Background
He was born Walter L. Agnew on May 20, 1883.
He was born Walter L. Agnew on May 20, 1883.
Fields spent seven years as a boy soprano in the Trinity Church choir. He began work as a newsboy, but later became a professional boxer. Thanks to Norma Talmadge, who thought his broken nose gave him a ferocious appearance, he started on a film career with a screen debut as a gunman in her talkie New York Nights.
He died on April 23, 1941.