Biography for
Fredric March More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

30 August 1897, Racine, Wisconsin, USA

Date of Death

14 April 1975, Los Angeles, California, USA (prostate cancer)

Birth Name

Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel

Nickname

Freddie

Height

5' 10" (1.78 m)

Mini Biography

Fredric March began a career in banking but in 1920 found himself cast as an extra in films being produced in New York. He starred on the Broadway stage first in 1926 and would return there between screen appearances later on. He won plaudits (and an Academy Award nomination) for his send-up of John Barrymore in The Royal Family of Broadway (1930). Four more Academy Award nominations would come his way, and he would win the Oscar for Best Actor twice: for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) and The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). He could play roles varying from heavy drama to light comedy, and was often best portraying men in anguish, such as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman (1951). As his career advanced he progressed from leading man to character actor.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Bill Takacs

Spouse

Florence Eldridge	(30 May 1927 - 14 April 1975) (his death) 2 children
Ellis Baker	(3 May 1925 - 1927) (divorced)

Trivia

After he and his wife Florence Eldridge appeared in the heavily panned play, "Yr. Obedient Husband" in 1938, they ran an ad in New York newspapers; a cartoon borrowed from the New Yorker magazine, it showed a a trapeze artist missing his partner. The caption read: "Oops! Sorry!"

His wife, actress Florence Eldridge, appeared with him in The Studio Murder Mystery (1929), Les misérables (1935), Another Part of the Forest (1948), An Act of Murder (1948), Christopher Columbus (1949), and Inherit the Wind (1960). On TV, she appeared with him in the "Producers' Showcase" (1954) presentation of 'Dodsworth' on 30 April 1956.

Children: Penelope ("Penny," b. 1932) and Anthony (b. 1934).

His stage name was a shortened version of his mother's maiden name (Marcher).

Won two Tony Awards as Best Actor (Dramatic), the first in 1947 for his performance in Ruth Gordon's "Years Ago," an award shared with José Ferrer for "Cyrano de Bergerac," and the second, ten years later, in 1957, for his landmark performance in Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night." He was also nominated in the same category in 1962 for Paddy Chayefsky's "Gideon."

Proposed for possible blacklisting in 1949 by Californian branch of HUAC

Shares the distinction with actors José Ferrer, Helen Hayes and Ingrid Bergman of being the first winners of acting Tony Awards when the annual event was established in 1947

For a while after undergoing major surgery for prostate cancer in 1970 it seemed March's acting career was finished. However he was able to give one final great performance in The Iceman Cometh (1973).

For many years he maintained his primary residence in New Milford, Connecticut. After his death, the property was subsequently leased to playwright Lillian Hellman as well as to Henry Kissinger.

Marlon Brando praised March as his favorite actor in his youth.

"We did 'Long Day's Journey...' for two years - that was enough! I've had the theater. It becomes a damn bore night after night.".

Although it was not used, he proposed the following epitaph for his tombstone: "This is just my lot.".

March and his second wife were both active supporters of the Democratic Party.

He and Basil Rathbone both appeared together in two television adaptations of "A Christmas Carol", shown in the 1950's. In the first, telecast in 1954 as part of the "Shower of Stars" series, March played Scrooge and Rathbone played Marley's Ghost. In the second, telecast in 1958 as part of the "Tales from Dickens" series, March was the narrator, and Rathbone played Scrooge.

He is the first actor to win an academy award for a horror film. The next would not be until Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs (1991).

Personal Quotes

Keep interested in others; keep interested in the wide and wonderful world. Then in a spiritual sense you will always be young.

I liked the name Frederick Bickel and I wish now I had left it as it was. After all, Theodore Bikel, whose name was similar though spelled differently, didn't change his, and he did all right.

Co-starring with [Greta Garbo] hardly constituted an introduction.

[commenting on the fact that he and Wallace Beery, who both won Best Actor Oscars for 1931-32 due to a tie, had recently adopted children] It seems a little odd that we were both given awards for the best male performance of the year.

Stardom is just an uneasy seat on top of a tricky toboggan. Being a star is merely perching at the head of the downgrade. A competent featured player can last a lifetime. A star, a year or two. There's all that agony of finding suitable stories, keeping in character, maintaining illusion. Then the undignified position of hanging on while your popularity is declining.

I have earnestly endeavored to perform my own share without fuss or temperament. An actor has no more right to be temperamental than a bank clerk. Possibly a very sane bringing up as a child has helped me to retain my sense of proportion in these matters.

[on Joan Crawford] She was a nice person, but a real movie star. She even brought her own music to the set [of Susan and God (1940)] - a whole entourage, a violinist and a pianist to play her favorite songs, to get her into the proper mood for the scenes.

Actually, I was not overwhelmed by [Greta Garbo's] beauty. I think at that time women were more attracted to her than men.

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