Totie Fields

Totie Fields — comedian with roots in the Russian Empire

Totie Fields (born Sophie Feldman) was an American stand-up comedian born in Hartford, Connecticut to parents who had emigrated from Russia. Known for her self-deprecating humour about her weight and her working-class background, she was one of the most beloved comedians of the 1960s-70s, a regular on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Tracing the roots — Jewish

Born to parents who had emigrated from Russia, Fields grew up in the Jewish immigrant world of New England. Her self-deprecating, warmly honest comedy — before the era of political correctness — was the direct expression of the Jewish immigrant tradition: laugh at yourself before anyone else can.

A career defined by ambition