Fred MacMurray
Birthday: Born in 1908-08-30 in Kankakee, Illinois, USA
Deathday: 1991-11-05
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. MacMurray 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. Fred 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), Fred and fellow GI William Demarest are moving to Beaver Dam, WI to start a mink farm.
TV Credits
December Bride
Character:
December Bride is an American sitcom that aired on the CBS television network from 1954 to 1959, adapted from the original CBS radio network series that aired from June 1952 through September 1953....
The Colgate Comedy Hour
Character: Self
The Colgate Comedy Hour is an American comedy-musical variety series that aired live on the NBC network from 1950 to 1955. The show starred many notable comedians and entertainers of the era, including Eddie Cantor, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Fred Allen, Donald O'Connor, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, Bob Hope, Jimmy Durante, Ray Bolger, Gordon MacRae, Ben Blue, Robert Paige, Tony Curtis, Burt Lancaster, Broadway dancer Wayne Lamb and Spike Jones and His City Slickers....
My Three Sons
Character: Steve Douglas
A widower and aeronautical engineer named Steven Douglas raises three sons with the help of his father-in-law, and later the boys' great-uncle. An adopted son, a stepdaughter, wives, and another generation of sons join the loving family in later seasons....
The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour
Character: Fred MacMurray
The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour is a collection of thirteen one-hour specials airing occasionally from 1957 to 1960, and originally served as part of Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse. Its original network title was The Ford Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show for the first season, and The Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse Presents The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show for the following seasons. It was the successor to the classic comedy, I Love Lucy, and featured the same major cast members. The production schedule avoi...
General Electric Theater
Character: Richard Elgin
General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations....
The Hollywood Palace
Character: Self - Host
The Hollywood Palace is an hour-long American television variety show that was broadcast weekly on ABC from January 4, 1964 to February 7, 1970. Originally titled The Saturday Night Hollywood Palace, it began as a mid-season replacement for The Jerry Lewis Show, another variety show which had lasted only three months. It was staged in Hollywood at the former Hollywood Playhouse on Vine Street, which was renamed The Hollywood Palace during the show's duration and is today known as Avalon Hollywoo...
This Is Your Life
Character: Self
This Is Your Life is an American television documentary series broadcast on NBC, originally hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards from 1952 to 1961. In the show, the host surprises a guest, and proceeds to take them through their life in front of an audience, including special guest appearances by colleagues, friends and family. Edwards revived the show in 1971-72, while Joseph Campanella hosted a version in 1983. Edwards returned for some specials in the late 1980s, before his death in 2005. T...
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
Character: Self
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show is an American variety series hosted by Dinah Shore, and broadcast on NBC from October 1956 to June 1963. The series was sponsored by the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors and its theme song, sung by Shore, was "See the U.S.A. in Your Chevrolet", which continued to be used in Chevrolet advertising for several more years after the cancellation of the show....
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
Character: Self
In 1973 the American Film Institute initiated its Life Achievement Award, to be presented to a yearly recipient whose talent has fundamentally advanced the film art; whose accomplishments have been acknowledged by scholars, critics, professional peers and the general public; and whose work has stood the test of time....
The Steve Allen Show
Character: Self
...
The Oscars
Character: Self
An annual American awards ceremony honoring cinematic achievements in the film industry. The various category winners are awarded a copy of a statuette, officially the Academy Award of Merit, that is better known by its nickname Oscar....
Tony Orlando and Dawn
Character: Self
CBS gave the group a television variety show (entitled Tony Orlando and Dawn) from the summer of 1974, after The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour ended its run, until December 1976. The show was in the same vein as its predecessor (with sketches featuring sarcastic back-and-forth banter between Orlando, Hopkins and Vincent, similar to the sarcastic dialogue between Sonny and Cher) and became a Top 20 hit. They are most famous for "Tie a Yellow Ribbon" & "Knock Three Times"!...
General Electric Theater
Character: Harry Wingate
General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations....
Dinah!
Character: Self
Dinah's show premiered 9 September 1974 and continued through to 4 September 1981. She started out the 70's with Dinah's Place which usually featured one guest and was more of a home oriented show about cooking, crafts and occasionally music. This format lasted until May of 1974. When the show came back in October of 1974 the format had changed drastically to a variety talk show which was called Dinah. and went on until 1981. This show was also known as "Dinah and Friends" during the summer of 1...
The Bob Hope Show
Character: Self
The Bob Hope Show hosted by Bob Hope, debuted on April 9, 1950. During the 1952-1953 season, NBC rotated with other variety shows in a Sunday night block known as "The Colgate Comedy Hour" (Sept. 1950 to Dec. 1955). Also known as, "The Chevy Show with Bob Hope." When the first special debuted in October of 1950 it was the most expensive television program made up to that point - costing an astronomical $1,500 a minute to produce. Bob Hope had his own television show and radio show at the same ti...
The Ed Sullivan Show
Character: Self
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the CBS Sunday Night Movie, which ran only one season and was eventually replaced by other shows. In 2002, The Ed Sullivan Show was ranked #15 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time....
People's Choice Awards
Character: Self - Presenter
An American awards show recognizing people in entertainment, voted online by the general public and fans....
The 20th Century Fox Hour
Character: Peterson
The 20th Century Fox Hour is an American drama anthology series televised in the United States on CBS from 1955 to 1957. Some of the shows in this series were restored, remastered and shown on the Fox Movie Channel in 2002 under the title Hour of Stars. The season one episode Overnight Haul, starring Richard Conte and Lizabeth Scott, was released in Australia as a feature film....
The Wonderful World of Disney
Character: Professor Ned Brainerd (archive footage)
Walt Disney Productions has produced an anthology television series under several different titles since 1954. The original version of the series premiered on ABC, Wednesday night, October 27, 1954. The show, which was hosted by Walt Disney until his death and then from 1996 to 2002 by then-CEO Michael Eisner (with one-off hosts or no hosts during other periods) has since aired continually as either a weekly program or an irregular series of specials on several networks and streaming services, m...
What's My Line?
Character: Self
Four panelists must determine guests' occupations - and, in the case of famous guests, while blindfolded, their identity - by asking only "yes" or "no" questions....
The Wonderful World of Disney
Character: Self
Walt Disney Productions has produced an anthology television series under several different titles since 1954. The original version of the series premiered on ABC, Wednesday night, October 27, 1954. The show, which was hosted by Walt Disney until his death and then from 1996 to 2002 by then-CEO Michael Eisner (with one-off hosts or no hosts during other periods) has since aired continually as either a weekly program or an irregular series of specials on several networks and streaming services, m...
Screen Director's Playhouse
Character: Peter Terrance
Presented by Eastman Kodak, this show was a series of original scripts directed by acclaimed directors and featuring well-known performers. The stories ranged from musicals to comedies and dramas....
Golden Globe Awards
Character: Self - Presenter
An annual awards ceremony recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign, bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association....
Golden Globe Awards
Character: Self - Accepting Award for Best TV Show
An annual awards ceremony recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign, bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association....
Movie Credits
The Apartment
Character: Jeff D. Sheldrake
Bud Baxter is a minor clerk in a huge New York insurance company, until he discovers a quick way to climb the corporate ladder. He lends out his apartment to the executives as a place to take their mistresses. Although he often has to deal with the aftermath of their visits, one night he's left with a major problem to solve....
Double Indemnity
Character: Walter Neff
A seductive housewife draws an insurance salesman into a plot of adultery and crime to collect on her husband's life insurance....
The Caine Mutiny
Character: Lt. Thomas 'Tom' Keefer
When a US Naval captain shows signs of mental instability that jeopardize his ship, the first officer relieves him of command and faces court martial for mutiny....
Inside 'The Apartment'
Character: Self (archive footage)
A 2007 documentary on the making of "The Apartment."...
The Movie Orgy
Character: Self (archive footage)
Clips from assorted television programs, B-movies, commercials, music performances, newsreels, bloopers, satirical short films and promotional and government films of the 1950s and 1960s are intercut together to tell a single story of various creatures and societal ills attacking American cities....
Pushover
Character: Paul Sheridan
A police detective falls for the bank robber's girlfriend he is supposed to be tailing....
The Princess Comes Across
Character: King Mantell
A Swedish princess boards an ocean liner in Europe en route to an acting career in America and finds herself getting inconveniently attached to a bandleader returning home. To complicate matters, a blackmailer on board apparently knows she is not who she claims to be - and he has his sights set on other passengers with secrets of their own. In the meantime an escaped killer has stowed away under someone else's identity, and is killing again to cover his tracks; five international police detectiv...
Hands Across the Table
Character: Theodore Drew III
A manicurist and an engaged loafer, both planning to marry money, meet and fall in love....
No Time for Love
Character: Jim Ryan
An upper-class female reporter is (despite herself) attracted to a hulking laborer digging a tunnel under the Hudson River....
The Happiest Millionaire
Character: Anthony J. Drexel Biddle
A happy and unbelievably lucky young Irish immigrant, John Lawless, lands a job as the butler of an unconventional millionaire, Biddle. His daughter, Cordelia Drexel Biddle, tires of the unusual antics of her father--especially since the nice young men around town all fear him. Wouldn't you fear a father-in-law that keeps alligators for pets and teaches boxing at his daily Bible classes?...
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
Character: (in "Double Indemnity") (archive footage)
Juliet Forrest is convinced that the reported death of her father in a mountain car crash was no accident. Her father was a prominent cheese scientist working on a secret recipe. To prove it was murder, she enlists the services of private eye Rigby Reardon. He finds a slip of paper containing a list of people who are 'The Friends and Enemies of Carlotta'....
Above Suspicion
Character: Richard Myles
Two newlyweds spy on the Nazis for the British Secret Service during their honeymoon in Europe....
Follow Me, Boys!
Character: Lemuel Siddons
Lem Siddons is part of a traveling band who has a dream of becoming a lawyer. Deciding to settle down, he finds a job as a stockboy in the general store of a small town. Trying to fit in, he volunteers to become scoutmaster of the newly formed Troop 1. Becoming more and more involved with the scout troop, he finds his plans to become a lawyer being put on the back burner, until he realizes that his life has been fulfilled helping the youth of the small town....
Remember the Night
Character: Jack Sargent
Unexpected love blossoms when an assistant district attorney agrees to take a recidivist shoplifter home so she doesn't have to spend Christmas alone in jail....
The Egg and I
Character: Bob MacDonald
World War II veteran Bob MacDonald surprises his new wife, Betty, by quitting his city job and moving them to a dilapidated farm in the country. While Betty gamely struggles with managing the crumbling house and holding off nosy neighbors and a recalcitrant pig, Bob makes plans for crops and livestock. The couple's bliss is shaken by a visit from a beautiful farm owner, who seems to want more from Bob than just managing her property....
Good Day for a Hanging
Character: Marshal Ben Cutler
As a youth, Eddie came into the town with his gang to rob the bank, but was caught and convicted. Marshal Ben helped him to become a honorable citizen. Now, many years later, the gang returns to again rob the bank. On their flight they shoot the Marshal. Eddie is the only one to identify the murderer - but is in doubt if he shall be loyal to his new or his old friends....
The Miracle of the Bells
Character: William 'Bill' Dunnigan
The body of a young actress is brought to her home town by the man who loved her. He knows that she wanted all the church bells to ring for three days after she was buried, but is told that this will cost a lot of money. The checks that he writes to the various churches all bounce, but it is the weekend and, in desperation, he prays that a miracle will happen before the banks reopen. It does, but not in the way he hoped....
There's Always Tomorrow
Character: Clifford Groves
When a toy manufacturer feels ignored and unappreciated by his wife and children, he begins to rekindle a past love when a former employee comes back into his life....
Alice Adams
Character: Arthur Russell
In the lower-middle-class Adams family, father and son are happy to work in a drugstore, but mother and daughter Alice try every possible social-climbing stratagem despite snubs and embarrassment. When Alice finally meets her dream man Arthur, mother nags father into a risky business venture and plans to impress Alice's beau with an "upscale" family dinner. Will the excruciating results drive Arthur away?...
The Shaggy Dog
Character: Wilson Daniels
Through an ancient spell, a boy changes into a sheepdog and back again. It seems to happen at inopportune times and the spell can only be broken by an act of bravery.......
Face of a Fugitive
Character: Jim Larsen (aka Ray Kincaid)
A man who was falsly accused for murder escapes the sheriffs and starts a new life in a town at the border of the States to Mexico. But he cannot settle in peace as his chasers are trying to find him....
Borderline
Character: Johnny McEvoy, aka Johnny Macklin
The Los Angeles police know that Pete Ritchie has been bringing drugs into the city, but they can't pin a single piece of evidence on him. After many botched attempts to get at the crook, they resort to having cop Madeleine go undercover and seduce her way into Ritchie's circle. Before she can get anywhere, she's abducted by Johnny, a government agent posing as a thug. But Johnny and Madeleine have no idea they're on the same side of the law....
The Rains of Ranchipur
Character: Thomas "Tom" Ransome
India. The spoilt and stubborn Edwina Esketh, comes to a small town with her husband. She falls in love with an indian doctor, Dr. Safti. She also meets an old friend of hers, the alcoholic Tom Ransome. An awful earthquake is followed by days of rain....
Dive Bomber
Character: Joe Blake
A military surgeon teams with a ranking navy flyer to develop a high-altitude suit which will protect pilots from blacking out when they go into a steep dive....
The Swarm
Character: Maj. Clarance Tuttle
Scientist Dr. Bradford Crane and army general Thalius Slater join forces to fight an almost invisible enemy threatening America; killer bees that have deadly venom and attack without reason. Disaster movie-master Irwin Allen's film contains spectacular special effects, including a train crash caused by the eponymous swarm....
The Shaggy Dog Kids
Character: Self (archive footage)
Reminiscences by the kids from the original 1959 Disney film....
Fred MacMurray: With Fondness
Character: Self (archive footage)
Actors remember the great Fred MacMurray....
The Absent-Minded Professor
Character: Ned Brainard
Bumbling professor Ned Brainard accidentally invents flying rubber, or "Flubber", an incredible material that gains energy every time it strikes a hard surface. It allows for the invention of shoes that can allow jumps of amazing heights and enables a modified Model-T to fly. Unfortunately, no one is interested in the material except for Alonzo Hawk, a corrupt businessman who wants to steal the material for himself....
The Texas Rangers
Character: Jim Hawkins
Two down-on-their-luck former outlaws volunteer to be Texas Rangers and find themselves assigned to bring in an old friend, now a notorious outlaw....
Invitation to Happiness
Character: Albert 'King' Cole
An egotistical boxer romances a rich backer's daughter....
Son of Flubber
Character: Ned Brainard
Beleaguered professor Ned Brainard has already run into a pile of misfortunes with his discovery of the super-elastic substance "Flubber." Now he hopes to have better luck with a gravity-busting derivative he's dubbed "Flubbergas." Ned's experiments, constantly hampered by government obstruction, earn the consternation of his wife, Betsy. But a game-winning modification to a football uniform may help Ned make the case for his fantastic new invention....
Los Angeles Plays Itself
Character: Walter Neff in Double Indemnity (archive footage)
From its distinctive neighborhoods to its architectural homes, Los Angeles has been the backdrop to countless movies. In this dazzling work, Andersen takes viewers on a whirlwind tour through the metropolis' real and cinematic history, investigating the myriad stories and legends that have come to define it, and meticulously, judiciously revealing the real city that lives beneath....
The Lady Is Willing
Character: Corey McBain
Bold, eccentric Broadway performer Elizabeth Madden befuddles her handlers by coming home with a baby she picked up on the street. She wants to keep the baby but has to find a husband to make adoption viable. She offers her new obstetrician Dr. McBain help with his research on rabbits in exchange for marriage - and he accepts. The marriage of convenience turns into a marriage of real love until Dr. McBain's ex-wife comes looking for money....
Singapore
Character: Matt Gordon
After the war, Matt Gordon returns to Singapore to retrieve a fortune in smuggled pearls. Arrived, he reminisces in flashback about his prewar fiancée, alluring Linda, and her disappearance during the Japanese attack. But now Linda resurfaces...with amnesia and married to rich planter Van Leyden. Meanwhile, sinister fence Mauribus schemes to get Matt's pearls....
On Our Merry Way
Character: Al
Oliver Pease gets a dose of courage from his wife Martha and tricks the editor of the paper (where he writes lost pet notices) into assigning him the day's roving question. Martha suggests, "Has a little child ever changed your life?" Oliver gets answers from two slow-talking musicians, an actress whose roles usually feature a sarong, and an itinerant cardsharp. In each case the "little child" is hardly innocent: in the first, a local auto mechanic's "baby" turns out to be fully developed as a w...
The Gilded Lily
Character: Peter Dawes
Secretary Marilyn David falls in love with British aristocrat Charles Gray, to the dismay of her best friend, reporter Peter Dawes, who secretly loves her. When Peter learns that the already-engaged Charles has hurt Marilyn, he fabricates an article casting her as the "No Girl" who refused to marry a callous aristocrat. But when the publicity brings Marilyn unexpected fame, and Charles returns, she is forced to choose between the two men....
Maid of Salem
Character: Roger Coverman
When a young woman named Barbara Clarke has an affair with adventurer Roger Coverman, it causes a scandal in the Puritanical town of Salem, Massachusetts. After a meddling girl arouses their suspicions, the town's elders accuse Barbara of being a witch. She is tried, convicted of sorcery and sentenced to death. As the townspeople prepare to burn Barbara at the stake, Roger tries desperately to save the woman he loves....
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine
Character: Jack Hale
A well-established tale of a long-running feud between two mountain clans....
The Far Horizons
Character: Cpt. Meriwether Lewis
Virginia, 1803. After the United States of America acquires the inmense Louisiana territory from France, a great expedition, led by William Lewis and Meriwether Clark, is sent to survey the new lands and go where no white man has gone before....
Gun for a Coward
Character: Will Keough
A young cowboy, whose dedication to the principles of peace and reason has earned him a reputation for cowardice, overcomes his psychological aversion to violence after his elder brother unjustly censures him for not joining in a foolhardy gunfight in which their youngest brother is killed....
Family Honeymoon
Character: Grant Jordan
Grant Jordan, bachelor botany professor, marries Katie, a widow with three kids, despite the machinations of Grant's former girlfriend Minna. But on the wedding day, Aunt Jo, who was to babysit, breaks a leg; so the kids come along on the honeymoon....
New York Town
Character: Victor Ballard
Victor Ballard, a happy-go-lucky albeit impoverished sidewalk photographer, shares a New York City studio apartment with Polish immigrant painter Stefan Janowski. The big city doles out joy and misery indiscriminately: In the apartment below Victor and Steve, Gus Nelson learns that his wife has given birth to quintuplets, while the lonely tenant in the apartment below Gus has given up on life and committed suicide....
Honeymoon in Bali
Character: Bill Burnett
Bill Burnett, a resident of Bali, visits New York City, meets and falls in love with Gail Allen, the successful manager of a Fifth Avenue shop, who is determined to remain free and independent. Bill proposes, Gail declines and Bill goes home to Bali. But a young girl, Rosie, and Tony the Window Cleaner, who dispels advice on every floor, soon have Gail thinking maybe she was a bit hasty with her no to Bill's proposal. Ere long she discovers that she does love Bill and can't live without him. She...
Swing High, Swing Low
Character: Skid Johnson
In Panama, Maggie King meets soldier Skid Johnson on his last day in the army and reluctantly agrees to a date to celebrate. The two become involved in a nightclub brawl which causes Maggie to miss her ship back to the States. Now stranded, she's forced to move in with Skid and his pal Harry. She soon falls in love with Skid. Skid gets a job playing the trumpet at a local club and becomes a big success. Fame and fortune go to his head which eventually destroys his relationship with Maggie and hi...
Take a Letter, Darling
Character: Tom Verney
A struggling painter takes a job as a secretary to a female advertising executive. While working to obtain an account from a tobacco company, they end up falling in love....
Bon Voyage!
Character: Harry Willard
The Willards from Terre Haute, Indiana travels abroad for the once-in-a-lifetime vacation in Paris, France. Harry Willard believes that the greatest problem will be avoiding tap water, but bringing his three children will prove to be more troublesome...
Charley and the Angel
Character: Charley Appleby
Charley is a workaholic family man that finds out from an angel that his "number's up" and he will be dying soon so he tries to change his ways and be a better husband and father with the time he has left....
Too Many Husbands
Character: Bill Cardew
Long-missing Bill Cardew returns to find his wife Vicky remarried...and in no hurry to settle for just one husband....
Star Spangled Rhythm
Character: Frank
Pop, a security guard at Paramount has told his son that he's the head of the studio. When his son arrives in Hollywood on shore leave with his buddies, Pop enlists the aid of the studio's dizzy switchboard operator in pulling off the charade. Things get more complicated when Pop agrees to put together a show for the Navy starring Paramount's top contract players....
Father Was a Fullback
Character: George Cooper
Coach George Copper's college football team is losing game after game, much to the dismay of stiff-and-stuffy but influential alumni Roger Jessup, and also having trouble at home with his oldest daughter, Connie. The team keeps losing and Coach Cooper is about to lose his job as his efforts to win the last game of the season, against the team's Big Rival, end in disaster. But, unknown to he and his wife, Elizabeth, Connie has sold an article, called "I Was a Bubble Dancer" to a 'True-Confession"...
The Bride Comes Home
Character: Cyrus Anderson
A penniless socialite is hired by two young men as a front in their plan to start a magazine. Soon, however, they find themselves more interested in her than in their publishing venture....
At Gunpoint
Character: Jack Wright
A general-store keeper scares off bank robbers with a lucky shot, but they come back....
Murder, He Says
Character: Pete Marshall
Pete Marshall is sent as a replacement to the mountain district town of Plainville when a public opinion surveyor who went there goes missing. Visiting the hillbilly family of Mamie Fleagle, Pete begins to suspect that she and her two sons have murdered the surveyor. Pete then believes that Mamie is slowly poisoning wealthy Grandma Fleagle, who has put a vital clue to her fortune in a nonsensical embroidered sampler....
Inside 'the Swarm'
Character: Self
A behind-the-scenes/Making of documentary short focused on Irwin Allen's all-star disaster flick The Swarm....
Happy Birthday, Bob: 50 Stars Salute Your 50 Years with NBC
Character: Self (archive footage)
Stars celebrate Bob Hope's 50 years with NBC....
Sing, You Sinners
Character: David Beebe
Of the singing Beebe brothers, young Mike just wants to be a kid; responsible Dave wants to work in his garage and marry Martha; but feckless Joe thinks his only road to success is through swapping and gambling. It seems the only thing all three can join in is their singing act, which Mike and Dave hate. Finally, all Joe's hopes are pinned on a race horse he's acquired swapping, but it's a bigger gamble than his family knows....
The Moonlighter
Character: Wes Anderson
Wes Anderson (Fred MacMurray) is caught cattle rustling and promptly jailed. The public is outraged, but, since Wes always worked at night, they don't know what he looks like. Still, they break into the prison and lynch a hobo they think is Wes, while the actual culprit sneaks off to see his old flame, Rela (Barbara Stanwyck), who has recently taken up with his straitlaced brother, Tom (William Ching). But Tom is envious of his outlaw brother, and he decides to join Wes in a life of crime....
Woman's World
Character: Sid Burns
Needing to fill the position of general manager of his company, and believing that an executive's wife is crucial to her husband's success, auto industry mogul Gifford brings three couples to New York to size up: Jerry and Carol: he hard-driven and self-reliant, she willing to use her beauty to further her husband's career; Sid and Elizabeth, he ulcer-ridden and torn between achieving success and restoring their troubled marriage, she positive that his job will kill him, but gamely agreeing to p...
True Confession
Character: Kenneth Bartlett
A writer takes a job as a secretary because her scrupulous husband isn't bringing in the dough as an attorney. When her new employer is murdered, she can't seem to make up her mind as to whether she "dunnit" or not....
Quantez
Character: Gentry
A gang of bank robbers with a posse in hot pursuit. Riding into the desert, they take refuge in Quantez, a small town they find deserted. Their horses tired and near death, they’re forced to stay the night — with the plan to cross the border into Mexico the next day....
Flight for Freedom
Character: Randy Britton
A fictionalized biopic about aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart. A female pilot breaks the Los Angeles to New York record and attracts the interest of the U.S. Navy, who want to send her on a spy mission....
The Last Will and Testament of Tom Smith
Character: Narrator Prolog (uncredited)
Tom Smith, an American pilot, is shot down and captured by the Japanese. While imprisoned and awaiting execution, he recalls his life at home in the USA....
Suddenly It's Spring
Character: Peter Morely
A WAC officer returns from the war to find her husband wants a divorce....
Practically Yours
Character: Daniel Bellamy
In this screwball comedy a WW2 US pilot bombs a Japanese aircraft carrier, is assumed to be dead, and then is misquoted in the press as fondly remembering his days back home walking his dog Piggy. Instead of his dog Piggy he is thought to be in love with Peggy, a girl he worked with. The usual farce ensues after he returns home alive and tries to play along with the mistake to save embarrassment for all....
A Millionaire for Christy
Character: Peter Ulysses Lockwood
Christy Sloane is sent on a business trip to inform radio personality Peter Lockwood that his uncle has died and left him $2 million. Christy, who's in financial straits, decides to try to snag Peter. Zany hijinks ensue and romantic sparks fly....
Grand Old Girl
Character: Sandy
An elderly schoolteacher is determined to rid her town of the local gambling den....
Kisses for My President
Character: Thad McCloud
A hapless husband takes a back seat to his wife, the first female president of the United States....
Pardon My Past
Character: Eddie York / Francis Pemberton
Eddie York (MacMurray) is mistaken for playboy Francis Pemberton and gets into trouble....
Standing Room Only
Character: Lee Stevens
During WWII, an executive and his secretary arrive in Washington, DC on business but, because of the housing shortage, are unable to find hotel rooms. In desperation, they pretend to be married and hire themselves out as a butler and maid in order to secure lodgings. Comedy....
Smoky
Character: Clint Barkley
Clint Barkley first sees Smoky as a runaway, and drives him back to the ranch where he meets the owner, Julie Richards. He is given a job on her ranch, but the head cowhand is doubtful about Clint and fears that since he refuses to talk about himself, he must have some dreadful secret in his past. Clint and Smoky become close to each other, weathering the hardships of Western life and the suspicions of others together, until one day, Smoky tragically vanishes. Will Clint ever see him again?...
Little Old New York
Character: Charles Brownne
Inventor Robert Fulton receives support from a tavern owner and a shipyard worker to help realize his dream of a high-powered steamboat....
Virginia
Character: Stonewall Elliott
Post-Civil War romantic drama about defeated Southerners, starring Madeleine Carroll and Fred MacMurray....
Exclusive
Character: Ralph Houston
When Mountain City racketeer Charles Gillette is acquitted, he arrives at the Mountain City World newsroom and vows revenge on the Better Government Committee who put him behind bars. Members of the committee include Colonel Bogardus, owner of the World , Horace Mitchell, a candidate for mayor, and Mr. Franklin, a department store owner. First Gillette buys a rival newspaper, the Sentinel , and offers a pricey editorship to World newsman Ralph Houston, who refuses the offer on principle. That ev...
Men with Wings
Character: Pat Falconer
Reporter Nicholas Ranson is jubilant when, on 17 Dec 1903, in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright take their first airplane flight. Back home in Underwood, Maryland, however, his uncle Hiram F. Jenkins, owner and editor of the local newspaper, refuses to print the story. Nicholas quits and continues to work on his own airplane, with the devoted help of his little daughter Peggy. Peggy is actually the first in her family to fly when her friends, Patrick Falconer and Scott Barnes...
Cocoanut Grove
Character: Johnny Prentice
Band tries to get an audition for a job at a prestigious nightclub....
An Innocent Affair
Character: Vincent Doane
Vincent Doane is in the precarious position of trying to close an advertising account with his rich ex-fiancée. Unfortunately she is more interested in him than in business. Vincent's wife Paula gets suspicious and finally decides to do some flirting of her own to make him jealous. Unknown to her, she chooses cigarette tychoon Claude Kimball. In fact, Kimball hits it off well with both of the Doanes. The question is whether or not their marriage can survive all the shenanigans....
And the Angels Sing
Character: Happy Morgan
The singing/dancing Angel sisters, Nancy, Bobby, Josie, and Patti, aren't interested in performing together, and this plays havoc with the plans of Pop Angel to buy a soy bean farm. They do accept an offer of ten dollars to sing at a dubious night club on the edge of town where a band led by Happy Marshall is playing....
13 Hours by Air
Character: Jack Gordon
Womanizer and airline pilot Jack Gordon must fly the world's fastest airliner from New York to California while dealing with dangerous jewel thieves on the run from the law....
Car 99
Character: Trooper Ross Martin
A story of the Michigan State Police and the strong sense of loyalty and duty it instills in its men. It follows the career of a newly-inducted rookie, Ross Martin, who has joined the force at the urging of his sweetheart, Mary Adams. Martin soon distinguishes himself by his bravery in the apprehension of criminals. But when the leader of a gang of bank robbers falls into his hands and then escapes, because of carelessness on Martin's part, he is suspended from the force....
Where Do We Go from Here?
Character: Bill Morgan
Bill wants to join the Army, but he's 4F so he asks a wizard to help him, but the wizard has slight problems with his history knowlege, so he sends Bill everywhere in history, but not to WWII....
Fair Wind to Java
Character: Captain Boll
The Dutch East Indies, at the end of the nineteenth century. An adventurous captain of an American merchant vessel is looking for a sunken Dutch vessel containing 10,000 precious diamonds. Unfortunately, he's not the only one and then there's also that volcano on the nearby island of Krakatau, waiting to explode in its historical, disastrous eruption......
The Oregon Trail
Character: Neal Harris
In 1846, a reporter for the New York Herald joins a wagon train bound for the Oregon Territory. He hopes to confirm a rumor that President Polk is sending in soldiers disguised as settlers in order to strengthen American claims to the Territory....
Tiger Rose
Character: Rancher
A mountie pursues a man wanted for murder....
The Forest Rangers
Character: Don Stuart
Ranger Don Stuart fights a forest fire with timber boss friend Tana 'Butch' Mason, and finds evidence of arson. He suspects Twig Dawson but can't prove it. Butch loves Don but he, poor fool, won't notice her as a woman; instead he meets socialite Celia in town and elopes with her. The action plot (Don's pursuit of the fire starter) parallels Tana's comic efforts to scare tenderfoot Celia back to the city....
Fred MacMurray: The Guy Next Door
Character: Self (archive footage)
Amiable and unassuming, Fred MacMurray went from small-town boy to one of Hollywood and television's most enduring stars....
Cafe Society
Character: Crick O'Bannon
A pampered heiress (Madeleine Carroll) elopes with a shipboard reporter (Fred MacMurray) just to get her name in a society column....
Callaway Went Thataway
Character: Mike Frye
Two smart marketing people resurrect some old films starring cowboy Smoky Callaway and put them on television. The films are a big hit and the star is in demand. Unfortunately no one can find him. When a lookalike sends in a photo, the marketing team hires him to impersonate Callaway. Things get sticky when the real Callaway eventually shows up....
Men Without Names
Character: Richard Hood
A G-man woos a newswoman and corners bank robbers with a hostage in a factory....
Never a Dull Moment
Character: Chris Hayward
Kay Kingsley, a sophisticated and successful songwriter in New York City. falls in love with a widowed rancher, Chris Heyward, she meets at the Madison Square Garden Rodeo and they get married, and leave for his ranch in the west. Her friends warn her of an early disillusionment with life on a ranch, far away from the glitter and bright lights of Broadway. Kay makes one difficulty adjustment after another, as the ranch is presided over by Chris's kids, and an incident occurs with a neighbor that...
Anthony Quinn: An Original
Character: Self (archive footage)
Born in Mexico, Anthony Quinn became the family's main provider when his father died in an accident. Thus began the story of a man who had a thousand jobs before acting in a Cecil B. DeMille film…...
Beyond the Bermuda Triangle
Character: Harry Ballinger
A retired businessman notices that there has been a rash of ships and planes disappearing off the Florida coast, and he starts to investigate....
Rangers of Fortune
Character: Gil Farra
An US Army misfit and his pals roam the west in search of adventure. Arriving in a small town, they befriend the elderly newspaper editor and his young granddaughter. The trio learn that the community is under the thumb of a covetous land baron, who's endeavoring to push out ranch owners and take over the territory....
Atomic Energy Can Be A Blessing
Character: Self - Presenter
For most of us, including actor Fred MacMurray who presents the film, the noun atom and the adjective atomic are synonymous with devastation, period. Of course, there was Hiroshima and Nagasaki but atomic energy is also - at least according to Father James Keller, who produced the documentary - "a Gift from God". For atomic power can also (and should only) be beneficial for mankind. In 1952, it is already effective in various fields, such as industry, agriculture and medicine. Let the atom be a ...
One Night In Lisbon
Character: Dwight Houston
Saucy screwball comedy wherein lovely Madeleine falls in love with flier Fred despite interference from her fiancee and his ex....
Captain Eddie
Character: Eddie Rickenbacker
WWI flyer Eddie Rickenbaker remembers his life which brought him from a car salesman, race driver and pilot in WWI, to an important person in the early years of civil airline service, after his plane crashed in the South Pacific in late 1942....
Champagne Waltz
Character: Buzzy Bellew
In Vienna, a new jazz club featuring American trumpeter Buzzy Bellew threatens the existence of its neighbor, the Waltz Palace, run by Franz Strauss and featuring his granddaughter, singer Elsa. Smitten by Elsa, Buzzy hides his identity and association with the club -- whose owner intends to buy out the Palace property. When Elsa accidentally learns who Buzzy really is, it appears he may have to return to America alone....
Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 1
Character: Himself
Hedda Hopper guides us through some of Hollywood's sights; the home of William S. Hart and a Kay Kyser recording-session being among them....
NBC Salutes the 25th Anniversary of the Wonderful World of Disney
Character: Self
Walt Disney Presents, Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color, Disney’s Wonderful World, Walt Disney, The Disney Sunday Movie, The Magical World of Disney. These are some of the titles of the Disney anthology series that first aired as Disneyland in 1954. Ron Howard and Suzanne Somers serve as hosts for the musical celebration....
Day of the Badman
Character: Judge Jim Scott
Judge Jim Scott must contend with the vicious relatives of a murderer he's about to sentence...and his unfaithful fiancee....
Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire
Character: Self (archive footage)
Actress Sally Field looks at the dramatic life and successful career of the superb actress Barbara Stanwyck (1907-90), a Hollywood legend....
Joys
Character: Self
Over fifty of the greatest living comedians are called to a party at Bob Hope's house, where each of them is systematically killed (and their bodies thrown in Hope's pool!). Hope and the rapidly shrinking cast try to discover who is the mysterious killer known only as "Joys."...
Show-Business at War
Character: Self
A multi-studio effort to show the newsreel audience the progress of the Hollywood war effort....
The Chadwick Family
Character: Ned Chadwick
A father finds himself taking care of a family that, in addition to his son and three daughters, also consists of two sons-in-law and his youngest daughter's Chinese boyfriend....
This Is Bob Hope...
Character: Self (archive footage)
During his career, Bob Hope was the only performer to achieve top-rated success in every form of mass entertainment. American Masters explores the entertainer’s life through his personal archives and clips from his classic films....
Screen Snapshots (Series 16, No. 1)
Character: Self
Viewers are provided a visit to Ken Maynard's private circus; Bette Davis poses for her portrait; Frank McHugh plays with his children; a visit to the West Side Tennis Club affords glimpses of many stars....
George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey
Character: Self (archive footage)
Biography of the legendary filmmaker directed by his son....
Gala Day at Disneyland
Character: Self
The gala dedication ceremonies at the opening of three new major attractions at Disneyland—Matterhorn Bobsleds, Submarine Voyage, and the new Monorail—include a parade down Main Street with appearances by Walt and Roy Disney and members of their families, along with Vice President Richard Nixon and family, and numerous film stars. The celebrations end at night with a fireworks display....
Disneyland '59
Character: Self
Walt Disney and Art Linkletter co-host a live celebration of Disneyland's 1959 expansion that consisted of the debuts of Matterhorn Bobsleds, the Disneyland-Alweg Monorail, and the Submarine Voyage, a project so massive that it was called "The Second Opening of Disneyland". Highlights include a mammoth, star-studded parade and the official launching of the Disneyland submarines by U.S. Navy officers. Among the guests are then-Vice-President Richard Nixon and family, Clint Eastwood, and Meredith ...
Breakdowns of 1942
Character: Self
Flubs and bloopers that occurred on the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1942....
Shadows of Suspense
Character: Self (archive footage)
A documentary featuring film historians, directors and authors discussing the making of Billy Wilder's "Double Indemnity."...