Roscoe Arbuckle

AKA:

Fatty

Birth Name:

Roscoe Conkling Arbuckle

Birth Date:

March 24, 1887

Birth Place:

Smith Center, Kansas

Death Date:

June 29, 1933

Place of Death:

The Park Central Hotel, 55th Street and Seventh Avenue, Manhattan, New York

Age:

Cause of Death:

Heart attack

Cemetery Name:

Cremated

Claim to Fame:

Show Business

Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle was one of the most popular silent stars of the 1910s and one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood. As a silent film actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter, Arbuckle mentored legendary Charlie Chaplin and discovered Buster Keaton and Bob Hope. In 1921, Arbuckle was accused of alleged rape and manslaughter of actress Virginia Rappe. After three trials, Arbuckle was acquitted but the scandal had tarnished his legacy as a pioneering comedian.

Fun Fact

Although Fatty Arbuckle is often listed as buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in New York, it is actually another actor in silent films, Macklin Arbuckle (the cousin of Roscoe) who is buried at Woodlawn.

And for those who still believe the long-held legend that Roscoe Arbuckle raped and killed Virginia Rappe, on April 12, 1922, the jury of his third trial acquitted Arbuckle of manslaughter after deliberating for just five minutes—four of which were used to prepare a statement:

Acquittal is not enough for Roscoe Arbuckle. We feel that a great injustice has been done to him … 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 which we all believe. We wish him success and hope that the American people will take the judgment of fourteen men and women that Roscoe Arbuckle is entirely innocent and free from all blame.