Biography for
Fred MacMurray More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

30 August 1908, Kankakee, Illinois, USA

Date of Death

5 November 1991, Santa Monica, California, USA (pneumonia, pulmonary edema, Sepsis Syndrome, urinary tract infection, Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia)

Birth Name

Fredrick Martin MacMurray

Nickname

Bud

Height

6' 2½" (1.89 m)

Mini Biography

Born to Maleta Martin and Frederick MacMurray (concert violinist). Fred sang and played in orchestras to earn tuition. He was educated at Carroll College, Wis. Fred played with a Chicago orchestra for more than a year. Then he joined an orchestra in Hollywood where he played, did some recording and played extra roles. He then joined a comedy stage band, California Collegians, and went to New York. There he joined "Three's A Crowd" revue on Broadway and on the road. After this show closed, he returned to California and worked in vaudeville. He played the vaudeville circuits and night clubs until cast for major role in "Roberta". Signed by Paramount in 1935.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Dave Curbow

Mini Biography

Born in Kankakee, Illinois, MacMurray was raised in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin from the age of 5, eventually graduating from Beaver Dam High School (currently the site of Beaver Dam Middle School), where he was a 3-sport star in football, baseball, and basketball. Fred retained a special place in his heart for his small-town Wisconsin upbringing, referring at any opportunity in magazine articles or interviews to the lifelong friends and cherished memories of Beaver Dam, even including mementos of his childhood in several of his films. In "Pardon my Past" Fred and fellow GI William Demarest are moving to Beaver Dam, WI to start a mink farm.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Mike Bischoff, Milwaukee, WI

Mini Biography

Fred MacMurray is likely the most underrated actor of his generation. True, his earliest work is mostly dismissed as pedestrian, but no other actor working in the 1940s and 50s was able to score so supremely whenever cast against type. He was born in Kankakee, Illinois to Frederick MacMurray and Maleta Martin. When MacMurray was five years old, the family moved to Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. He earned a full scholarship to attend Carroll College in Waukesha, Wisconsin and had ambitions to become a musician. In college, MacMurray participated in numerous local bands, playing the saxophone. In 1930, he recorded a tune for the Gus Arnheim Orchestra as a featured vocalist on "All I Want Is Just One Girl" on the Victor label. He appeared on Broadway in the 1930 hit production of "Three's a Crowd" starring Sydney Greenstreet, Clifton Webb and Libby Holman. He next worked alongside Bob Hope in the 1933 production of "Roberta" before he signed on with Paramount Pictures in 1934 for the then-standard 7-year contract (the hit show made Bob Hope a star and he was also signed by Paramount). MacMurray married Lillian Lamont (D: June 22, 1953) on June 20, 1936, and they adopted two children. Although his early film work is largely overlooked by film historians and critics today, he rose steadily within the ranks of Paramount's contract stars, working with some of Hollywood's greatest talents, including wunderkind writer-director Preston Sturges (whom he intensely disliked) and actors Humphrey Bogart and Marlene Dietrich. Although the majority of his films of the 30's can largely be dismissed as standard fare there are exceptions: he played opposite Claudette Colbert in seven films, beginning with The Gilded Lily (1935). He also co-starred with Katharine Hepburn in the classic, Alice Adams (1935), and with Carole Lombard in Hands Across the Table (1935), The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936) -- an ambitious early outdoor 3-strip Technicolor hit, co-starring with Henry Fonda and Sylvia Sidney directed by Henry Hathaway -- The Princess Comes Across (1936), and True Confession (1937). MacMurray spent the decade learning his craft and developing a reputation as a solid actor. In an interesting sidebar, artist C.C. Beck used MacMurray as the initial model for a superhero character who would become Fawcett Comics' Captain Marvel in 1939. The 1940s gave him his chance to shine. He proved himself in melodramas such as Above Suspicion (1943) and musicals (Where Do We Go from Here? (1945)), somewhat ironically becoming one of Hollywood's highest-paid actors by 1943, when his salary reached $420,000. He scored a huge hit with the thoroughly entertaining The Egg and I (1947), again teamed with Ms. Colbert and today largely remembered for launching the long-running Ma and Pa Kettle franchise. In 1941, MacMurray purchased a large parcel of land in Sonoma County, California and began a winery/cattle ranch. He raised his family on the ranch and it became the home to his second wife, June Haver after their marriage in 1954. The winery remains in operation today in the capable hands of their daughter, Kate MacMurray. Despite being habitually typecast as a "nice guy," MacMurray often said that his best roles were when he was cast against type by Billy Wilder. In 1944, he played the role of Walter Neff, an insurance salesman (numerous other actors had turned the role down) who plots with a greedy wife Barbara Stanwyck to murder her husband in Double Indemnity (1944) -- inarguably the greatest role of his entire career. Indeed, anyone today having any doubts as to his potential depth as an actor should watch this film. He did another stellar turn in the "not so nice" category, playing the cynical, spineless Lieutenant Thomas Keefer in the 1954 production of The Caine Mutiny (1954), directed by Edward Dmytryk. He gave another superb dramatic performance cast against type as a hard-boiled crooked cop in Pushover (1954). Despite these successes, his career waned considerably by the late 1950s and he finished out the decade working in a handful of non-descript westerns. MacMurray's career got its second wind beginning in 1959 when he was cast as the dog-hating father figure (well, he was a retired mailman) in the first Disney live-action comedy, The Shaggy Dog (1959). The film was an enormous hit and Uncle Walt green lighted several projects around his middle-aged star. Billy Wilder came calling again and he did a masterful turn in the role of Jeff Sheldrake, a two-timing corporate executive in Wilder's Oscar-winning comedy-drama The Apartment (1960), with Shirley MacLaine and Jack Lemmon -- arguably his second greatest role and the last one to really challenge him as an actor. Although this role would ultimately be remembered as his last great performance, he continued with the lightweight Disney comedies while pulling double duty, thanks to an exceptionally generous contract, on TV. MacMurray was cast in 1961 as Professor Ned Brainerd in Disney's The AbsentMinded Professor (1961) and in its superior sequel, Son of Flubber (1963). These hit Disney comedies raised his late-career profile considerably and producer Don Fedderson beckoned with My Three Sons debuting in 1960 on ABC. The gentle sitcom staple remained on the air for 12 seasons (380 episodes). Concerned about his work load and time away from his ranch and family, Fred played hardball with his series contract. In addition to his generous salary, the "Sons" contract was written so that all the scenes requiring his presence to be shot first, requiring him to work only 65 days per season on the show (the contract was reportedly used as an example by Dean Martin when negotiating the wildly generous terms contained in his later variety show contract). This requirement meant the series actors had to work with stand-ins and posed wardrobe continuity issues. The series moved without a hitch to CBS in the fall of 1965 after ABC, then still an also-ran network with its eyes peeled on the bottom line, refused to increase the budget required for color production (color became a U.S. industry standard in the 1968 season). This freed him to pursue his film work, family, ranch, and his principal hobby, golf. Politically very conservative, MacMurray was a staunch supporter of the Republican Party; he joined his old friend Bob Hope and James Stewart in campaigning for Richard Nixon in 1968. He was also widely known one of the most -- to be polite -- frugal actors in the business. Stories floated around the industry in the 60s regarding famous hard-boiled egg brown bag lunches and stingy tips. After the cancellation of My Three Sons in 1972, MacMurray made only a few more film appearances before retiring to his ranch in 1978. As a result of a long battle with leukemia, MacMurray died of pneumonia at the age of eighty-three in Santa Monica on November 5, 1991. He was buried in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Jack Backstreet

Spouse

June Haver	(28 June 1954 - 5 November 1991) (his death) twin daughters (adopted)
Lillian Lamont	(20 June 1936 - 22 June 1953) (her death) 2 adopted children

Trade Mark

Deadpan delivery.

Trivia

Personal friends with Walt Disney.

Interred at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California, USA, in the Mausoleum, D1, Room 7.

Adopted twin daughters, Kathryn and Laurie (b. 1956), with Haver.

"The Untouchables" (1959). He was also the first choice to play the title role on TV's "Perry Mason" (1957).

At his insistence, all episodes of "My Three Sons" (1960) were filmed out of sequence during the show's entire run. He would do all of his scenes first, then leave until the next season. All kitchen scenes would be done together, then all scenes in the upstairs hallway would be filmed together, etc. This fact was well concealed until Dawn Lyn joined the cast as Dodie. Her upper front teeth grew in irregularly during the entire 1969-'70 season, from being barely visible in scenes with MacMurray to being plainly visible in scenes without him.

He was the likeness inspiration for the original Captain Marvel (the one that emerged when Billy Batson said "Shazam") for artist Charles Clarence Beck in 1940. The original publisher of the comic book character was Fawcett Publications.

Early in his career, he recorded a song called "If I Had A Talking Picture Of You."

Portrayed George Harvey, star reporter for the Hillsdale Morning Star, on NBC Radio's "Bright Star" (1952-1953).

Steve Douglas, MacMurray's character on "My Three Sons" (1960), was ranked #7 in TV Guide's list of the "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time" [20 June 2004 issue].

1987: First person to be named a Disney Legend.

1970s: He was most often seen doing commercials for a video teaching "Chisenbop," a Korean method of doing math on your fingers.

His daughter Susan was born in 1942. His son Robert was born in 1945.

He was a staunch supporter of the Republican Party who joined Bob Hope and James Stewart in campaigning for Richard Nixon in 1968.

Best remembered by the public for starring as father figures in Walt Disney movies.

When offered the job as the dad on "My Three Sons" (1960), he was given a dream contract in which he only had to work 65 days a year on the series. The supporting cast, as a result, often had to shoot their scenes opposite a prop person off camera instead of Fred. The popular series ran 12 seasons.

He and wife June Haver were once offered a husband-and-wife sitcom but Fred refused, afraid of putting his marriage in jeopardy by the pressures.

Met first wife Lillian ("Lily") Lamonte while performing on Broadway in "Roberta" in 1933. She was a dancer.

Played vaudeville with a stage band called "The California Collegians". The group was cast in a Broadway revue called "Three's a Crowd" in 1930 that showcased such star talent as Fred Allen, Clifton Webb and chanteuse Libby Holman. Holman sang the torch song "Something to Remember You By" to Fred in the show. The Collegians were also featured in the Broadway musical "Roberta", in which Fred also understudied the lead.

One of his first jobs in Los Angeles was playing in a pit orchestra for an L.A. theater.

Once studied art at the Chicago Art Institute.

Quite the high school athlete. He won ten letters for athletics and a scholarship to Carroll College in Wisconsin to play football. He played the saxophone for extra money while there.

Made his debut on stage playing the violin alongside his father, but the experience left him with a terrible case of stage fright. Later he overcame it and learned the piano, guitar and saxophone, which he played in his high school band.

Was in consideration for the role of Joe Gillis in Sunset Blvd. (1950) but William Holden, who received a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his performance, was cast instead.

Initially turned down his most famous movie role in Double Indemnity (1944) because he didn't think his fans would want to see him playing a darker character.

He never took an acting lesson.

Personal Quotes

I once asked Barbara Stanwyck the secret of acting. She said, "Just be truthful - and if you can fake that you've got it made".

Carole Lombard was a wonderful girl. Swore like a man. Other women try, but she really did.

The two films I did with Billy Wilder, Double Indemnity (1944) and the The Apartment (1960), are the only two parts I did in my entire career that required any acting.

[on working with director Preston Sturges] At the end of this shoot, he said, "It's been a pleasure working with you" and I said, "I wish I could say the same about you." I don't like to be that way, but he was terrible, very cruel.

[on Barbara Stanwyck] I was lucky enough to make four pictures with Barbara. In the first I turned her in, in the second I killed her, in the third I left her for another woman and in the fourth I pushed her over a waterfall. The one thing all these pictures had in common was that I fell in love with Barbara Stanwyck -- and I did, too.

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