Fred MacMurray Trivia

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Met first wife Lillian ("Lily") Lamonte while performing on Broadway in "Roberta" in 1933. She was a dancer. (imdb.com)

Once studied art at the Chicago Art Institute. (imdb.com)

Personal friends with Walt Disney. (imdb.com)

The Untouchables (1959). He was also the first choice to play the title role on TV's "Perry Mason" (1957). (imdb.com)

His daughter Susan was born in 1942. His son Robert was born in 1945. (imdb.com)

Adopted twin daughters, Kathryn and Laurie (b. 1956), with Haver. (imdb.com)

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.

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.

One of his first jobs in Los Angeles was playing in a pit orchestra for an L.A. theater.

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.

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.

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.

Best remembered by the public for starring as father figures in Walt Disney movies.

He was a staunch supporter of the Republican Party who joined Bob Hope and James Stewart in campaigning for Richard Nixon in 1968.

1970s: He was most often seen doing commercials for a video teaching "Chisenbop," a Korean method of doing math on your fingers.

1987: First person to be named a Disney Legend.

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].

Portrayed George Harvey, star reporter for the Hillsdale Morning Star, on NBC Radio`s "Bright Star" (1952-1953).

Early in his career, he recorded a song called "If I Had A Talking Picture Of You."

He was the likeness inspiration for the original Captain Marvel (the one that emerged when Billy Batson said "Shazam") for artist Charles Clarence Beck in 1940. The original publisher of the comic book character was Fawcett Publications.

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.

Interred at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California, USA, in the Mausoleum, D1, Room 7.