Fred MacMurray

Fred MacMurray was born Fredrick Martin MacMurray on August 30, 1908 in Kankakee, Illinois and raised in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.

Born to Maleta Martin and Frederick MacMurray (concert violinist). Fred MacMurray originally followed in his father's footsteps with a career in music, playing the saxophone and singing. Fred MacMurray played with the Chicago orchestra and later orchestras in Hollywood.


He played the vaudeville circuits and made his Broadway debut in 1930 in Three's A Crowd with Sydney Greenstreet, Clifton Webb and Libby Holman. He also appeared in the production of Roberta with Bob Hope in 1933.

Fred MacMurray's first movie was in 1929 in Girls Gone Wild where he was cast as an extra.

His first big movie break came when he appearred in The Gilded Lily (1935) where he starred opposite Claudette Colbert. He would go on to make six more movies with Claudette Colbert. These films include The Bride Comes Home (1935), Maid of Salem (1937), No Time For Love (1943), Pracitally Yours (1944), The Egg and I (1947), and Family Honeymoon (1949).




Carole Lombard was Fred MacMurray's another of his most popular leading ladies, appearing in four films together: Hands Across the Table (1935), The Princess Comes Home (1936), Swing High, Swing Low (1937) and True Confession (1937).


Fred MacMurray's most famous role was Walter Neff in Double Indemnity (1944) with Barbara Stanwyck, a role he initially turned down because of the dark side of the character.

Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray also appeared together in Remember the Night (1940), The Moonlighter (1953) and There's Always Tomorrow (1956).


Some of Fred MacMurray's other notable films include Alice Adams (1935), The Caine Mutiny (1954), The Shaggy Dog (1959) and The Apartment (1960).

Fred MacMurray's final film appearance was in The Swarm (1978) playing Mayor Clarence Tuttle.

To a younger generation, he is best known as Steven Douglas on the television series My Three Sons (1960-1972).


He was also the first choice to play the title role on TV's Perry Mason.

Fred MacMurray was married twice. He and his first wife, Lillian Lamont, were married on June 20, 1936, and they adopted two children. After Lillian dired on June 22, 1953 he later married actress June Haver, the couple adopted two more children.

After a longstanding bout with leukemia, MacMurray died of pneumonia on November 5, 1991.

Fred MacMurray was one of our most underrated actors, never receiving an Academy Award nomination. He appeared on Broadway, in more than 100 movies, and was on a successful television series, a career that spanned fifty years.

Walter Pidgeon

Walter Pidgeon was born Walter Davis Pigeon on September 23, 1897 in New Brunswick, Canada.

Pidgeon studied law and drama at the University of New Brunswick. His studies were interrupted by World War I. He enlisted in the 65th Battery of the Canadian Field Artillery. He never saw combat as he was severely injured when he was crushed between two gun carriages and hospitalized for 17 months.

After the war, he moved to Boston, where he worked as a bank runner. His earnings financed his voice studies at the New England Conservatory of Music, he was a classically trained baritone.

Pidgeon began his career in theater, mainly stage musicals. He went to Hollywood in the early 1920s where he made silent films, his first being Mannequin in 1926. When talkies arrived, Pidgeon made some early talkie musicals, but never received top billing or recognition. In 1937, MGM put Walter under contract but only in supporting roles and the other man roles - such as in Saratoga (1937) and The Girl of the Golden West (1938). MGM loaned him out to Fox where he finally had top-billing in How Green Was My Valley (1941).



Some of Walter Pidgeon's other notable films are Funny Girl (1968), Advise and Consent (1962), Forbidden Planet (1956), Executive Suite (1954), The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), and Too Hot To Handle (1938).

He received two oscar nominations. The first was Best Actor in a Leading Role for Mrs. Miniver (1942). The second was Best Actor in a Leading Role for Madame Curie (1943).




Walter Pidgeon was nominated for Broadway's 1960 Tony Award as Best Actor (Musical) for "Take Me Along."

Pidgeon was active in the Screen Actor's Guild and served as president from 1952-1957

Pidgeon married twice. In 1919, he married Muriel "Edna" Pickles. This marriage was short-lived as she died in 1921 during the birth of their daughter, Edna. In 1931, he married his secretary Ruth Walker to whom he remained married until his death. They were married 52 years.

Pidgeon's hobbies included tending to his rose garden and playing bridge.

Walter Pidgeon passed away September 25, 1984 at the age of 87 after suffereing a stroke.

Robert Mitchum

Robert Mitchum was born Robert Charles Durman Mitchum on August 6, 1917 in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Robert Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer. He also loved to play the saxophone and write poetry.

Mitchum briefly served in the US Army during World War II, from April 12 to October 11, 1945, as a medic at an induction department, checking recruits for venereal disease.

A nervous breakdown (which resulted in temporary blindness), apparently from job-related stress, led Mitchum to look for work as an actor or extra in movies. His first movie was in 1942 in Saboteur when he played an uncredited passerby.

His film credits include Rachel and the Stranger (1948), Out of the Past (1947), The Big Steal (1949), His Kind of Woman (1951), The Night of the Hunter (1955), Thunder Road (1958), Cape Fear (1962), The Longest Day (1962) and El Dorado (1966).




Because Charles Laughton had a personal dislike for children, Mitchum actually directed his child co-stars for the whole shoot of The Night of the Hunter.

Mitchum's voice was often used instead of that of a professional singer when his characters sang in his films. Notable productions featuring Mitchum's own singing voice included Rachel and the Stranger, River of No Return and The Night of the Hunter. A song he had written for the film Thunder Road, titled The Ballad of Thunder Road, reached #69 on the Billboard Pop Singles Chart.




Robert Mitchum passed away on July 1, 1997 of lung cancer and emphysema.

William Powell

William Powell was born William Horatio Powell on this day (July 29, 1892) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He passed away on March 5, 1984 at the age of 91.

His film career began in 1924 when he signed with Paramount Pictures. Although is first actual film appearance was in 1922 in Sherlock Holmes as foreman Wells. His final film appearance was in 1955 as Lt. Doc in Mister Roberts.

In 1934, he would go to MGM studios where he was teamed for the first time with Myrna Loy in Manhatten Melodrama. MGM would make him famous with the role of Nick Charles, private detective in The Thin Man. Between 1934 and 1947, he would appear as Nick Charles in six Thin Man Movies.

William Powell and Myrna Loy appeared in fourteen films together. Their partnership was one of Hollywood's most prolific on-screen pairings.




In 1915, he married Eileen Wilson, with whom he had his only child, William David Powell, before an amicable divorce in 1930. In 1931, Powell married actress Carole Lombard, they divorced in 1933. They remained on good terms and she was his co-star three years later in My Man Godfrey. Powell married for a final time in 1940 to Diana Lewis (a woman he had only known three weeks) and the remained married until his death in 1984.

He was engaged to Jean Harlow at the time of her death in 1937. Powell was devastated by her death and would take a year off before returning to films. Powell and Harlow met on the set of Reckless (1935) and began dating almost immediately. Ironically, in 1907, the Powell family moved to Kansas City and lived only a few blocks from Harlow's family, although they never met.




Nick Charles was not the first detective William Powell played. He was also Philo Vance in five movies including the Kennel Murder Case.

During William Powell's 33 film career, he was nominated for an academy award best actor in a leading role on three occassions (The Thin Man, My Man Godfrey and Life with Father). Although he did not win an oscar, he was the recipient of the New York Film Critics Circle award in 1947 for his performances in Life with Father and the Senator Was Indiscreet.





William Powell could play any role although he did best playing authority figures whether in comedies, dramas or thrillers.

William Powell had it all, charisma, charm, good looks, a wonderful smile

Norma Shearer

Norma Shearer, the first lady of MGM, was born Edith Norma Shearer on August 10, 1902in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Norma Shearer was one of the most popular actresses in the world from the mid-1920s until her retirement in 1942.

Today, Norma Shearer is widely celebrated as one of cinema's feminist pioneers, the first actress to make it acceptable to be single and not a virgin on screen.

Norma Shearer was nominated for an Academy Award on six occassions, winning for her role in The Divorcee (1930). The year she won for The Divorcee she was also nominated for Their Own Desire. Her other nominations include for A Free Soul in 1931, The Barretts of Wimpole in 1934, Romeo and Juliet in 1936, and Marie Antoinette in 1938.

Norma Shearer's first film appearance was as an uncredited extra in The Star Boarder in 1919. Her last film was Her Cardboard Lover in 1942.




In addition to her oscar nominated roles, her other films include The Women (1939), Idiot's Delight (1939), Strange Interlude (1932), Their Own Desire (1929), A Lady of Chance (1928), and Pretty Ladies (1925).



She and her brother Douglas Shearer (an academy award winning sound director) were the first Oscar-winning brother and sister.

Norma Shearer turned down the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind (1939) and the titled Role in Mrs. Miniver (1942). After her retirement in 1942, she was offered the role of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard (1950) but she turned it down.

However, even after retirement, Norma maintained an interest in the film industry. While staying at a ski lodge, she noticed a photo of the receptionist's daughter and recommended her to MGM - that girl in the photo was Janet Leigh.

Norma Shearer married Irving Thalberg on September 29, 1927 and remained married until his death on September 14, 1936. Together they had two children.

Six years after the death of Irving Thalberg, she married a ski instructor 20 years her junior and retired from the screen forever. They would remain married until her death in 1982.

Norma Shearer passed away on June 12, 1983 at the age of 80 due to complications from pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease.