| # | Fact |
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| 1 | In 1961 when he took his family to Disneyland, a woman came up to him and asked "Are you Fred MacMurray?", and when he answered he was, she hit him with her purse and told him she had taken her children to see him in "The Apartment" and was furious because "That was not a Disney movie", he responded, "No ma'am, it wasn't." He then turned to his wife and announced he was done playing bad guys in movies. |
| 2 | Was an expert leather craftsman. A 1936 entry in the Columbia Pictures "Screen Snapshots" series showed him assembling an ornate gun holster, which he had also decoratively engraved. The narrator stated that he also knew how to make saddles. |
| 3 | His feature film leading ladies: Claudette Colbert (7 films): The Gilded Lily (1935), _The Bride Comes Home (1935)', Maid of Salem (1937), No Time for Love (1943), Practically Yours (1944), The Egg and I (1947), Family Honeymoon (1948). Madeleine Carroll (5 films): Honeymoon in Bali (1939), Cafe Society (1939), Virginia (1941), One Night in Lisbon (1941), An Innocent Affair (1948). Barbara Stanwyck (4 films): Remember the Night (1940), Double Indemnity (1944), The Moonlighter (1953), There's Always Tomorrow (1955). Carole Lombard (4 films): Hands Across the Table (1935), The Princess Comes Across (1936), True Confession (1937), Swing High, Swing Low (1937). Paulette Goddard (4 films): The Forest Rangers (1942), Standing Room Only (1944), Suddenly It's Spring (1947), On Our Merry Way (1948). Irene Dunne (2 films): Invitation to Happiness (1939), Never a Dull Moment (1950). Rosalind Russell (2 films): Take a Letter, Darling (1942), Flight for Freedom (1943). June Haver (married 1954): Where Do We Go from Here? (1945). |
| 4 | The appearance of the famous DC Comics character Captain Marvel is based on him. |
| 5 | Acting mentor of Stanley Livingston. |
| 6 | Was a Boy Scout. |
| 7 | The character design of the Fawcett Comics (later DC Comics) superhero Captain Marvel (now Shazam) was said to have been based on him. |
| 8 | MacMurray played the baritone saxophone in high school with the American Legion Band. After buying a saxophone with his own money he earned in a pea-canning factory, he created his own three piece orchestra called "Mac's Melody Boys." He performed in nightclubs, dance halls and vaudeville. |
| 9 | In the early 1930s, he was the vocalist for Gus Arnheim's Coconut Grove Orchestra. |
| 10 | In 1951, RKO Radio Pictures tried to compose a film noir entitled "The Sins of Sarah Ferry". The story was about a courthouse clerk in Binghamton, New York who finds herself falling in love with a beautiful liar whose accused of armed robbery as well as a hit run charge involving a death. The cast would have starred Laraine Day, Fred MacMurray, Yvonne De Carlo, Hugh Beaumont, Glenn Ford, Howard Duff, and Evelyn Keyes, with the studio wanting to shoot on location in Binghamton and neighboring Johnson City. This project never materialized because the plot was considered to close of a generic step-up of Double Indemnity (1944) and the studio never received a reply via phone call or standard mail from the Binghamton Courthouse or then Mayor Donald Kramer granting them permission to film on location in the area and negotiate a fair range of payment. Based on that neglect, the studio immediately canceled this project and moved on. |
| 11 | His physical likeness inspired the appearance of DC Comics' character Captain Marvel. |
| 12 | According to daughter Kate, Fred and wife June Haver were introduced to each other by John Wayne. |
| 13 | Before he was a successful actor, he once worked in a department store, selling appliances, among everything that he did. |
| 14 | His father, Frederick MacMurray, died when he was only 5. |
| 15 | Second-only to Lucille Ball and John Ritter, MacMurray performed a lot of physical comedy on My Three Sons (1960). |
| 16 | At Carroll College (now Carroll University), he played a variety of local bands and nightclubs. |
| 17 | During Maleta's pregnancy, she and Frederick Sr. both traveled to Kankakee, Illinois, where Frederick Jr. was born. |
| 18 | Graduated from Beaver Dam High School in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, in 1926. |
| 19 | Had played both the violin and saxophone, just before he entered high school. |
| 20 | Was a conservative Republican. |
| 21 | His musical career eventually led him to Broadway. |
| 22 | He tried to get into the military service during World War II, but a fluctuated ear prevented him from attending, therefore, he stayed in Hollywood, continued making movies and did everything he could to help the war effort and afterwards, helped the Hollywood community did his part in the process of rebuilding. |
| 23 | Taught his future My Three Sons (1960) co-star, Beverly Garland, how to play golf. |
| 24 | He had 8 hobbies - camping, spending time with family, boxing, golfing, fishing, singing, traveling and dancing. |
| 25 | Remained good friends with Stanley Livingston, during and after My Three Sons (1960). |
| 26 | Was a lifelong heavy smoker that led to throat cancer and emphysema, which contributed to his death. |
| 27 | Before he was a successful actor, he was a member of the Gus Arnheim Orchestra from 1930-31 and sang the vocal refrain on the record "All I Want Is Just One", recorded on March 30, 1930 and issued on Victor 22384. |
| 28 | Was raised in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, where his mother had been born in 1880. |
| 29 | Began his career as a contract player for Paramount in 1934. |
| 30 | Was not the producer's first choice for the role of Steve Douglas on My Three Sons (1960). He got the role only because Eddie Albert turned it down to focus on his movie career. |
| 31 | Suffered a number of health problems for 13 years before his death, from throat cancer to leukemia. He also suffered a stroke at Christmas 1988. |
| 32 | Best friends with William Demarest, from 1935 to his death in 1983. |
| 33 | His future My Three Sons (1960) co-star, Tim Considine, worked with him in the movie The Shaggy Dog (1959). |
| 34 | Friends with: Shirley Jones, Jane Wyman, Lucille Ball, Michael Landon, Buddy Ebsen, Brian Keith, Ernest Borgnine, Barbara Stanwyck, Beverly Garland, William Demarest, Anthony Quinn, Carol Channing, Bob Hope, Don Rickles, Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour, James Stewart, Billy Wilder, William Frawley, Carole Lombard, Ronald Reagan, Ray Milland, Porter Hall, Tommy Kirk and June Haver. |
| 35 | After his role on The Swarm (1978), he retired from acting at age 70. |
| 36 | Best remembered by the public for his starring role as Steve Douglas on My Three Sons (1960). |
| 37 | Was the only actor to appear in all 380 episodes of My Three Sons (1960) on both (ABC) and (CBS) networks. |
| 38 | Near the end of his acting career, he was a spokesperson for Greyhound Bus Lines in the 1970s. |
| 39 | His mother, Maleta Martin, died in 1965 aged 85. |
| 40 | Cartoonist C.C. Beck claimed that he modeled the 1940s superhero, Captain Marvel after Fred MacMurray. |
| 41 | Profiled in "American Classic Screen Interviews" (Scarecrow Press). [2010] |
| 42 | He never took an acting lesson. |
| 43 | 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. |
| 44 | 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. |
| 45 | 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. |
| 46 | 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. |
| 47 | Once studied art at the Chicago Art Institute. |
| 48 | One of his first jobs in Los Angeles was playing in a pit orchestra for an L.A. theater. |
| 49 | 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. |
| 50 | Met first wife Lillian ("Lily") Lamonte while performing on Broadway in "Roberta" in 1933. She was a dancer. |
| 51 | 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. |
| 52 | 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. |
| 53 | Best remembered by the public for starring as father figures in Walt Disney movies. |
| 54 | He was a staunch supporter of the Republican Party who joined Bob Hope and James Stewart in campaigning for Richard Nixon in 1968. |
| 55 | His daughter Susan was born in 1942. His son Robert was born in 1945. |
| 56 | 1970s: He was most often seen doing commercials for a video teaching "Chisenbop," a Korean method of doing math on your fingers. |
| 57 | 1987: First person to be named a Disney Legend. |
| 58 | 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]. |
| 59 | Portrayed George Harvey, star reporter for the Hillsdale Morning Star, on NBC Radio's "Bright Star" (1952-1953). |
| 60 | 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. |
| 61 | The Untouchables (1959). He was also the first choice to play the title role on TV's Perry Mason (1957). |
| 62 | Adopted twin daughters, Kathryn and Laurie (b. 1956), with Haver. |
| 63 | Interred at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California, USA, in the Mausoleum, D1, Room 7. |
| 64 | Personal friends with Walt Disney. |
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