FRED MACMURRAY BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Fred MacMurray was born  August 30th, 1908 in Kankakee, Illinois to parents Frederick MacMurray and Maleta Martin who were both natives of Wisconsin.  At the age of two his family moved to Madison, Wisconsin and soon settled in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.
 
MacMurray completed high School at Beaver Dam High School and then earned a full ride scholarship to Carroll College in Waukesha, Wisconsin.  He was involved in music playing the saxophone in  various local bands as well as performing as a comedian by the age of 18.   
 
After college he recorded a tune for the Gus Arnheim Orchestra as a featured vocalist and also appeared on Broadway in, "Three's a Crowd" (1930) and "Roberta" (1934) and was then signed to Paramount Studios that same year.
 
His first film was, "The Gilded Lily" (1935) starring Claudette Colbert, Ray Milland and C. Aubrey Smith, followed by, "Alice Adams" (1935) also starring Katharine Hepburn, Hedda Hopper, Fred Stone, Evelyn Venable, Hattie McDaniel and Frank Albertson, and then MacMurray married his first wife, Lillian Lamont on June 20, 1936, and they adopted two children, Susan and Robert. 
 
He continued to pursue his acting career mostly working on light comedies such as, "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine" (1936) starring with Sylvia Sidney, Henry Fonda, George 'Spanky' McFarland, Nigel Bruce, John Forrest 'Fuzzy' Knight and Beulah Bondi, "The Lady is Willing" (1942) with Leslie Howard, Cedric Hardwicke and Binnie Barnes, "Take a Letter, Darling" (1943) co-starring Rosalind Russell, Cecil Kellaway, Macdonald Carey, Robert Benchley and Constance Moore, "No Time for Love" (1943) with Claudette Colbert and June Havoc and "The Egg and I" (1947) also starring Claudette Colbert, Marjorie Main, Percy Kilbride, Richard Long, Victor Potel and John Forrest 'Fuzzy' Knight which spawned the "Ma and Pa Kettle" series of films.  However he did not limit himself to comedies alone, with his good looks it was easy to get cast in good guy roles as well as romantic leads and melodrama films such as, "Above Suspicion" (1943) co-starring Joan Crawford, Conrad Veidt, Basil Rathbone and Reginald Owen and "Where Do We Go From Here?" (1945) which also starred Joan Leslie, June Haver, Gene Sheldon, Anthony Quinn and Fortunio Bonanova.
 
MacMurray can be seen on screen working with some of Hollywood's other well known entertainers such as Barbara Stanwyck, Humphrey Bogart, Claudette Colbert and Carole Lombard whom he appeared in four films with, "Hands Across the Table" (1935) with Ralph Bellamy, "The Princess Came Across" (1936) also with Douglass Dumbrille, William Frawley and Sig Ruman, "Swing High Swing Low" with Charles Butterworth, Anthony Quinn, Jean Dixon, Franklin Pangborn and Dorothy Lamour and "True Confession" (both 1937) co-starring Porter Hall, Una Merkel, John Barrymore, Irving Bacon, Edgar Kennedy and a bit part by Hattie McDaniel.
 
In 1941, MacMurray purchased a piece of land in the Russian River Valley in Northern California and established The MacMurray Ranch.  He chose to spend his private time here when not filming and enjoyed raising prize Aberdeen Angus cattle. 
 
By the mid 40's he was becoming one of Hollywood's most highest paid actors and when his salary had already reached $420,000 he established himself as Hollywood's now highest paid actor and the fourth highest paid American.  He is most well known for his role on the classic film noir, "Double Indemnity" (1944) directed by Billy Wilder in which even though he had been typecast as, 'the nice guy', this role was a greedy salesman who plotted to kill his own wife played by Barbara Stanwyck which also featured Edward G. Robinson as an insurance claims adjuster.   
 
Hi involvement with Paramount came to an end in 1945.  He mostly worked freelance but did do the occasional film with his old studio.  In 1948 he did his final film was Claudette Colbert on, "Family Honeymoon".  In the 50's he continued to work film but also dabbled in television and radio working on a series called, "Bright Star" (1952).  His television debut was on, "Bachelor's Bride" (1955) which was an episode of "G.E. Theatre".  He lost his first wife Lillian Lamont on June 22nd, 1953 and the following year married June Haver and together they adopted two more children, Katherine and Laurie.  He did his first feature film with Walt Disney Productions on, "The Shaggy Dog" (1959) starring with Tommy Kirk, Jean Hagen, Kevin Corcoran, Tim Considine, Roberta Shore and Annette Funicello. 
 
As he entered the 1960's, he revived his film career with a role on, "The Absent Minded Professor" (1961) also starring Nancy Olsen, Keenan Wynn, Tommy Kirk, Leon Ames, James Westerfield and Ed Wynn, and the Billy Wilder Oscar winning comedy, "The Apartment" (1960) which also starred Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Edie Adams, Johnny Seven and Ray Walston.  Also beginning in the 60's he starred in the television series, "My Three Sons" which ran for twelve seasons.  He did not neglect his film career working on the, "Happiest Millionaire" (1957) featuring Greer Garson, Geraldine Page, Tommy Steele, Hermione Baddeley, Gladys Cooper, John Davidson and Lesley Ann Warren, which was though his last feature for the next five years. 
 
When the television series, "My Three Sons" which ran on ABC from 1960-1965 and then on CBS from 1965-1972 was cancelled, MacMurray chose to make just a couple more films before finally deciding it was time to retire.  Some of his final film and television roles were, "Charley and the Angel" (1972) also starring Cloris Leachman, Kurt Russell and Harry Morgan just to name a few, the television movie, "The Chadwick Family" (1974) and "Beyond The Bermuda Triangle" (1975) co-starring Sam Groom, Donna Mills, Suzanne Reed, Dana Plato, Dan White and Woody Woodbury, also a television movie.  His final acting role was on the feature film, "The Swarm" (1978) starring alongside Michael Caine, Henry Fonda, Katharine Ross, Richard Widmark, Richard Chamberlain, Olivia de Havilland, Ben Johnson, Lee Grant, Patty Duke, Slim Pickens and Bradford Dillman. 

MacMurray appeared in over 100 films and successful television series during his acting career which spanned almost half a century.  He was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was also a strong supporter of the Republican Party and in 1968 he campaigned for Richard Nixon. 
 
MacMurray suffered from leukemia and passed away from pneumonia at the age of 83 on November 5, 1991 in Santa Monica, California.  He was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Los Angeles alongside his wife, actress June Haver whom he married in 1954.  His daughter, Kate now lives on his Ranch in Northern California and she is very involved in the wine making business and carrying on her family's legacy.
 
 
Filmography

1929  Why Leave Home?
1929  Tiger Rose
1935  Grand Old Girl
1935  The Gilded Lily
1935  Car 99
1935  Men Without Names
1935  Alice Adams
1935  Hands Across the Table
1935  The Bride Comes Home
1936  The Trail of the Lonesome Pine
1936  Thirteen Hours by Air
1936  The Princess Comes Across
1936  The Texas Rangers
1937  Champagne Waltz
1937  Maid of Salem
1937  Swing High, Swing Low
1937  Exclusive
1937  True Confession
1938  Cocoanut Grove
1938  Men with Wings
1938  Sing You Sinners
1939  Cafe Society
1939  Invitation to Happiness
1939  Honeymoon in Bali
1940  Remember the Night
1940  Little Old New York
1940  Too Many Husbands
1940  Rangers of Fortune
1941  Virginia
1941  One Night in Lisbon
1941  Dive Bomber
1941  New York Town
1942  The Lady Is Willing
1942  Take a Letter, Darling
1942  The Forest Rangers
1942  Star Spangled Rhythm
1943  Flight for Freedom
1943  No Time for Love
1943  Above Suspicion
1944  Standing Room Only
1944  And the Angels Sing
1944  Double Indemnity
1944  Practically Yours
1945  Where We Go from Here?
1945  Captain Eddie
1945  Murder, He Says
1945  Pardon My Past
1946  Smoky
1947  Suddenly, It's Spring
1947  The Egg and I
1947  Singapore
1948  On Our Merry Way
1948  The Miracle of the Bells
1948  An Innocent Affair
1949  Family Honeymoon
1949  Father was a Fullback
1950  Borderline
1950  Never a Dull Moment
1951  A Millionaire for Christy
1951  Callaway Went Thataway
1953  Fair Wind to Java
1953  The Moonlighter
1954  The Caine Mutiny
1954  Pushover
1954  Woman's World
1955  The Far Horizons
1955  The Rains of Ranchipur
1955  At Gunpoint
1956  There's Always Tomorrow
1957  Gun for a Coward
1957  Quantez
1958  Day of the Bad Man
1959  Good Day for a Hanging
1959  The Shaggy Dog
1959  Face of a Fugitive
1959  The Oregon Trail
1960  The Apartment
1961  The Absent-Minded Professor
1962  Bon Voyage!
1963  Son of Flubber
1964  Kisses for My President
1966  Follow Me, Boys!
1967  The Happiest Millionaire
1973  Charley and the Angel
1978  The Swarm