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Roscoe Arbuckle

Personal Info

Known For

Acting

Birthdate

1887-03-22

Day of Death

1933-06-29

Place of Birth

Smith Center, Kansas, USA

Roscoe Arbuckle

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.

Filmography (192)

⭐ 0 Role: Self (Archival)

A Brave Engineer: Buster Keaton's Last Ride

2026
⭐ 0 Role: Unknown

Wonder Dogs! Canine Stars of the Silent Era (1898-1928)

2025
⭐ 8.0 Role: archive footage

Charlie Chaplin, The Genius of Liberty

2020
⭐ 7.0 Role: Unknown

Buster Keaton: The Shorts Collection 1917-1923

2016
⭐ 0 Role: Self (archive footage)

Looking for Mabel Normand

2015
No Image
⭐ 0 Role: (archive footage) (uncredited)

The Parrott Chase

2009
⭐ 4.3 Role: Self (archive footage)

Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema

2007
⭐ 0 Role: (archive footage)

Buster Keaton: From Silents to Shorts

2006
⭐ 7.6 Role: Self (archive footage)

So Funny It Hurt: Buster Keaton & MGM

2004
⭐ 5.3 Role: Self (archive footage)

Chaplin Today: The Gold Rush

2003
⭐ 5.0 Role: Self (archive footage)

Murders of Hollywood

2003
⭐ 5.0 Role: Various

Arbuckle & Keaton, Volume Two

2001
⭐ 5.0 Role: Various

Arbuckle & Keaton, Volume One

2001
⭐ 8.3 Role: Unknown

The Casting Couch

1995
⭐ 10.0 Role: (archive footage)

The Chaplin Puzzle

1992