Lew Fields
actor, soundtrack
- Birth name:
- Moses Schanfield
- Born:
- 1867-01-01, New York City, New York, USA
- Died:
- 1941-07-20, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA
- Professions:
- actor, soundtrack
Biography
Lew Fields—born on New Year’s Day, 1867, amid the tenement bustle of Lower Manhattan—grew into a consummate scene-stealer whose comic timing and vaudeville pizzazz lit up the American stage long before Hollywood came calling. While his film résumé is brief, each title packs a punch: he jitterbugged through the wartime romance of *The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle* (1939), barked his heart out in the carnival melodrama *The Barker* (1917), and helped coin a national catchphrase with the slang-slinging comedy *23–Skidoo* (1930). Off-screen, he shared a lifelong two-step of his own with actress Rose Harris. Fields took his final bow on 20 July 1941, in Beverly Hills, California, leaving behind a legacy stitched into the very fabric of American popular entertainment.
