Фредерик МакМюррей: Американский актер

American actor (1908–1991)

Frederick Martin MacMurray (August 30, 1908 – November 5, 1991) was an American actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films and a successful television series in a career that spanned nearly a half century. His career as a major film leading man began in 1935, but his most renowned role was in Billy Wilder's film noir Double Indemnity. From 1959 to 1973, MacMurray appeared in numerous Disney films, including The Shaggy Dog, The Absent Minded Professor, Follow Me, Boys!, and The Happiest Millionaire. He starred as Steve Douglas in the television series My Three Sons.

Frederick Martin MacMurray was born on August 30, 1908, in Kankakee, Illinois, the son of Maleta (née Martin) and concert violinist Frederick Talmadge MacMurray, both natives of Wisconsin. His aunt, Fay Holderness, was a vaudeville performer and actress. When MacMurray was an infant, his family moved to Madison, Wisconsin, where his father taught music. They relocated within the state to Beaver Dam, his mother's birthplace. MacMurray attended school in Quincy, Illinois, where he played football and baseball, ran on the track team and worked in a local pea cannery. After graduation, he received a full scholarship to Carroll College in Waukesha, Wisconsin. He played the saxophone in numerous local bands, having picked up the instrument when he was looking to fill his spare time. He continued to play saxophone while attending the Chicago Art Institute in the evenings.

In 1928, MacMurray chauffeured his mother to Los Angeles for her health and to visit family. While there he found work as an extra and continued playing the saxophone with the California Collegians, a vaudeville group that was formed out of the pit orchestra at the Warner Brothers Hollywood Theatre. His extra work was earning him $10 a day. The band was hired to appear on Broadway in Three's a Crowd (1930–31) with Fred Allen, Clifton Webb and Libby Holman, resulting in a move to New York City from California. MacMurray was offered a role in the production, leading to a further casting in the musical Roberta alongside Sydney Greenstreet and Bob Hope (1933–34). MacMurray signed with Paramount Pictures in 1934.

In the 1930s, MacMurray worked with film directors Billy Wilder and Preston Sturges, and actors Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Humphrey Bogart, Marlene Dietrich, and in seven films, Claudette Colbert, beginning with The Gilded Lily. He co starred with Katharine Hepburn in Alice Adams, with Joan Crawford in Above Suspicion, and with Carole Lombard in four productions: Hands Across the Table, The Princess Comes Across, Swing High, Swing Low and True Confession. Usually cast in light comedies as a decent, thoughtful character (The Trail of the Lonesome Pine), and in melodramas and musicals, MacMurray became one of the film industry's highest paid actors of the period. In 1943, his annual salary had reached $420,000, making him the highest paid actor in Hollywood and the fourth highest paid person in the nation. MacMurray did not serve in the military during the Second World War, instead working to sell war bonds and as an air raid warden in his Brentwood neighborhood. The movies that he did produce during this period were mostly considered to be "morale boosters" rather than outright "war pictures" that some of his contemporaries were churning out. In 1944, his earnings increased to $439,000, making him again the highest paid actor. During the production of the 1947 film The Egg and I, the hens appearing in the movie laid over 300 eggs. MacMurray and costar Claudette Colbert autographed one egg each in fifty cartons. The eggs were sold at a local farmers market and profits were donated to the Braille Institute of America. Having starred in many episodes of Lux Radio Theatre in the late 1930s and 1940s, MacMurray returned to the medium in 1952. He featured in Bright Star, along with Irene Dunne, in which he portrayed a reporter for a local newspaper. Despite being typecast as a "nice guy", MacMurray often said his best roles were when he was cast against type, such as under the direction of Billy Wilder and Edward Dmytryk. Perhaps his best known "bad guy" performance was that of Walter Neff, an insurance salesman who plots with a greedy wife to kill her husband in the film noir classic Double Indemnity. MacMurray stated in 1956 that this was his favorite role, and that it " proved I could do serious acting". In another turn in the "not so nice" category, MacMurray played the cynical, duplicitous Lieutenant Thomas Keefer in Dmytryk's film The Caine Mutiny. Six years later, MacMurray played Jeff Sheldrake, a two timing corporate executive in Wilder's Oscar winning film The Apartment. In 1958, he guest starred in the premiere episode of NBC's Cimarron City Western series, with George Montgomery and John Smith. MacMurray's career continued upward the following year, when he was cast as the father in the Disney film The Shaggy Dog.

In the early 1970s, MacMurray appeared in commercials for the Greyhound Lines bus company. In 1979, he appeared in a series of commercials for the Korean chisenbop math calculation program. MacMurray's final film was The Swarm, costarring Michael Caine, Olivia de Havilland and Henry Fonda. The actor, semi retired at this point, was called back for one last film by director Irwin Allen entitled Fire!, however his diagnosis of cancer of the throat caused him to pull out. Irwin then offered him the small role (for a total of 2 days on set) of a pharmacist in The Swarm. MacMurray told reporters that he didn't " really miss it. A lot of actors go crazy if they aren't working, but I guess I'm a little lazy." He successfully underwent treatment for his cancer during the production.

MacMurray was also a prolific businessman, frequently earning over $400,000 a year in the 1940s. MacMurray wanted the property's agricultural heritage preserved, so five years after his death, in 1996, it was sold to Gallo, which planted vineyards on it for wines that bear the MacMurray Ranch label. One of MacMurray's children now lives on the property (in a cabin built by her father), and is "actively engaged in Sonoma's thriving wine community, carrying on her family's legacy and the heritage of MacMurray Ranch". In 1944, he purchased the Bryson Apartment Hotel in the Westlake, Los Angeles neighborhood for $600,000, using profits from Double Indemnity, and was a co owner of three other apartment buildings. MacMurray insisted upon a percentage of gross of the films in which he starred. In 1945, along with former actor Leslie Fenton, MacMurray formed a production company, entitled "Mutual Pictures". With this production company the pair made one film Pardon My Past, a moderate success.

MacMurray was married twice, first to Lillian "Lily" Lamont (legal name Lilian Wehmhoener MacMurray, born 1908) and after her death, actress June Haver.

Lamont and MacMurray met during the production of Roberta while in New York City while he was performing with the Collegians in 1934, and they quickly became an item. Despite the budding romance he left New York and returned to Hollywood in efforts to continue his career. In 1934, the couple announced to the news that they were in a "test engagement", stating that they "want to be sure before we make any official announcement" that " their personalities were the type which could pull in a double harness while they followed their careers". By late spring of 1936, the couple decided to make it official. Late on the night of June 19, 1936, MacMurray, Lamont, MacMurray's mother traveled by plane to Las Vegas to be married. The trip and marriage were kept secret from friends and studio officials, who spent the day of the 20th trying to locate the actor. The newlyweds and family returned to Hollywood on a plane that same day. In 1945, they moved into a 10 room, two story Colonial house in Brentwood. Neighbors (and friends) included Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda. Joan Crawford described the couple as having "one of the few happy and well adjusted marriages". While they were known to be homebodies and family oriented, they were also social within the Hollywood community. They hosted parties, both large and small, for friends. They were close with Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, often having Sunday afternoon BBQs with each other. At the larger gatherings, Lombard proved to be the source of entertainment for the assembled guests with her antics and off color language. After struggling with physical health issues for most of her life, her condition deteriorated even further in the early 1950s. She eventually succumbed to kidney and heart issues in June 1953, shortly after the couple's 17th wedding anniversary. In a 2006 interview between a MacMurray biographer and Lamont's cousin, the family states that she suffered from bulimia. This may have stemmed from her days as a model and contributed to her other health issues. By the early 1950s, Haver was grieving the sudden death of her fiancé Dr. John Duzik in 1949. In part because of her grief, Haver had considered a life as a nun. A life long devout Catholic, she met with Pope Pius XII in 1951 and decided to follow her faith and join a convent. She realized after eight months that the convent life was not for her. MacMurray purchased actor Red Skelton's good luck pinky ring as an engagement ring, officially proposing to her after a trip to a drugstore. With the help of friend Ray Cardillo, a travel agency owner, the ceremony was held at the Ojai Valley Inn. She stated that she had no desire to act further, "I lost it all [desire]. I'm remaining a private citizen and will stay at home and work it has been supplanted by something better. Now that I have four children in the family I have a lot to keep me busy".

Like many Hollywood contemporaries, MacMurray was a Republican politically, although he was not particularly outspoken about his beliefs. When speaking with columnist Parsons in 1947 about the Red Scare in Hollywood, the actor noted "I suppose there really are some Reds in Hollywood but don't you think that actually some of the people get that reputation because they talk too much about things they don't understand? I don't think an actor has any business to discuss politics unless he is an authority " MacMurray appeared on stage along with other conservative luminaries stumping for Thomas Dewey in the 1944 Presidential election, and he supported Ronald Reagan for Governor of California in 1966.

A lifelong heavy smoker, MacMurray had throat cancer in the late 1970s, and it recurred in 1987. After suffering from leukemia for more than a decade, MacMurray died of pneumonia on November 5, 1991, in Santa Monica, California. MacMurray was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for The Absent Minded Professor. He was the first person honored as a Disney Legend in 1987.

The Academy Film Archive houses the Fred MacMurray June Haver Collection. The film materials are complemented by papers at the Academy's Margaret Herrick Library.

Year Title Role Notes1929Girls Gone WildExtraFilm debutUncredited1929Why Leave Home?Uncredited1929Tiger RoseRancherUncredited1934Friends of Mr. SweeneyWalk on partUncredited1935Grand Old GirlSandy1935The Gilded LilyPeter Dawes1935Car 99Trooper Ross Martin1935Men Without NamesRichard Hood / Richard 'Dick' Grant1935Alice AdamsArthur Russell1935Hands Across the TableTheodore Drew III1935The Bride Comes HomeCyrus Anderson1936The Trail of the Lonesome PineJack Hale193613 Hours by AirJack Gordon1936The Princess Comes AcrossJoe King Mantell1936The Texas RangersJim Hawkins1937Champagne WaltzBuzzy Bellew1937Maid of SalemRoger Coverman of Virginia1937Swing High, Swing LowSkid Johnson1937ExclusiveRalph Houston1937True ConfessionKenneth Bartlett1938Cocoanut GroveJohnny Prentice1938Men with WingsPat Falconer1938Sing You SinnersDavid Beebe1939Cafe SocietyCrick O'Bannon1939Invitation to HappinessAlbert 'King' Cole1939Honeymoon in BaliBill 'Willie' Burnett1940Remember the NightJohn Sargent1940Little Old New YorkCharles Brownne1940Too Many HusbandsBill Cardew1940Rangers of FortuneGil Farra1941VirginiaStonewall Elliott1941One Night in LisbonDwight Houston1941Dive BomberJoe Blake1941New York TownVictor Ballard1942The Lady Is WillingDr. Corey T. McBain1942Star Spangled RhythmFrank in Card Playing Skit1942Take a Letter, DarlingTom Verney1942The Forest RangersDon Stuart1943No Time for LoveJim Ryan1943Flight for FreedomRandy Britton1943Above SuspicionRichard Myles1944Standing Room OnlyLee Stevens1944And the Angels SingHappy Morgan1944Double IndemnityWalter Neff1944Practically YoursDaniel Bellamy1945Where Do We Go from Here?Bill Morgan1945Captain EddieEdward Rickenbacker1945Murder, He SaysPete Marshall1945Pardon My PastEddie York / Francis Pemberton1946SmokyClint Barkley1947Suddenly, It's SpringPeter Morely1947The Egg and IBob MacDonald1947SingaporeMatt Gordon1948On Our Merry WayAl1948The Miracle of the BellsBill Dunnigan1948An Innocent AffairVincent Doane1949Family HoneymoonGrant Jordan1949Father Was a FullbackGeorge Cooper1950BorderlineJohnny McEvoy – aka Johnny Macklin1950Never a Dull MomentChris1951A Millionaire for ChristyPeter Ulysses Lockwood1951Callaway Went ThatawayMike Frye1953Fair Wind to JavaCaptain Boll1953The MoonlighterWes Anderson1954The Caine MutinyTom Keefer1954PushoverPaul Sheridan1954Woman's WorldSid Burns1955The Far HorizonsCaptain Meriwether Lewis1955The Rains of RanchipurThomas "Tom" Ransome1955At GunpointJack Wright1956There's Always TomorrowClifford Groves1957Gun for a CowardWill Keough1957QuantezGentry / John Coventry1958Day of the BadmanJudge Jim Scott1959Good Day for a HangingMarshal Ben Cutler1959The Shaggy DogWilson Daniels1959Face of a FugitiveJim Larsen aka Ray Kincaid1959The Oregon TrailNeal Harris1960The ApartmentJeff D. Sheldrake1961The Absent Minded ProfessorProfessor Ned Brainard1962Bon Voyage!Harry Willard1963Son of FlubberNed Brainard1964Kisses for My PresidentThad McCloud1966Follow Me, Boys!Lemuel Siddons1967The Happiest Millionaire Antony Drexel Biddle1973Charley and the AngelCharley Appleby1978The SwarmMayor Clarence TuttleFinal film role

Year Title Role Notes1940Screen Snapshots: Art and ArtistsHimself1941Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 1HimselfUncredited1941Popular ScienceHimselfUncredited1943Show Business at WarHimselfUncredited1943The Last Will and Testament of Tom SmithNarratorUncredited1949Screen Snapshots: Motion Picture Mothers, Inc. Himself