Congratulations on the amazing, enlightening interview. Fred MacMurray is an actor who certainly has grown on me over the years, and his comedies are among my favorites; especially his pairings with Lombard & Colbert and “Remember the Night” with Stanwyck. He also made many films opposite Madeleine Carroll of which, sadly, I’ve only seen the amusing “Honeymoon in Bali”. They made a handsome couple. “Murder He Says” is certainly an offbeat, unique film.

Also, as a friend of mine described it, Fred suffers from the “Raymond Burr Syndrome.” Due to his overwhelming success in television, neither Burr nor MacMurray have received their due as film actors, perhaps in part due to the lingering memories of tv audiences. It is a bit of a shock to Perry Mason fans to see the re-emergence of Burr’s early films, especially those great film noirs, such as Raw Deal(1948) and Pitfall(1948)–not to mention Borderline (1950) (made with MacMurray & Claire Trevor). Perhaps now it is Fred’s turn for a re-discovery?

RHS,
Are you kidding? You should see how many images I had to edit out. Not to mention a kajillion bits of Fred MacMurray factoids that never made it into the blog.

As to Fred wearing a toupee, in the photo looking so happy as he dances with his wife June Haver, he never wore the hair piece off screen, and apparently didn’t appear to care if anyone saw him without it. He apparently regarded it as simply part of his actor’s toolkit–necessary for the job. His younger children would laugh uproariously when they spotted him on television in an old movie with hair.

Al,
I completely agree that in a film career of several decades there were duds as well as a few real gems in MacMurray’s career. I feel that any time Fred put on a tri-cornered hat or knee britches in a movie, it was all over. While I don’t think he was very credible in costume pictures, he could be very good at being very American (20th century version), and, in a pinch, in a Western such as At Gunpoint, he could be very good, as long as he wasn’t asked to enact any tough guy false bravado. Sure, he could make you believe a small town professor might invent something as outlandish as flubber, but as a colonial soldier or an explorer, hmmm, no, ‘fraid not, Fred.

At the end of his career, Fred ’s presence in family friendly movies and the long-running series “My Three Sons” made him a familiar–perhaps an overly familiar and rather staid presence to the generations that came after his best movies.

One of the reasons that I was enthusiastic about this article and Chuck Tranberg’s well researched book, was due to the light it cast on Fred’s earlier, nowadays often unnoticed movies, such as those deft romantic comedies and dramas he made opposite Lombard, Colbert, Stanwyck and Dunne . There are surprisingly large numbers of people who have no familiarity with these beautifully crafted entertainments. Maybe this will help to draw people to these worthwhile films.

Why don’t you ask the author about William Demarest? They were teamed on My Three Sons but they also co-starred in many films together. There had to be a reason. They had to get along. ~Al Lowe

Re: William Demarest and William Frawley
Everything Chuck Tranberg and I touched on in our interview didn’t make it into the piece above, which I tried to keep brief, (believe it or not!). Here’s a bit of what we talked about vis a vis Demarest & Frawley:

Moira: Interestingly, William Frawley was later cast in similar roles in the series, My Three Sons. Fred was a guest on the “This is Your Life” program in the ’50s honoring Frawley, and Fred MacMurray popped up on a Lucy-Desi special as well, with Frawley playing his classic Fred Mertz character. Were the two friends?

Charles Tranberg: I don’t believe they were friends who palled around a good deal, but Fred certainly admired Frawley’s talent and thought he was perfect for Bub on MY THREE SONS. I do know during the course of that show they did occasionally go to a fight or ball game together and Fred did worry about Frawley’s increasingly bad health and ability to memorize his lines. He once asked director Gene Reynolds if he thought that Frawley had suffered a mild stroke. They kept Frawley on the show as long as they could because he was so good, but finally unable to get insurance because he was a total wreck from years of hard drinking they had to let him go.

Moira: I’d like to add that the affection of all the cast members young and old for William Frawley, from MacMurray to one of the youngest, Barry Livingston (Ernie) comes across very well in Chuck’s book. Frawley’s ability to create a vividly realized character, his mischievous eye for a cute young woman around the set, his kindness to the younger members of the cast, and his occasional difficulties bring the rascally character actor to life.

M.: Frawley and Fred had appeared in The Princess Comes Across and Car 99 together in the ’30s on film and Fred had joined in the early ’50s tv celebration of the character actor’s life on This Is Your Life as well. Frawley, in the book, “Meet the Mertzes” by Rob Edelman & Audrey Kupferberg, is quoted as saying, from the heart, “There isn’t a nicer guy in show business than Fred MacMurray.” MacMurray, who was genuinely saddened by the not unexpected demise of his co-worker, was pall bearer at his funeral.

Re: William Demarest
C.T.: Character actor William Demarest was also a contract player at Paramount during Fred’s time there, and the two made six previous appearances in feature films prior to the casting of Demarest as Frawley’s replacement on My Three Sons. Though friendly collaborators, [they were] not friends off the set in that they didn’t spend time doing things together, but certainly Fred admired and enjoyed working with Bill Demarest. I think he had a big say in who would come onto My Three Sons to take over for Frawley and I’m sure that Fredsuggested Demarest.

M.:After Frawley had to leave the program due to his health, it was, according to Chuck’s book, “decided that Frawley was too beloved in the role of Bub for another actor to take over the part. So, instead, they wrote a story where Bub goes off to visit his mother(!) in Ireland, and while he is gone, his, another salty, gruff character with a heart of mush takes his place, Uncle Charley O’Casey, an ex-merchant marine.” My favorite moment described in the Tranberg book is when My Three Sons began to be broadcast in color. “Demarest made light of it…[saying]… ‘We’ll be in color next season. They think I look so young they may change the title to ‘My Four Sons.’”

Fred MacMurray had appeared in several films with Demarest when they were both contract players at Paramount and later, including Hands Across the Table (1935), Pardon My Past* (1945), The Far Horizons(1955), Never a Dull Moment* (1950), On Our Merry Way (1948), and Son of Flubber* (1963).

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*These films are on TCM on August 9th.