生于纽约市，其父为电影明星道格拉斯·范朋克。9岁时随离婚的母亲生活，直到14岁。1923年首登银幕，出演《史蒂芬失足记》。小费尔班克斯靠自己的努力在电影打拼，出演各类角色，甚至群众演员。1928年与琼·克劳馥结婚。除了电影表演外，他在英、美两国的社交和政治关系上更负盛名，二战时期作为美国海军上尉军官，曾参加过一些英美联合军事行动，曾获得多枚英国勋章，1949年被封为爵士。次年退出电影界，定居伦敦。60年代参加电视片集《道格拉斯·范朋克》的演出。之后和第二任妻子定居佛罗里达州的棕榈滩。2000年5月去世。
Coming from a musical family - her mother was a concert soprano - Constance Cummings made her show business debut in 1926 in regional stock theater, and by 1928 had appeared in her first Broadway play. Her success in the theater resulted in an invitation to Hollywood, where she went 1931. Although she played in more than 20 films, she was never really comfortble in Hollywood nor satisfied with the parts she was getting, and in 1934 she left for England, UK. She continued her stage and film career there. but few of those films ever made it back to the U.S.
