Some movie stars only get there after plugging away at their craft for years in bit parts and on stage - Fred MacMurray catapulted to stardom in something like five seconds. Well, maybe that is an exaggeration but still it was very quick - he was attending college, playing in bands for some spare change, when his looks and natural charm saw him get selected in a choice part in the stage hit Roberta (with Bob Hope), which led to a Paramount screen test and - very quickly - stardom in The Gilded Lily. It was even quicker than Errol Flynn (with whom MacMurray un-memorably co-starred with once).
It's easier for male film stars, of course - at least, handsome ones with natural charm who come across on screen as virile. MacMurray had height and a decent voice and could hold his own against female stars - which was important because Paramount had an abundant supply of female stars at this time, but lacked men. He also had a natural gift for comedy, which saw him successfully teamed with Claudette Colbert, Carole Lombard, Katherine Hepburn and the like.
MacMurray did the occasional Western and war film but comedy was his bread and butter throughout his career right up until the end. It's ironic then that his two really outstanding performances were in dramas for Billy Wilder - Double Indemnity and The Apartment - where MacMurray's confidence was exploited brilliantly into creepiness. (Astonishingly MacMurray turned down a chance to work with Wilder again in Sunset Boulevard - although maybe for the best, since he wouldn't have been as believable as Bill Holden as a gigolo). He also made a superb black hat in The Caine Mutiny and noir lead in Pushover. Fred MacMurray the great lost dramatic star, maybe? Who knows.
Anyway by the late 50s he was happily ensconced at Disney, and then had a record long spell on My Three Sons, where he had one of the sweetest deals in sitcom history (not only was he highly paid and the work not particularly taxing, the whole show was arranged to ensure he worked as little as possible - they called it "The MacMurray system").
If MacMurray had been very lucky at the start of his career, he was savvy about maintaining it, living very thriftily and amassing a fortune - up to $500 million, it has been said. His life was remarkably devoid of scandal for a movie star but there was trauma there - dad bailed on him and his mother when he was only young and never returned; his first wife was probably bulimic and died young; his second wife, June Haver, had served time in a convent before quitting and marrying Fred (part of me was hoping for some sort of Double Indemnity style twist here but it seems wife two left the convent well before she got to know Fred well); he had troubles conceiving children and had to adopt; there were health problems towards the end of his life.
But generally he seems to have been happy, dull and a bit smug - idyllic small town upbringing, sensible attitudes to money, stingy, spending his spare time hunting and fishing and fixing things, hanging out with his family, not being particularly friendly, a little homophobic, minimal war service, a die hard Republican who never seems to have been particularly generous with his time or money to good causes.
Still, he deserved a biography and Tranberg does a very good job - solid research, the book is full of interesting stuff I didn't know: My Three Sons saga, the importance of Claude Binyon and Wesley Ruggles to MacMurray's career, a sweet account of his romance with June Haver, a great interview with Tommy Kirk. I never really enjoyed MacMurray as an actor that much in his comedies - too smug for me - but found this book fascinating and very enjoyable.
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