually followed his advice and headed west. Arbuckle hated the nickname "Fatty" and insisted that his friends and acquaintances always address him by his real first name, Roscoe. He was the first movie star in America to systematically direct his own films. He directed most of his output from 1914 and onwards. Profiled in "American Classic Screen Profiles" by John C. Tibbets and James M. Welch (2010). In 1927, he was engaged to direct and star a series of comedy shorts for producer Abe Carlos. The films were to be shot in Berlin and distributed internationally, and Arbuckle's then wife Doris Deane was to star with him. The films were never produced, and it's unknown if Arbuckle saw any financial gain from the deal. He was posthumously awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6701 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 8, 1960.

A fictionalized version of the events that destroyed Arbuckle's career appears in James Ivory 's film The Wild Party (1975) starring James Coco as a silent film star based on the comedian. He was the recipient of the first custard pie to be thrown in a film -A Noise From the Deep (1913) It was thrown by Mabel Normand. Personal Quotes (12) [on his sex-and-murder scandal in 1921] I don't understand it. One minute I'm the guy everybody loves, the next I'm the guy everybody loves to hate. [when he was called "Fatty" off-screen, a nickname he hated] I got a name, you know. [on his first wedding anniversary, shortly before his death] This is the best day of my life. I shall produce nothing that will offend the proprieties whether applied to children or grown-ups. My pictures are turned out with clean hands and therefore with a clear conscience which, like virtue, is its own reward.

Nothing would grieve me more than to have mothers say, "Let's not go there [in cinema] today, Arbuckle is playing and he isn't fit for children to see." I want them to think always otherwise for me, for as long as I can please the kiddies, I don't care who entertains their elders. [on Charles Chaplin ] I have always regretted not having been his partner in a longer film than these one-reelers we made so rapidly. He is a complete comic genius, undoubtedly the only one of our time and he will be the only one who will be still talked about a century from now. I don't believe there is any finer mission on earth than just to make people laugh. My birth and a cyclone blew Smith Center [Kansas] off the map. You only star in movies from picture to picture. If two or three pictures are bad, you're not a star anymore. It's a constant worry. That's why movie people are temperamental. It's a terrible strain! I've never used my weight to get a laugh. That is, used my size as the subject for humor. You never saw me stuck in a doorway or stuck in a chair.

If you'll analyze my pictures you'll see that they're humorous in themselves, except, of course, that the audience remarks about the agility on account of the weight. Titles and trademarks don't count. They're no good unless the picture is funny. How did I become a star? I don't know how it happened. When I look at my old pictures, I can't tell how it happened! No price is too high to pay for a good laugh. A good laugh...is the most worthwhile thing in life. Salary (2) Interesting Facts about Roscoe Arbuckle While being a large man, Roscoe Arbuckle had an average weight of only about 260 pounds. All muscle - no fat! Arbuckle was extremely shy regarding women, and was generally regarded by many to be the most chaste man in Hollywood. Roscoe had a superb singing voice. Enrico Caruso demanded to hear Arbuckle's tenor voice, and was so impressed, he demanded Roscoe leave the movies to begin an opera career! Roscoe Arbuckle was the first American comedy star to direct his own films, predating Charlie Chaplin by several months.

Arbuckle is the only person to have the honor of having the three greatest silent film comedians, Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, and Buster Keaton, appear in supporting roles in his films. Chaplin assists Roscoe in "The Knockout," Lloyd is Roscoe's co-star in "Miss Fatty's Seaside Lovers," and Keaton supported Roscoe in at least fourteen shorts under Arbuckle's "Comique" banner. According to Harold Lloyd, Roscoe Arbuckle was the first filmmaker to use preview audiences to see how to improve his comedies. Arbuckle is also the first male comedy star to make feature films on a regular basis. He did it in 1920, over a year before Lloyd, the next comedian to do so. However, Roscoe's famous co-star Mabel Normand, was releasing them even before that, stating with "Mickey" in 11918. It was Roscoe Arbuckle who gave Bob Hope his big break in show business. While in Cleveland in 1927, Arbuckle allowed Hope to be the opening act in his comedy show. Roscoe then gave Hope names and numbers of friends in Hollywood, and told Bob to go west.

It time, Hope did just that. Roscoe hated the nickname "Fatty." It was for professional purposes only. Friends never used it, only strangers who didn't know better. His response was quiet, "I've got a name, you know." Fans also called Roscoe "The Prince of Whales," and "The Balloonatic." In 1923, Keaton used the latter name for one of his comedies. Alice Lake called him Arbie. To Mabel Normand he was Big Otto, after an elephant in the Selig Studio Zoo near Keystone. Buster Keaton called him Chief. Fred Mace called him Crab. And for some unexplained reason fellow comic Charlie Murray referred to him as My Child the Fat. His three wives always called him Roscoe. The name, Fatty, was hung on him in elementary school. "It was inevitable," he said. He weighed 175-185 when he was 12, not much less when he was ten.

Silent-film star arrested for murder - Sep 11, 1921 - HISTORY.com Silent-film star arrested for murder Share this: Silent-film star arrested for murder Author Silent-film star arrested for murder URL Publisher A+E Networks Fatty Arbuckle, a silent-film era performer at the height of his fame, is arrested in San Francisco for the rape and murder of aspiring actress Virginia Rappe. Arbuckle was later acquitted by a jury, but the scandal essentially put an end to his career. Roscoe Conkling Arbuckle was born on March 24, 1887, in Smith Center, Kansas. He worked as a vaudeville performer and starting in 1913, began appearing in Mack Sennett’s Keystone Cops comedies. Arbuckle became known for his comedic pratfalls and pie-throwing. In 1917, Arbuckle formed his own company and began writing and directing films, many of which starred his friend and fellow comedian Buster Keaton. In 1919, the heavy-set actor signed a $1 million per year deal with Paramount Pictures, an extraordinary sum for the time.

In early September 1921, Arbuckle went to San Francisco with two male friends for a short vacation and checked into the St. Francis Hotel. The men hosted a party in their suite, during which a guest named Virginia Rappe, who had been drinking, became ill. Rappe, who was in her twenties, died several days later from peritonitis caused by a ruptured bladder. Maude Delmont, another guest at the party, claimed Arbuckle had raped Rappe and injured her bladder. Arbuckle’s arrest on September 11 by the San Francisco police soon generated a massive scandal. Arbuckle maintained his innocence, but he was lambasted in the press and the public, unused to Hollywood scandal, boycotted his films. The politically ambitious San Francisco district attorney was determined to prosecute Arbuckle, even though Delmont turned out to be a questionable witness, with a criminal record of her own. Several other witnesses would later claim the prosecution had intimidated them into giving false testimony. After two mistrials, the jury in Arbuckle’s third trial found him not guilty and even issued him an apology. Despite this favorable outcome for Arbuckle, the U.S. film industry nevertheless temporarily banned him.

He subsequently attempted a comeback and even directed several films under the pseudonym William B. Goodrich, but his career never fully recovered and he struggled with alcoholism. Arbuckle died of heart failure at age 46 on June 29, 1933, in New York City. Related Videos 'Fatty' Arbuckle and Hollywood's first scandal - BBC News BBC News 'Fatty' Arbuckle and Hollywood's first scandal By Jude Sheerin BBC News, Washington 4 September 2011 Close share panel Media caption'Fatty' Arbuckle in silent film Coney Island, from 1917 Guests to San Francisco's Westin St Francis Hotel still ask to see the room where an infamous bootleg-booze-soused party took place 90 years ago. The management are happy to show visitors the suite, if it's unoccupied, but they don't know exactly what happened in there on Labor Day in 1921 - no-one does. One thing is clear: In Room 1219 that afternoon, an actress by the name of Virginia Rappe was screaming in agony on a bed. Later that week she was dead.

And the man charged with her death was Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Hollywood's first one-million-dollar star. Public enemy No 1 The case against the silent movies' king of slapstick would be Tinseltown's first major scandal. Image caption The 12th floor hotel suite at the Westin St Francis where Arbuckle and friends partied on Labor Day "This was the guy who discovered Buster Keaton; who helped mentor Charlie Chaplin," says Arbuckle biographer Stuart Oderman. "He had magical comic timing. He was one of the all-time greats." But overnight, the roly-poly buffoon adored by children across America was public enemy number one, and people were spitting in his face outside court. It was on 5 September 1921, that Arbuckle ended up at a party in a luxury suite on the 12th floor of the St Francis, after taking a break from a hectic filming schedule. Among the guests was Virginia Rappe, a 30-year-old struggling actress who suffered from chronic cystitis, a bladder inflammation. At some point, Arbuckle and Rappe ended up together in a bedroom from where, a few minutes later, her screams were heard.

Rape allegation Guests rushed in to find Rappe, fully dressed, writhing in pain on the bed. Media caption'Fatty' Arbuckle in silent film The Waiters' Ball, from 1916. Arbuckle told them - it was a story he always stuck to - that he had gone to use the bathroom where he found Rappe in a drunken faint on the floor. He had merely carried her to the bed and she had fallen off, insisted Arbuckle. But then Rappe uttered the words that would damn the star: "He did this to me." As Arbuckle left the party, revellers initially assumed the actress was just drunk. But her condition worsened and when she was finally taken to hospital three days later her friend, Bambina Maude Delmont, told the doctor Arbuckle had raped Rappe. A medical examination found no evidence of sexual assault. Death penalty urged A day later Rappe died from peritonitis, caused by a ruptured bladder. Stars still get into trouble - at least Arbuckle didn't have to deal with Twitter Kenneth Turan, LA Times film critic Arbuckle was charged with first-degree murder, eventually reduced to manslaughter.

With morality groups demanding he face the death penalty, movie moguls ordered Arbuckle's industry friends to disown him. Los Angeles-based film historian Cari Beauchamp says: "This was the first scandal in Hollywood with box office implications. "Everyone had believed the stars were covered in fairy dust. Now that illusion was shattered and studio bosses were terrified it would destroy Hollywood itself." With no concern for prejudicing the trial, the sensationalist "yellow journalism" Press churned out lurid stories of Tinseltown's depravity alongside coverage of the case. Although Arbuckle was never tried for sexual assault, this notion has endured, largely because of how the trial was reported at the time. Extortion plot The star, thought to have weighed about 260lb (118kg), was portrayed as a fat brute who had pinned down his prey, rupturing her bladder. A life less ordinary By Joan MyersFilm historian Chicago-born Virginia Rappe (pictured above) was a fashion model and clothes designer. For "relaxation", she competed in automobile races. In 1916 she went to Hollywood, finding work in short comedies, though with limited success.

By Labor Day 1921 when she was invited to Arbuckle's hotel suite, her film career had waned. When the scandal broke, Arbuckle's attorneys employed a time-honoured strategy: character assassination. The popular novelist, Gouverneur Morris, editorialising for the San Francisco Call & Post, wrote: "We should learn whether Miss Rappe died as a result of attending the Arbuckle party, or many such parties… it will be the duty of the court to determine whether Miss Rappe was a 'virtuous girl' or a bad girl." It's unlikely that Arbuckle, not known to be a violent man, attacked or deliberately harmed Rappe. The most likely explanation is some accident occurred. But over the years, adherents came to canonise Arbuckle and demonise Rappe. No aspersion cast on her character was too venomous. This included gossip that she was an alcoholic, a prostitute, had numerous abortions, venereal disease, and - perhaps most absurdly - that she infested Keystone Studios with pubic lice. Luckily for Arbuckle's lawyers, the case was riddled with holes.

His chief accuser, Bambina Maude Delmont, was a convicted criminal who had admitted plotting to extort money from him. She never took the stand. And it emerged in court that the prosecution had used intimidation to force several witnesses to testify against Arbuckle. Even so, the actor was tried three times. The first two cases ended in hung juries. After a third trial in 1922, the jury took just a few minutes to unanimously acquit Arbuckle - he was found guilty only of drinking bootleg alcohol. "Acquittal is not enough for Roscoe Arbuckle," the jury said in a written apology. "A grave injustice has been done." Although cleared, Arbuckle faced ruinous legal bills and a public still widely convinced of his guilt. He was often heckled in the street. The case led to the establishing of a Hollywood censorship board, which ruled that Arbuckle should never work in the industry again. Although that ban was later lifted, the actor remained blacklisted unofficially. For Tinseltown, of course, the show went on - it survived the Arbuckle affair, just like it has weathered many other scandals since then.

As Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan says: "Stars still get into trouble and they still need help managing crises. At least Arbuckle didn't have to deal with Twitter." Roscoe Arbuckle spent more than a decade on the comeback trail - during which time he worked under a pseudonym and discovered Bob Hope in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1927. Mystery lingers Arbuckle's rehabilitation was finally complete when Warner Bros offered him a feature-film contract in 1933. Image caption Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle was born into poverty in Kansas After it was signed, he reputedly said: "This is the best day of my life." That night he died of a heart attack in the arms of his third wife. He was 46 years old. Mississippi-based Arbuckle historian David Pearson says the star was the inspiration to many overweight comics, such as John Belushi, Benny Hill, John Candy and Chris Farley. Like many experts on the case, Pearson is convinced Arbuckle did not harm Rappe. "Arbuckle was just a film star who was in the wrong place at the wrong time," says Pearson. "And he paid for it for the rest of his life.

"Rappe was definitely in the wrong place at the wrong time because she wound up dead. It was a double tragedy." But nine decades on, the mystery remains: why did Virginia Rappe die? Fatty Arbuckle Scandal By Jennifer Rosenberg Updated August 24, 2016. At a raucous, three-day party in September 1921, a young starlet became severely ill and died four days later. Newspapers went wild with the story: popular silent-screen comedian Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle had killed Virginia Rappe with his weight while savagely raping her. Though the newspapers of the day reveled in the gory, rumored details, juries found little evidence that Arbuckle was in any way connected with her death. What happened at that party and why was the public so ready to believe "Fatty" was guilty? "Fatty" Arbuckle Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle had long been a performer. When he was a teenager, Arbuckle traveled the West Coast on the vaudeville circuit.

In 1913, at the age of 26, Arbuckle hit the big time when he signed with Mack Sennett's Keystone Film Company and became one of the Keystone Kops . Arbuckle was heavy - he weighed somewhere between 250 and 300 pounds - and that was part of his comedy. He moved gracefully, threw pies, and humorously tumbled. continue reading below our video What are the Seven Wonders of the World In 1921, Arbuckle signed a three-year contract with Paramount for $1 million - an unheard of amount at the time, even in Hollywood. To celebrate just having finished three pictures at the same time and to celebrate his new contract with Paramount, Arbuckle and a couple of friends drove up from Los Angeles to San Francisco on Saturday, September 3, 1921 for some Labor Day weekend revelry. The Party Arbuckle and friends checked into the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. They were on the twelfth floor in a suite that contained rooms 1219, 1220, and 1221 (room 1220 was the sitting room).

On Monday, September 5, the party started early. Arbuckle greeted visitors in his pajamas and though this was during Prohibition , large quantities of liquor was being drunk. Around 3 o'clock, Arbuckle retired from the party in order to get dressed to go sight-seeing with a friend. What happened in the following ten minutes is disputed. Delmont's version: "Bambina" Maude Delmont, who frequently set-up famous people in order to blackmail them, claims that Arbuckle herded 26-year-old Virginia Rappe into his bedroom and said, "I've waited for this a long time." Delmont says that a few minutes later party-goers could hear screams from Rappe coming from the bedroom. Delmont claims she tried to open the door, even kick it in, but couldn't get it open. When Arbuckle opened the door, supposedly Rappe was found naked and bleeding behind him. Arbuckle's version: Arbuckle says that when he retired to his room to change clothes, he found Rappe vomiting in his bathroom. He then helped clean her up and led her to a nearby bed to rest. Thinking she was just overly intoxicated, he left her to rejoin the party.

When he returned to the room just a few minutes later, he found Rappe on the floor. After putting her back on the bed, he left the room to get help. When others then entered the room, they found Rappe tearing at her clothes (something that has been claimed she did often when she was drunk). Party guests tried a number of strange treatments, including covering Rappe with ice, but she still wasn't getting any better. Eventually, the hotel staff was contacted and Rappe was taken to another room to rest. With others looking after Rappe, Arbuckle left for the sight-seeing tour and then drove back to Los Angeles. Rappe Dies Rappe was not taken to the hospital on that day. And though she didn't improve, she wasn't taken to the hospital for three days because most people who visited her considered her condition to be caused by liquor. On Thursday, Rappe was taken to the Wakefield Sanitorium, a maternity hospital known for giving abortions. Virginia Rappe died the following day from peritonitis , caused by a ruptured bladder. Arbuckle was soon arrested and charged with the murder of Virginia Rappe. Yellow Journalism The papers went wild with the story.

Some articles stated Arbuckle had crushed Rappe with his weight, while others said he had raped her with a foreign object (the papers went into graphic details). In the newspapers, Arbuckle was assumed guilty and Virginia Rappe was an innocent, young girl. The papers excluded reporting that Rappe had a history of numerous abortions, with some evidence stating she might have had another a short time before the party. William Randolph Hearst , the symbol of yellow journalism , had his San Francisco Examiner cover the story. According to Buster Keaton , Hearst boasted that Arbuckle's story sold more papers than the sinking of the Lusitania . The public reaction to Arbuckle was fierce. Perhaps even more than the specific charges of rape and murder, Arbuckle became a symbol of Hollywood's immorality. Movie houses across the country almost immediately stopped showing Arbuckle's movies. The public was angry and they were using Arbuckle as a target. The Trials With the scandal as front page news on almost every newspaper, it was difficult to get an unbiased jury. The first Arbuckle trial began in November 1921 and charged Arbuckle with manslaughter. The trial was thorough and Arbuckle took the stand to share his side of the story.

The jury was hung with a 10 to 2 vote for acquittal. Because the first trial ended with a hung jury, Arbuckle was tried again. In the second Arbuckle trial, the defense did not present a very thorough case and Arbuckle did not take the stand. The jury saw this as an admission of guilt and deadlocked in a 10 to 2 vote for conviction. In the third trial, which began in March 1922, the defense again became pro-active. Arbuckle testified, repeating his side of the story. The main prosecution witness, Zey Prevon, had escaped house arrest and left the country. For this trial, the jury deliberated for only a couple of minutes and came back with a verdict of not guilty. Additionally, the jury wrote an apology to Arbuckle: Acquittal is not enough for Roscoe Arbuckle. We feel that a great injustice has been done him. We feel also that it was our only plain duty to give him this exoneration. There was not the slightest proof adduced to connect him in any way with the commission of a crime. He was manly throughout the case and told a straightforward story on the witness stand, which we all believed.

The happening at the hotel was an unfortunate affair for which Arbuckle, so the evidence shows, was in no way responsible. We wish him success and hope that the American people will take the judgment of fourteen men and women who have sat listening for thirty-one days to the evidence that Roscoe Arbuckle is entirely innocent and free from all blame. "Fatty" Blacklisted Being acquitted was not the end to Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle's problems. In response to the Arbuckle scandal, Hollywood established a self-policing organization that was to be known as the "Hays Office." On April 18, 1922, Will Hays , the president of this new organization, banned Arbuckle from film making. Though Hays lifted the ban in December of the same year, Arbuckle's career had been destroyed. A Short Come-Back For years, Arbuckle had trouble finding work. He eventually began directing under the name William B. Goodrich (similar to the name his friend Buster Keaton suggested - Will B. Good). Though Arbuckle had begun a come-back and had signed with Warner Brothers in 1933 to act in some comedy shorts, he was never to see his popularity regained.

After a small one-year anniversary party with his new wife on June 29, 1933, Arbuckle went to bed and suffered a fatal heart attack in his sleep. He was 46. Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle - IMDb IMDb Actor | Director | Writer Roscoe Arbuckle, one of nine children, was the baby of the family who weighed a reported 16 pounds at birth. Born in Smith Center, Kansas, on March 24, 1887, his family moved to California when he was a year old. At age eight he appeared on the stage. His first part was with the Webster-Brown Stock Company. From then until 1913, Roscoe was on the ... See full bio » Born: a list of 28 people created 29 May 2011 a list of 30 people created 16 Jun 2011 a list of 30 people created 16 Feb 2012 a list of 41 people created 22 Mar 2015 a list of 547 people created 1 month ago Do you have a demo reel?

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User Polls Fatty Carter (as Roscoe Arbuckle) Hide 1932 It's a Cinch (Short) (as William Goodrich) 1932 Niagara Falls (Short) (as William Goodrich) 1932 Gigolettes (Short) (as William Goodrich) 1932 Hollywood Lights (Short) (as William Goodrich) 1932 Mother's Holiday (Short) (as William Goodrich) 1932 Hollywood Luck (Short) (as William Goodrich) 1932 Bridge Wives (Short) (as William Goodrich) 1932 Anybody's Goat (as William Goodrich) 1932 Keep Laughing (Short) (as William Goodrich) 1932 Moonlight and Cactus (Short) (as William Goodrich) 1931 Smart Work (Short) (as William Goodrich) 1931 Idle Roomers (Short) (as William Goodrich) 1931 Take 'em and Shake 'em (Short) (as William Goodrich) 1931 Beach Pajamas (Short) (as William Goodrich) 

1931 Up Pops the Duke (Short) (as William Goodrich) 1931 Honeymoon Trio (Short) (as William Goodrich) 1931 Windy Riley Goes Hollywood (Short) (as William Goodrich) 1931 Crashing Hollywood (Short) (as William Goodrich) 1931 Pete and Repeat (Short) (as William Goodrich) 1931 Marriage Rows (Short) (as William Goodrich) 1927 Special Delivery (as William Goodrich) 1927 Peaceful Oscar (Short) (as William Goodrich) 1926 His Private Life (Short) (as William Goodrich) 1926 Fool's Luck (Short) (as William Goodrich) 1926 Home Cured (Short) (as William Goodrich) 1925 The Fighting Dude (Short) (as William Goodrich) 1925 Cleaning Up (Short) (as William Goodrich) 1925 The Movies (Short) (as William Goodrich) 1925 The Tourist (Short) (as William Goodrich) 192

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(Short) (as William Goodrich) 1925 Dynamite Doggie (Short) (uncredited) 1924 Lovemania (Short) (uncredited) 1926 His Private Life (Short) (story - as William Goodrich) 1926 Fool's Luck (Short) (written by - as William Goodrich) 1926 My Stars (Short) (written by - uncredited) 1925 The Fighting Dude (Short) (as William Goodrich) 1925 The Movies (Short) (written by - as William Goodrich) 1925 Curses! (Short) (written by - as William Goodrich) 1924 His First Car (Short) (as William Goodrich) 1922 Daydreams (Short) (story - uncredited) 1919 The Bank Clerk (Short) (writer) 1919 Love (Short) (writer - uncredited) 1918 Good Night, Nurse!

(Short) (story) 1918 Moonshine (Short) (screenplay) / (story) 1931 Stars of Yesterday (Short documentary) Himself 1915 Fatty Arbuckle (Documentary short) Himself 2017 TIME Presents: Celebrities on Trial (TV Movie documentary) Himself 2011 Birth of Hollywood (TV Mini-Series documentary) Various Characters 2007 City Confidential (TV Series documentary) Various Characters 1995-1998 Biography (TV Series documentary) Himself 1982 Hollywood: The Gift of Laughter (TV Movie documentary) Actor - 'Fatty Joins the Force' (uncredited) 1980 Hollywood (TV Mini-Series documentary) Himself 1980 Charlie Chaplin: The Little Tramp (TV Movie documentary) Actor Mentioned in Several Films 1961 Hollywood: The Golden Years (TV Movie documentary) Himself (uncredited) 1934 Movie Memories (Documentary short) Himself 3 Biographical Movies | 7 Print Biographies | 4 Portrayals | 59 Articles | 1 Pictorial | See more » Official Sites: 'Fatty

' Arbuckle | Fatty Arbuckle | Roscoe {Fatty} Arbuckle | Roscoe Arbuckle | William Goodrich Height: Did You Know?

Personal Quote: You only star in movies from picture to picture. If two or three pictures are bad, you're not a star anymore. It's a constant worry. That's why movie people are temperamental. It's a terrible strain! See more » Trivia: The legend that his box office clout faltered after the scandal is not entirely true. Actually his films were making just as much money as they had been before the scandal, the problem was that with all the scathing headlines about him, studios were reluctant about putting him under contract and so he had problems getting work. See more » Trademark: Apart from the fact that he was overweight and thus nicknamed "Fatty," he usually wore bowler-hat and pants whose legs were too short. See more » Nickname: ï¿½ Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle - Silent Comedian - goldensilents.com Golden Silents / Silent Film Clips / Message Board Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle (1887-1933) Silent film comedian Roscoe "Fatty Arbuckle" was born Roscoe Conkling Arbuckle in Galveston, Texas on March 24th, 1887 and educated in St.

Louis, Missouri. At age eight Roscoe appeared on the stage for the first time. His first roles were with the Webster-Brown Stock Company. He was on the stage performing everything from acrobatic acts to clown acts to a singing act, performing illustrated songs for Sid Grauman at the Unique Theater, San Jose. He also worked for the Morosco Burbank stock company and traveled throughout China and Japan with the Ferris Hartman company. He even managed his own stock company for a time. Roscoe eventually went to work for Mack Sennett's studio Keystone circa 1909 starting at $40 a week. He appeared in hundreds of one-reel comedies. He played mostly policeman, usually with the Keystone Kops. He learned about the process of making movies from talented director Henry Lehrman, who directed all but two of his films. Fatty, far right, in his days as a Keystone Kop Roscoe was a gentle and sensitive man off-screen and always believed that Sennett did not think he was funny. Roscoe never used his weight to gain a laugh. He was remarkably agile and athletic for his size and used those talents to find humor in situations.

By 1914 Roscoe had also directed some of his own one-reelers. By 1915, he would move up to two-reelers. He appeared in many successful comedy films with screen comedienne Mabel Norman d as his sidekick, with titles such as "Mabel, Fatty and the Law" (1915), "Mabel and Fatty's Wash Day" (1915), "Mabel and Fatty Viewing the World's Fair at San Francisco" (1915), "Fatty's Reckless Fling" (1915), etc. Roscoe was married three times, the first time to actress Minta Durfee from 1909-1925, who stood by him during his later legal troubles, and then to actress Doris Deane from 1925 to 1928, then to actress Addie McPhail from 1932 until his death in 1933. In 1917 Roscoe formed a partnership with producer Joseph M. Schenck, husband of Norma Talmadge .

The company was named Comique and the films that Roscoe made were released through Famous Players-Lasky on a percentage basis. His salary during this time averaged an astounding $5,000 to $7,000 a week. At Comique Roscoe had complete creative control over his productions. He hired a young performer whom he had met in New York by the name of Buster Keaton . Buster Keaton's film career would start with Roscoe in "The Butcher Boy" (1917 - surviving), and Buster remained grateful to Roscoe his entire life. Roscoe wrote his own scenarios and then improvised to generate additional laughs. With such great success it was just a matter of time before Roscoe was hired to do feature length films. It was Paramount who asked Roscoe to move from the two reel films to feature films. In 1920 Roscoe's first full length feature was the successful "The Roundup". It would soon be followed by other features such as "Brewster's Millions" (1920), "Gasoline Gus" (1921), and "Leap Year" (1921).

His last silent film appearance was in Buster's "Go West" (1925) in an uncredited role. By that time Buster was the star and Roscoe had been destroyed. Tragedy would strike Roscoe on Labor Day, 1921 with his arrest and trial on murder charges. Roscoe had thrown a party which was crashed by a disreputable bit player named Virginia Rappe. The girl fell seriously ill during the festivities and died a few days later. The newspapers, led by the William Randolph Hearst group, would make this incident Hollywood's first truly major scandal. Hearst later boasted to Buster Keaton that he had sold more papers about the Arbuckle-Rappe tragedy than he had at the sinking of the Lusitania. Although eventually acquitted after a third trial in 1923, Roscoe's career appeared finished, since the papers had printed unfounded story after story about his supposed guilt for months, which had fueled a public outcry of moral outrage across the nation. His films had been banned and withdrawn. Unable to return to the screen, Roscoe later found work as a comedy director for his nephew Al St. John, Buster Keaton and others, under the pseudonym William Goodrich.

He also directed Eddie Cantor's first films. In 1932, Sam Sax signed Roscoe to appear in comic shorts for Warner Brothers starting with "Hey, Pop" (1932). Roscoe would complete six shorts and once again show the fine comedic timing and youthful spirit that he had a decade before. With the success of the shorts, Warner Brothers signed Roscoe to a feature film contract, but sadly he died in his sleep of heart failure at age 46, the night after he signed the agreement, on June 29th, 1933 in New York City. ~ Copyright © 2004 goldensilents.com Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle's Silent Films Go West (1925) (uncredited) .... Woman in department store Sainted Devil, A (1924) Arbucklemania: The Official Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle Web Site "Arbucklemania" was conceived and is maintained by David B.

Pearson, who can be reached by e-mail HERE Last revision date: December 5, 2014 "A man is nothing without his good name." -- Roscoe Conklin Arbuckle March 24, 1887- June 29, 1933 Original Opening Day -- October 4th, 1996 Opening Day at BusterKeaton.Com -- December 6, 2014 1000+ images about Roscoe ´Fatty´ Arbuckle on Pinterest | Roscoe arbuckle, Scandal and Comedians Pinterest • The world’s catalog of ideas Roscoe ´Fatty´ Arbuckle Roscoe Conkling "Fatty" Arbuckle 03-24-1887 – 06-29-1933, an American silent film actor, comedian, director, & screenwriter. Starting at the Selig Polyscope Company he eventually moved to Keystone Studios where he worked with Mabel Normand and Harold Lloyd. He mentored Charlie Chaplin and discovered Buster Keaton and Bob Hope.

Arbuckle was one of the most popular silent stars of the 1910s, and soon became one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood, 69 Pins363 Followers

Question: What was American silent film star 'Fatty' Arbuckle's first name?
Answer: Roscoe