Fred MacMurray

Career overview

Frederick Martin Fred MacMurray was an American actor and musician born on August 30, 1908, in Kankakee, Illinois. Raised in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, he was the son of a professional violinist and learned to play multiple instruments, including the violin, baritone horn, and saxophone. He sang and played in orchestras to earn tuition and was educated at Carroll College in Wisconsin. He played with a Chicago orchestra for more than a year before joining a Hollywood orchestra, where he played, made recordings, and took on extra roles. He subsequently joined a comedy stage band called the California Collegians and traveled to New York. In New York, he joined the revue Three is a Crowd for performances on Broadway and on the road. After that show closed, he returned to California and worked in vaudeville circuits and nightclubs until he was cast in a major role in Roberta. He was signed by Paramount in 1935.

Over a career that spanned nearly a half-century, MacMurray appeared in more than one hundred films and a successful television series. His work included roles in light entertainment, such as screwball comedies, later appearances in Disney family films, and starring in the television sitcom Meine drei Söhne. MacMurray passed away on November 5, 1991, at the age of 83.