Fred MacMurray
Fred MacMurray (
August 30,
1908 –
November 5,
1991) was a
Hollywood actor who appeared in over one hundred movies, during a career that lasted from the
1930s to the
1970s.
MacMurray's most famous role was that of the slightly
stammering Steve Douglas, the widowed patriarch on the CBS
TV series,
My Three Sons.
My Three Sons ran from
1960 until
1972.
MacMurray was often
typecast as a lovable, friendly fellow, and he capitalized on this by starring in a number of live-action comedies for
Walt Disney during the later part of his career, with his biggest hits being
The Shaggy Dog and
The Absent-Minded Professor.
MacMurray's early film work is largely overlooked by many film historians and critics, but in his heyday, he worked with some of
Hollywood's greatest talents including director
Preston Sturges and actors
Marlene Dietrich,
Carole Lombard,
Barbara Stanwyck and
Claudette Colbert. Early in his acting career, he also appeared on
Broadway in
Three's a Crowd in
1930, and in the original production of
Roberta (on which the movie was based) in
1933 with
Sydney Greenstreet and
Bob Hope.
Born in
Kankakee, Illinois to Maleta Martin and Frederick MacMurray, his mother and the newborn accompanied his father, a concert
violinist, around the country before finally settling in
Beaver Dam, Wisconsin at the age of five. During his
childhood in Beaver Dam he earned the
nickname "Bud". While attending Beaver Dam High School, he became one of the most popular
teenagers in town, and was known for his athleticism. MacMurray received 12 varsity letters in three years of
high school. He was considered one of the best fullbacks and
punters in the State of
Wisconsin, and earned a full scholarship to attend
Carroll College in
Waukesha, Wisconsin.
In college, MacMurray participated in numerous local bands, playing the
saxophone. After one
semester at Carroll, he left for
Chicago to look for professional gigs.
In spite of his "nice guy" image, MacMurray often stated that the best film roles he ever played were two in which he was cast against type by
Billy Wilder. He played the role of Walter Neff, an insurance salesman who plots with a wealthy heiress to murder her husband, in the
film noir classic
Double Indemnity (
1944). In
1960, he played a slimy, two-timing corporate executive in Wilder's
Oscar-winning comedy
The Apartment, with
Shirley MacLaine and
Jack Lemmon.
A shrewd investor, MacMurray was one of the wealthiest people in Hollywood, as well as one of the most
politically conservative.
He was also the most frugal. Studio co-workers could not help noticing that even as a successful actor, MacMurray would usually bring a brown bag lunch to work, often containing a hardboiled egg. According to MacMurray's co-star on
My Three Sons,
William Demarest, MacMurray continued to bring dyed
Easter eggs for lunch several months after
Easter.
He was married twice. He married his first wife, Lillian Lamont, on
June 20,
1936, and they adopted two children. Lamont died on
June 22,
1953. He married actress
June Haver in
1954, and they also adopted two children.
MacMurray died of
pneumonia at the age of 83 in
Santa Monica, California. He was interred in the
Holy Cross Cemetery in
Culver City, California. He was survived by his wife,
June Haver (who died in
2005), and by his four children.
During the
1940s, the
Fawcett Comics superhero character,
Captain Marvel was modeled in some ways after MacMurray. (MacMurray had played a caped superhero in a dream sequence in the film
No Time for Love.) The same image was later used in the creation of the
1990s character The Gentleman, from
Astro City.
MacMurray was named the first
Disney Legend in
1987.
Hands Across the Table (1935)
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936)
The Princess Comes Across (1936)
Remember The Night (1940)
Double Indemnity (1944)
The Egg and I (1947)
The Caine Mutiny (1954)
Pushover (1954)
Good Day for a Hanging (1958)
The Shaggy Dog (1959)
The Apartment (1960)
The Absent-Minded Professor (1961)
Son of Flubber (1963)
Follow Me, Boys! (1966)
The Happiest Millionaire (1967)
Charley and the Angel (1973)
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Classic Movies (1939 - 1969): Fred Macmurray*
Disney Legends
