People
Fred MacMurray
Acting · follow into films and chains
Biography
Fredrick Martin 'Fred' MacMurray (August 30, 1908 – November 5, 1991) was an American actor and musician. He was educated at Carroll College, Wisconsin, and played with a Chicago orchestra for more than a year. Then he joined an orchestra in Hollywood where he played, did some recording and played extra roles. He then joined a comedy stage band, California Collegians, and went to New York. There he joined "Three's A Crowd" revue on Broadway and on the road. After this show closed, he returned to California and worked in vaudeville. He played the vaudeville circuits and night clubs until cast for major role in "Roberta". Signed by Paramount in 1935. He was raised in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin from the age of 5, eventually graduating from Beaver Dam High School (currently the site of Beaver Dam Middle School), where he was a 3-sport star in football, baseball, and basketball. He retained a special place in his heart for his small-town Wisconsin upbringing, referring at any opportunity in magazine articles or interviews to the lifelong friends and cherished memories of Beaver Dam, even including mementos of his childhood in several of his films. In 'Pardon my Past' (1945), he and fellow GI William Demarest are moving to Beaver Dam, WI to start a mink farm.
Notable films
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Highlights from credits and KinoChain journeys.
Chains
KinoChain journeys
Public chains that pass through their films — or name them as a bridge.
Storming the Deck
From the Bounty to the Caine, mutiny films have always been about more than shipboard insurrection. This chain charts how cinematic rebellions at sea reflect th...
7 films
When Nature Turns
Exploring the deep to the desert, and the skies to the suburbs, animals have long been cinema's most primal villains. This chain traces the evolution of the cre...
8 films
The Weight of Command: Eight Faces of Authority
From courtroom to battlefield, from boardroom to the Oval Office, these eight performances explore the many masks of power and the human cost of wearing them.
8 films
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