Fredric March facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Fredric March
March in 1939
Born	Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel (1897-08-31)August 31, 1897 Racine, Wisconsin, U.S.
Died	April 14, 1975(1975-04-14) (aged 77) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1921–1973
Spouse(s)	Ellis Baker ​ ​ (m. 1921; div. 1927)​ Florence Eldridge ​ ​ (m. 1927)​
Children	2

Fredric March (born Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel; August 31, 1897 – April 14, 1975) was a famous American actor. He was one of Hollywood's biggest stars in the 1930s and 1940s. People knew him for being able to play many different kinds of characters. Even though his biggest fame was in those decades, he continued to be a successful actor into the 1950s and 1960s.

He started his acting career in 1920 by working as an extra in movies made in New York City. In 1926, at age 29, he made his first appearance on Broadway, which is famous for its plays. By the end of the 1920s, he signed a movie contract with Paramount Pictures.

Soon after his first movie in 1929, he started getting main roles and important supporting roles. In 1930, he became well-known for his acting in the film The Royal Family of Broadway. This role earned him his first Academy Award nomination. The next year, he won the Academy Award for Best Actor and the Volpi Cup for Best Actor for his role in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931).

These early successes quickly made him a top actor. He starred in many classic films throughout the 1930s and 1940s. These movies helped him become even more famous. Some of these films include Design for Living (1933) with Gary Cooper; Death Takes a Holiday (1934); The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934) with Norma Shearer; Les Misérables with Charles Laughton; Anna Karenina (1935) with Greta Garbo; The Dark Angel with Merle Oberon; Nothing Sacred (1937) with Carole Lombard; and I Married a Witch (1942) with Veronica Lake.

In 1937, he played the main male role in the first A Star is Born movie, alongside Janet Gaynor. He received his third Academy Award nomination for this film. In 1946, he earned his fourth Academy Award nomination and won his second Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Best Years of Our Lives. This film is often seen as the biggest success of his career. William Wyler directed the movie, and his co-stars included Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, and Virginia Mayo.

In the early 1950s, March continued to have great success. One of his first big roles was playing Willy Loman in the 1951 film Death of a Salesman, based on Arthur Miller's play. This role earned him his fifth and final Academy Award nomination. He also won his second Volpi Cup for Best Actor for this performance. Other important films from this decade include Executive Suite (1954) with Barbara Stanwyck and William Holden; The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954) with Grace Kelly and Holden again; and The Desperate Hours (1955) with Humphrey Bogart.

March's film career slowed down around the mid-1950s. By the 1960s, he appeared in fewer films than before. However, he still had important roles in some successful movies during this time. These include Inherit the Wind (1960), for which he won the Silver Bear for Best Actor; Seven Days in May (1964) with Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, and Kirk Douglas; and Hombre (1967) with Paul Newman. He finished his acting career playing alongside Jeff Bridges and Lee Marvin in the 1973 film The Iceman Cometh.

He was also a highly respected stage actor. During his time on stage, he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play twice. He won for his performances in the plays Years Ago (1947) and Long Day's Journey into Night (1956). March is one of only two actors, the other being Helen Hayes, to have won both the Academy Award and the Tony Award twice.

Early Life and Beginnings

March was born in Racine, Wisconsin. His mother, Cora Brown Marcher, was a schoolteacher from England. His father, John F. Bickel, was a church elder who worked in the hardware business. March went to Winslow Elementary School, Racine High School, and the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

During World War I, March served in the United States Army as an artillery lieutenant. He first started a career as a banker. However, an emergency appendectomy (surgery to remove his appendix) made him rethink his life. In 1920, he began working as an "extra" in movies in New York City. He used a shorter version of his mother's maiden name, March. He appeared on Broadway in 1926. By the end of the 1920s, he signed a film contract with Paramount Pictures.

Acting Career Highlights

Fredric March had a special talent for acting. He could truly show deep mental pain in his roles. He was excellent at playing troubled and upset men. He had great control over his body, which allowed him to convincingly look tired, bent over, or even collapse. His face also showed both intelligence and sensitivity.

March did not sign long-term contracts with movie studios. This allowed him to act in films from many different studios. After a ten-year break, he returned to Broadway in 1937. His play Yr. Obedient Husband did not do well. But after the success of Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth, he focused on Broadway as much as on Hollywood.

He won two Tony Awards for Best Actor. The first was in 1947 for the play Years Ago. The second was in 1957 for his role as James Tyrone in the first Broadway show of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night. He also had big successes in A Bell for Adano in 1944 and Gideon in 1961. In 1951, he acted in Henrik Ibsen's An Enemy of the People on Broadway. During this time, he also starred in films like I Married a Witch (1942) and Another Part of the Forest (1948). March won his second Oscar in 1946 for The Best Years of Our Lives.

March also acted on television. He received Emmy nominations for his role in The Royal Family for the series The Best of Broadway. He also got nominations for playing Samuel Dodsworth and Ebenezer Scrooge on TV. On March 25, 1954, March helped host the 26th Academy Awards ceremony from New York City.

March played Willy Loman in the 1951 film version of the play Death of a Salesman. This role earned him his fifth and final Oscar nomination. He also won a Golden Globe Award for it. He also played one of the two main characters in The Desperate Hours (1955) with Humphrey Bogart.

In 1957, March received the George Eastman Award. This award is given for important contributions to the art of film. On February 12, 1959, March appeared before a special meeting of the 86th United States Congress. He read the Gettysburg Address to celebrate 150 years since Abraham Lincoln's birth.

March co-starred with Spencer Tracy in the 1960 film Inherit the Wind. In this movie, he played a character based on the famous speaker and politician William Jennings Bryan. March's character, who strongly believed in the Bible, was a rival to Tracy's character. In the 1960s, March's film career continued. He played President Jordan Lyman in the exciting political movie Seven Days in May (1964). He co-starred with Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, and Edmond O'Brien. This part earned March a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor.

March also made several audio recordings. These included a version of Oscar Wilde's The Selfish Giant in 1945, where he narrated and played the main role. He also recorded The Sounds of History, a twelve-volume LP set that went with the Life History of the United States book series. March and his wife Florence Eldridge performed dramatic readings from historical documents.

After surgery for prostate cancer in 1970, it seemed his career might be over. However, he managed to give one last performance in The Iceman Cometh (1973). He played Harry Hope, an Irish bar owner.

Family and Public Life

March in 1946

March was married to actress Florence Eldridge from 1927 until he passed away in 1975. They adopted two children together. They appeared in seven films as a couple, with their last one being Inherit the Wind.

March and Eldridge had their house built in Bel Air, Los Angeles, in 1934. Later, it was owned by Wallis Annenberg, who gave a lot to charity, and actors Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston.

Throughout his life, March and Eldridge supported the Democratic Party. In July 1936, March helped start the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League (HANL). He co-founded it with writers Dorothy Parker and Donald Ogden Stewart, director Fritz Lang, and composer Oscar Hammerstein II.

In 1938, March was one of many Hollywood people investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). This committee was looking for Communists in the film community. In July 1940, a HUAC subcommittee questioned him and others. Later, in 1948, he and his wife sued an anti-communist publication called Counterattack for saying bad things about them. They settled the lawsuit outside of court.

March passed away from prostate cancer at age 77 in Los Angeles. He was buried at his estate in New Milford, Connecticut.

Honors and Recognition

Fredric March has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in motion pictures. You can find it at 1620 Vine Street.

Books written about March include Fredric March: Craftsman First, Star Second by Deborah C. Peterson (1996) and Fredric March: A Consummate Actor (2013) by Charles Tranberg.

A Misunderstanding About His Past

March was briefly a member of a student group at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1919 and 1920. This group was called the Ku Klux Klan. However, it was not connected to the well-known, hateful organization of the same name. In fact, March was a strong supporter of the civil rights movement for fifty years. He worked closely with the NAACP. When the college group was named, the national KKK was a small, regional group. As the national KKK became more famous, the college group changed its name in 1922.

False rumors spread on social media that March was a white supremacist. These rumors were based on a misunderstanding of the student group he belonged to. The 500-seat theater at the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh was once named after March. The University of Wisconsin–Madison had named a theater at the Memorial Union the Fredric March Play Circle Theater. However, in 2018, his name was removed after student protests. This happened because of reports about March's membership in that student group. UW–Oshkosh also removed March's name from what is now the Theatre Arts Center just before the 2020–21 school year.

Filmography

Awards and Nominations

Radio Appearances

Images for kids

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  Warner Baxter, June Lang, and March in The Road to Glory (1936)

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  March with Janet Gaynor in A Star is Born (1937)

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  Hoagy Carmichael, March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews and Teresa Wright in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

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  Henry Drummond (Tracy, left) and Matthew Harrison Brady (March, right) in Inherit the Wind.

See also

In Spanish: Fredric March para niños

• List of actors with two or more Academy Awards in acting categories