Biography
Fred MacMurray was an American actor who appeared in more than one hundred films over a career spanning nearly fifty years. Born Frederick Martin MacMurray on 30 August 1908 in Kankakee, Illinois, he died on 5 November 1991 in Santa Monica, California. He began as a musician, playing saxophone in dance bands and vaudeville before making his Broadway debut in the 1930 revue Three's a Crowd. His film career started with a Paramount contract in 1935.
He became a leading man in comedies and dramas, but gained particular recognition for two roles directed by Billy Wilder: the insurance salesman Walter Neff in the 1944 film noir Double Indemnity and the philandering executive Jeff D. Sheldrake in the 1960 comedy The Apartment. Other notable films include The Caine Mutiny (1954), The Shaggy Dog (1959) and The Absent-Minded Professor (1961). He also starred in the long-running television series My Three Sons.
