FRED MACMURRAY

Fred MacMurray was a very successful actor from the 1920s through the 1970s. He was a star athlete at his high school, and he also played saxophone, and had his own band called "Mac's Melody Boys", where he also sang. He went to college to study music and he played with a dance band. He went to Hollywood and joined the California Collegians, a vaudeville band. In 1930, the band traveled to New York and played for Broadway shows. A Paramount agent saw him and he had a screen test, and appeared in some movies in the early 1930s, and he co-starred with Claudette Colbert in "The Gilded Lily" in 1935, which made him a star. In the late 1930s, he was a leading man in mostly romantic comedies. In the 1940s, he appeared in some great film noir movies, including "Double Indemnity". In the 1950s, he had a memorable role in "The Caine Mutiny", and in 1960, he had a major role in Billy Wilder's "The Apartment". He then made a massive career shift, starring in Walt Disney movies, and also starring in the TV sitcom "My Three Sons", which he stayed with for 12 years. He passed away in 1991 at the age of 83.