# Roscoe Arbuckle
**Roscoe Arbuckle** (Roscoe Conkling Arbuckle; March 24, 1887 – June 29, 1933) was an American silent-film comedian, writer, and director whose acrobatic "Fatty" character made him one of the most popular screen clowns of the 1910s, and whose screen-starring career was derailed by the 1921 case arising from [Virginia Rappe](https://www.edgepedia.org/virginia-rappe)'s death, in which he was acquitted after three trials.[1](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Roscoe-Arbuckle/9237) From 1914 to 1921 he was second only to [Charlie Chaplin](https://www.edgepedia.org/charlie-chaplin) in box-office popularity, and he was the first major comedy star to move from short subjects to feature films.[2](https://www.moma.org/calendar/film/909)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born / died | March 24, 1887, Smith Center, Kansas; June 29, 1933, New York City[1](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Roscoe-Arbuckle/9237) |
| Screen debut / Keystone | Screen debut 1909 as an extra[3](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/roscoe-arbuckle_%28Enciclopedia-del-Cinema%29/); joined Mack Sennett's Keystone studio in 1913[1](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Roscoe-Arbuckle/9237) |
| Peak salary | $20,000 per week from Famous Players-Lasky, the highest salary in cinema to that date[3](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/roscoe-arbuckle_%28Enciclopedia-del-Cinema%29/) |
| Standing | Second only to Chaplin in box-office popularity, 1914–1921[2](https://www.moma.org/calendar/film/909) |
| Keaton partnership | Fourteen films with Buster Keaton, whom he brought into movies in 1917[4](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/more-on-fatty-arbuckle-his-films-and-his-legacy-1-251402/) |
| The 1921 case | Three trials after Virginia Rappe's death; two hung juries, then full acquittal[1](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Roscoe-Arbuckle/9237) |
| Aftermath | Banned from the screen by Will H. Hays despite acquittal; directed afterward as William Goodrich[1](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Roscoe-Arbuckle/9237) • [5](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n85138204.html) |
| Comeback and death | 1932 Vitaphone two-reel comedies; died in his sleep at 46 on the eve of signing a Warner Bros. feature contract[1](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Roscoe-Arbuckle/9237) |
## Early life and stage beginnings
Arbuckle was born in Smith Center, Kansas, on March 24, 1887, and died in New York City on June 29, 1933.[1](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Roscoe-Arbuckle/9237) [The Italian](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-italian) cinema encyclopedia Treccani records the same dates and identifies him as an American director, screenwriter, and actor.[3](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/roscoe-arbuckle_%28Enciclopedia-del-Cinema%29/) He worked tentatively in film between 1908 and 1910 and debuted on screen in 1909 as an extra, before [Mack Sennett](https://www.edgepedia.org/mack-sennett) hired him for the Keystone studio in 1913.[1](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Roscoe-Arbuckle/9237) • [3](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/roscoe-arbuckle_%28Enciclopedia-del-Cinema%29/)
## Silent-film career, 1909–1921
**The Fatty character.** Weighing between 250 and 300 pounds (about 113 to 136 kg) for most of his adult life, Arbuckle amazed audiences with his physical prowess; the comedy rested on the contrast between his bulk and his agility.[1](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Roscoe-Arbuckle/9237) At Keystone he appeared opposite Ford Sterling, Mabel Normand, and Charlie Chaplin and quickly became one of the studio's top attractions, though "Fatty" was a nickname he always hated.[1](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Roscoe-Arbuckle/9237) Treccani describes the character as "il grassone," a moon-faced innocent in bumbling-policeman and deceived-husband roles.[3](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/roscoe-arbuckle_%28Enciclopedia-del-Cinema%29/)
From late 1914 onward he wrote and directed virtually all the comedies in which he starred, including *Fatty and Mabel Adrift* (1916) and *He Did and He Didn't* (1916).[1](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Roscoe-Arbuckle/9237) His domestic comedies with [Mabel Normand](https://www.edgepedia.org/mabel-normand) set a template later followed by television sitcoms, and he helped develop comedy based on psychology rather than pure slapstick.[4](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/more-on-fatty-arbuckle-his-films-and-his-legacy-1-251402/) His technical experiments included unusual camera angles, point-of-view effects, and a shot in *Good Night, Nurse* in which the camera slowly goes out of focus as his character is sedated.[4](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/more-on-fatty-arbuckle-his-films-and-his-legacy-1-251402/)
**Comique and Keaton.** In 1917 he took creative control of Joseph M. Schenck's Comique Film Corporation, gaining full artistic control over his work, and he discovered and nurtured [Buster Keaton](https://www.edgepedia.org/buster-keaton)'s film career, convincing the vaudeville star to try movies.[1](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Roscoe-Arbuckle/9237) • [3](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/roscoe-arbuckle_%28Enciclopedia-del-Cinema%29/) • [4](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/more-on-fatty-arbuckle-his-films-and-his-legacy-1-251402/) The fourteen films the two made together document one of the best comic teams ever captured on film, with Arbuckle teaching Keaton the fundamentals of cinema.[4](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/more-on-fatty-arbuckle-his-films-and-his-legacy-1-251402/) Chaplin and [Harold Lloyd](https://www.edgepedia.org/harold-lloyd) also collaborated happily with him.[3](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/roscoe-arbuckle_%28Enciclopedia-del-Cinema%29/)
**Features and Paramount.** With *The Round Up* (1920) Arbuckle became the first major comedy star to move from short subjects to feature films.[1](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Roscoe-Arbuckle/9237) He signed with the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation a contract of $20,000 per week, the highest salary obtained in the film world up to that time.[3](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/roscoe-arbuckle_%28Enciclopedia-del-Cinema%29/)
## The 1921 case and trials
Having shot three films consecutively in September 1921, Arbuckle, worn out, went to a weekend party at San Francisco's St. Francis Hotel. A few days after the festivities, one of the participants, the actress Virginia Rappe, died of a ruptured bladder.[1](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Roscoe-Arbuckle/9237) Arbuckle faced three court trials: the first two ended in hung juries, and the third resulted in a full acquittal.[1](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Roscoe-Arbuckle/9237)
The press coverage amounted to a prejudicial "trial by headline," orchestrated largely by the newspaper mogul [William Randolph Hearst](https://www.edgepedia.org/william-randolph-hearst).[1](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Roscoe-Arbuckle/9237) Stirred up by sensational newspaper accounts of debauchery, Americans were willing to believe Arbuckle guilty; by the time the truth became apparent, it was too late to save his career.[4](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/more-on-fatty-arbuckle-his-films-and-his-legacy-1-251402/) The third jury's statement began, "Acquittal is not enough for Roscoe Arbuckle. We feel that a great injustice has been done him."[1](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Roscoe-Arbuckle/9237)
## Aftermath and the studio ban
Despite the acquittal, Hollywood executives persuaded Will H. Hays, the industry's censorship chief, to ban Arbuckle from the screen.[1](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Roscoe-Arbuckle/9237) Treccani records that a violent press campaign forced the producers to dismiss him.[3](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/roscoe-arbuckle_%28Enciclopedia-del-Cinema%29/) The Museum of Modern Art's retrospective puts it starkly: although he was eventually acquitted of a shocking charge, the accusation kept him off the screen and essentially destroyed his standing for about 80 years, a duration concerning his reputation, not his exclusion from acting.[2](https://www.moma.org/calendar/film/909)
Treccani states he could direct only educational documentaries under a pseudonym,[3](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/roscoe-arbuckle_%28Enciclopedia-del-Cinema%29/) but the AFI Catalog and MoMA document narrative shorts and features directed as William Goodrich, including *The Red Mill* (1927), *Special Delivery* (1927), and *Windy Riley Goes Hollywood* (1931).[6](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/135168-Roscoe-) • [2](https://www.moma.org/calendar/film/909)
## Later career as William Goodrich and death
The Library of Congress authority record confirms Arbuckle's dates (1887–1933) and lists "Goodrich, William, 1887-1933" among his variant names, noting that he also directed films as William Goodrich.[5](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n85138204.html) The AFI Catalog credits the pseudonym to *Stupid But Brave* (1924), *Cleaning Up* (1925), *Home Cured* (1926), *The Red Mill* (1927), *Special Delivery* (1927), and *Windy Riley Goes Hollywood* (1931), and credits Arbuckle himself as director of *The Butcher Boy* (1917), *Fatty and Mabel Adrift* (1916), *The Bright Lights* (1916), and *The Garage* (1920).[6](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/135168-Roscoe-)
He made an impressive screen comeback in 1932 as the star of a series of Vitaphone two-reel comedies. He passed away in his sleep, aged 46, just before he was to sign a profitable feature-film deal with Warner Bros.[1](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Roscoe-Arbuckle/9237)
## By the numbers
- **Salary:** $20,000 per week from Famous Players-Lasky, the highest in cinema to that date.[3](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/roscoe-arbuckle_%28Enciclopedia-del-Cinema%29/)
- **Weight:** 250 to 300 pounds (about 113 to 136 kg) for most of his adult life.[1](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Roscoe-Arbuckle/9237)
- **Keaton films:** fourteen jointly, from 1917 onward.[4](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/more-on-fatty-arbuckle-his-films-and-his-legacy-1-251402/)
- **Trials:** three, ending in acquittal.[1](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Roscoe-Arbuckle/9237)
- **Box-office rank:** second only to Chaplin from 1914 to 1921.[2](https://www.moma.org/calendar/film/909)
## Comparison with Keaton, Chaplin, and Normand
Arbuckle's standing among his peers was established early: from 1914 to 1921 his fun-loving fat-boy character was loved worldwide and second only to Chaplin at the box office.[2](https://www.moma.org/calendar/film/909) Chaplin and Harold Lloyd enjoyed collaborating with him, and Treccani credits him with Keaton's discovery.[3](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/roscoe-arbuckle_%28Enciclopedia-del-Cinema%29/) The trajectories diverged after 1921. Keaton, whose career Arbuckle had launched and who learned the fundamentals of cinema from him,[4](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/more-on-fatty-arbuckle-his-films-and-his-legacy-1-251402/) continued in film, while Arbuckle, though acquitted, was barred from screen acting for a time and worked behind the camera under a pseudonym.[1](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Roscoe-Arbuckle/9237) • [5](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n85138204.html) Mabel Normand, his Keystone and feature partner in the domestic comedies that anticipated the sitcom format, was among the contemporaries with whom he appeared on screen.[4](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/more-on-fatty-arbuckle-his-films-and-his-legacy-1-251402/)
## Legacy and reappraisal
Modern film history has restored Arbuckle's standing. MoMA's full-career retrospective, "Rediscovering Roscoe," presented his work alongside appearances by Chaplin, Normand, Keaton, Louise Fazenda, Edgar Kennedy, Al St. John, and [Eddie Cantor](https://www.edgepedia.org/eddie-cantor), and included his exile-era work as gag writer and director and his sound-era return.[2](https://www.moma.org/calendar/film/909) Treccani notes that his story re-emerged from the 1960s in biographical essays and in [James Ivory](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-ivory)'s film *The Wild Party* (1975).[3](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/roscoe-arbuckle_%28Enciclopedia-del-Cinema%29/) A scholarly book-length, film-by-film examination of his work frames him as a silent comedy trailblazer whose reputation was eclipsed for many years by one of Hollywood's first scandals.[7](https://books.google.com/books?id=0W_IDwAAQBAJ)
Many of his films survive and rank with the best silent comedies; *Fatty and Mabel Adrift* displays a "sunny, rural surrealism" with no real equivalent in films of the time.[4](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/more-on-fatty-arbuckle-his-films-and-his-legacy-1-251402/) Preserved prints are held in film archives: the George Eastman Museum's collection includes *Fatty Joins the Force* (1913), *Love and Bullets* (1914, a 35mm nitrate master positive), *The Garage* (1920), and *The Iron Mule* (1925, a 16mm triacetate master positive).[8](https://collections.eastman.org/people/100514/roscoe-arbuckle/objects) The American National Biography Online carries a scholarly entry on Arbuckle by Thomas W. Collins Jr., published in 2000, confirming his place in documented American performance history.[9](https://www.anb.org/display/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.001.0001/anb-9780198606697-e-1803505)
## References
1. [Roscoe Arbuckle, Britannica](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Roscoe-Arbuckle/9237)
2. [Rediscovering Roscoe: The Careers of 'Fatty' Arbuckle, MoMA](https://www.moma.org/calendar/film/909)
3. [ARBUCKLE, Roscoe, Enciclopedia del Cinema, Treccani](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/roscoe-arbuckle_%28Enciclopedia-del-Cinema%29/)
4. [More on Fatty Arbuckle: His Films and His Legacy, Smithsonian Magazine](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/more-on-fatty-arbuckle-his-films-and-his-legacy-1-251402/)
5. [Arbuckle, Roscoe, 1887-1933, LC Linked Data Service, Library of Congress](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n85138204.html)
6. [AFI Catalog — Roscoe Arbuckle](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/135168-Roscoe-)
7. [Rediscovering Roscoe: The Films of 'Fatty' Arbuckle](https://books.google.com/books?id=0W_IDwAAQBAJ)
8. [Works | Roscoe Arbuckle, George Eastman Museum](https://collections.eastman.org/people/100514/roscoe-arbuckle/objects)
9. [Arbuckle, Roscoe "Fatty" (1887-1933), actor, American National Biography](https://www.anb.org/display/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.001.0001/anb-9780198606697-e-1803505)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Film people and crafts › Film actors and performers › Silent-era and early-cinema performers*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license