Fredric March Biography

Fredric March (born Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel; August 31, 1897 – April 14, 1975) was an American stage and film actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1932 for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and in 1947 for The Best Years of Our Lives. March is the only actor to win both the Academy Award and the Tony Award twice.

Early life

March was born in Racine, Wisconsin, the son of Cora Brown (née Marcher), a schoolteacher, and John F. Bickel, a devout Presbyterian Church elder who worked in the wholesale hardware business. March attended the Winslow Elementary School (established in 1855), Racine High School, and the University of Wisconsin"Madison where he was a member of Alpha Delta Phi. He began a career as a banker, but an emergency appendectomy caused him to reevaluate his life, and in 1920 he began working as an extra in movies made in New York City, using a shortened form of his mother's maiden name. He appeared on Broadway in 1926, and by the end of the decade signed a film contract with Paramount Pictures.

Career

March received an Oscar nomination in 1930 for The Royal Family of Broadway, in which he played a role based upon John Barrymore. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1932 for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (tied with Wallace Beery for The Champ although March accrued one more vote than Beery), leading to a series of classic films based on stage hits and classic novels like Design for Living (1933) with Gary Cooper, Death Takes a Holiday (1934), Les Misérables (1935) with Charles Laughton, Anna Karenina (1935) with Greta Garbo, Anthony Adverse (1936) with Olivia de Havilland, and as the original Norman Maine in A Star is Born (1937) with Janet Gaynor, for which he received his third Oscar nomination.

March resisted signing long-term contracts with the studios, enabling him to play roles in films from a variety of studios. He returned to Broadway after a ten-year absence in 1937 with a notable flop Yr. Obedient Husband, but after the success of Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth he focused as much on Broadway theatre as Hollywood. He won two Best Actor Tony Awards: in 1947 for the play Years Ago, written by Ruth Gordon; and in 1957 for his performance as James Tyrone in the original Broadway production of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night. He also had major successes in A Bell for Adano in 1944 and Gideon in 1961, and played Ibsen's An Enemy of the People on Broadway in 1951. He also starred in such films as I Married a Witch (1942) and Another Part of the Forest (1948) during this period, and won his second Oscar in 1946 for The Best Years of Our Lives.

March also branched out into television, winning Emmy nominations for his third attempt at The Royal Family for the series The Best of Broadway as well as for television performances as Samuel Dodsworth and Ebenezer Scrooge. On March 25, 1954, March co-hosted the 26th Annual Academy Awards ceremony from New York City, with co-host Donald O'Connor in Los Angeles.

March's neighbor in Connecticut, playwright Arthur Miller, was thought to favor March to inaugurate the part of Willy Loman in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Death of a Salesman (1949). However, March read the play and turned down the role, whereupon director Elia Kazan cast Lee J. Cobb as Willy, and Arthur Kennedy as one of Willy's sons, Biff Loman, two men that the director had worked with in the film Boomerang (1947). March later regretted turning down the role and finally played Willy Loman in Columbia Pictures's 1951 film version of the play, directed by Laslo Benedek, receiving his fifth-and-final Oscar nomination as well as a Golden Globe Award.

March also played one of the two leads in The Desperate Hours (1955) with Humphrey Bogart when Bogart and Spencer Tracy both insisted upon top billing and Tracy withdrew, leaving the part available for March.

In 1957, March was awarded The George Eastman Award, given by George Eastman House for "distinguished contribution to the art of film."

On February 12, 1959, March appeared before a joint session of the 86th United States Congress, reading of the Gettysburg Address as part of a commemorations of the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth.

March is perhaps most remembered today for his co-starring role with Spencer Tracy in the 1960 Stanley Kramer film Inherit the Wind, in which he played a somewhat dramatized version of famous orator and political figure William Jennings Bryan. March's Bible-thumping character provided the perfect powerhouse rival for Tracy's Clarence Darrow-inspired character, creating the fireworks that make Inherit the Wind as entertaining and cautionary of a tale today as it was over 50 years ago. In the 1960s, March's film career proceeded apace with a notable performance as President Jordan Lyman in the political thriller Seven Days in May (1964) in which he co-starred with Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, and Edmund O'Brien; the part earned March a nomination as Best Actor by Golden Globes.

March made several spoken word recordings, including a version of Oscar Wilde's The Selfish Giant issued in 1945, in which he narrated and played the title role, and The Sounds of History, a twelve volume LP set accompanying the twelve volume set of books The Life History of the United States, published by Time-Life. The recordings were narrated by Charles Collingwood, with March and his wife Florence Eldridge performing dramatic readings from historical documents and literature.

Following surgery for prostate cancer in 1970, it seemed his career was over, yet he managed to give one last performance in The Iceman Cometh (1973), as the complicated Irish saloon keeper, Harry Hope.

Personal life

March was married to actress Florence Eldridge from 1927 until his death in 1975, and they had two adopted children. He died from cancer, at age 77, in Los Angeles, California; he was buried at his estate in New Milford, Connecticut.

Throughout his life, he and his wife were supporters of the Democratic Party. His support for the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War was particularly controversial.

Tributes

March has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1616 Vine Street. In addition, the 500-seat theater at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh is named after March, as well as the 168-seat Fredric March Play Circle Theater at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Memorial Union.

Filmography and awards

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1921	The Great Adventure	uncredited	extra
	Paying the Piper	uncredited	extra
	The Education of Elizabeth	uncredited	extra
	The Devil	uncredited	extra
1929	The Dummy	Trumbull Meredith
	The Wild Party	James 'Gil' Gilmore
	The Studio Murder Mystery	Richard Hardell
	Paris Bound	Jim Hutton
	Jealousy	Pierre
	Footlights and Fools	Gregory Pyne	lost film; the soundtrack survives
	The Marriage Playground	Martin Boyne
1930	Sarah and Son	Howard Vanning
	Paramount on Parade	Doughboy (cameo)
	Ladies Love Brutes	Dwight Howell
	True to the Navy	Bull's Eye McCoy
	Manslaughter	Dan O'Bannon
	Laughter	Paul Lockridge
	The Royal Family of Broadway	Tony Cavendish	Nominated "? Academy Award for Best Actor
1931	Honor Among Lovers	Jerry Stafford
	Night Angel	Rudek Berken
	My Sin	Dick Grady
	Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde	Dr. Henry Jekyll/Mr. Hyde	Academy Award for Best Actor (tied with Wallace Beery for The Champ)
1932	Strangers in Love	Buddy Drake/Arthur Drake
	Merrily We Go to Hell	Jerry Corbett
	Make Me a Star	himself	behind-the-scenes drama
	Smilin' Through	Kenneth Wayne
	The Sign of the Cross	Marcus Superbus
	Hollywood on Parade No. A-1	himself	short film
1933	Tonight Is Ours	Sabien Pastal
	The Eagle and the Hawk	Jerry H. Young	With Cary Grant and Carole Lombard
	Design for Living	Thomas B. 'Tom' Chambers	With Gary Cooper and Miriam Hopkins
1934	All of Me	Don Ellis	With Miriam Hopkins and George Raft
	Death Takes a Holiday	Prince Sirki/Death
	Good Dame	Mace Townsley
	The Affairs of Cellini	Benvenuto Cellini
	The Barretts of Wimpole Street	Robert Browning	With Norma Shearer and Charles Laughton
	We Live Again	Prince Dmitri Nekhlyudov
	Hollywood on Parade No. B-6	himself	short film
1935	Les Misérables	Jean Valjean/Champmathieu
	Anna Karenina	Vronsky
	The Dark Angel	Alan Trent
	Screen Snapshots Series 14, No. 11	himself	short film
1936	The Road to Glory	Lieutenant Michel Denet
	Mary of Scotland	Bothwell	With Katharine Hepburn Directed by John Ford
	Anthony Adverse	Anthony Adverse
	Screen Snapshots Series 16, No. 3	himself	short film
1937	A Star Is Born	Norman Maine	Nominated "? Academy Award for Best Actor With Janet Gaynor
	Nothing Sacred	Wallace 'Wally' Cook
	Screen Snapshots Series 16, No. 5	himself	short film
1938	The Buccaneer	Jean Lafitte
	There Goes My Heart	Bill Spencer
	Trade Winds	Sam Wye
1939	The 400 Million	Narrator	Documentary of Chinese history
1940	Susan and God	Barrie Trexel
	Victory	Hendrik Heyst
	Lights Out in Europe	Narrator	War documentary about the outbreak of World War II in Europe
1941	So Ends Our Night	Josef Steiner
	One Foot in Heaven	William Spence
	Bedtime Story	Lucius 'Luke' Drake	With Loretta Young and Robert Benchley
1942	I Married a Witch	Jonathan Wooley/Nathaniel Wooley/Samuel Wooley	With Veronica Lake and Robert Benchley
	Lake Carrier	Narrator	Documentary short
1944	Valley of the Tennessee	Narrator	voice only
	The Adventures of Mark Twain	Samuel Langhorne Clemens
	Tomorrow, the World!	Mike Frame
1946	The Best Years of Our Lives	Al Stephenson	Academy Award for Best Actor With Myrna Loy
1948	Another Part of the Forest	Marcus Hubbard
	An Act of Murder	Judge Calvin Cooke
1949	Christopher Columbus	Christopher Columbus
	The Ford Theatre Hour		Television Episode: "The Twentieth Century"
1950	The Titan: Story of Michelangelo	Narrator	documentary about the life and works of Michelangelo Buonarroti
	Nash Airflyte Theatre		Television Episode: "The Boor"
1951	It's a Big Country	Joe Esposito
	Death of a Salesman	Willy Loman	Golden Globe Award for Best Actor " Motion Picture Drama Volpi Cup Nominated "? Academy Award for Best Actor Nominated "? BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor
	Lux Video Theatre		Television Episode: "The Speech"
1952	Lux Video Theatre		Television Episode: "Ferry Crisis at Friday Point"
	Toast of the Town	himself	later known as The Ed Sullivan Show
1953	25th Academy Awards	himself	presenter Academy Award for Best Actress to Shirley Booth for Come Back, Little Sheba
	Omnibus		Television Episode: "The Last Night of Don Juan"
	Man on a Tightrope	Karel Cernik	With Terry Moore and Gloria Grahame
	The Bridges at Toko-Ri	Rear Admiral George Tarrant
1954	26th Academy Awards	himself	Co-hosted from New York, with Donald O'Connor in Hollywood
	Executive Suite	Loren Phineas Shaw	Venice Film Festival Special Jury Prize for Ensemble Acting (shared with the principal cast) Nominated "? BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor
	The Best of Broadway	Tony Cavendish	Television Episode: "The Royal Family" (based on March's Broadway play and film of the same name) Nominated "? Emmy Award for Best Single Performance by an Actor
	Shower of Stars	Ebenezer Scrooge	Television Episode: "A Christmas Carol" Nominated "? Emmy Award for Best Single Performance by an Actor
	What's My Line?	himself
1955	The Desperate Hours	Dan C. Hilliard	With Humphrey Bogart
1956	Alexander the Great	Philip II of Macedon
	The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit	Ralph Hopkins
	Producers' Showcase	Sam Dodsworth	Television Episode: "Dodsworth" Nominated "? Emmy Award for Best Single Performance by an Actor
	Shower of Stars	Eugene Tesh	Television Episode: "The Flattering World"
	Island of Allah	Narrator
1957	Toast of the Town	himself	later known as The Ed Sullivan Show
	Albert Schweitzer	Narrator	documentary
1958	The DuPont Show of the Month	Arthur Winslow	Television Episode: "The Winslow Boy"
	Tales from Dickens	Host	also known as Fredric March Presents Tales From Dickens, March hosted seven episodes during 1958 and 1959. Episodes: "Bardell Versus Pickwick", "Uriah Heep", "A Christmas Carol", "David and Betsy Trotwood", "David and His Mother", "Christmas at Dingley Dell" and "The Runaways"
1959	Middle of the Night	Jerry Kingsley	Nominated "? Golden Globe Award for Best Actor " Motion Picture Drama Written by Paddy Chayevsky
1960	Inherit the Wind	Matthew Harrison Brady	Won "? Silver Bear for Best Actor (Berlin Film Festival) Nominated "? BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor With Spencer Tracy
1961	The Young Doctors	Dr. Joseph Pearson
1962	I Sequestrati di Altona (The Condemned of Altona)	Albrecht von Gerlach
1963	A Tribute to John F. Kennedy from the Arts	Host	broadcast on November 24, 1963, two days after the assassination of John F. Kennedy
1964	Seven Days in May	President Jordan Lyman	Nominated "? Golden Globe Award for Best Actor " Motion Picture Drama With Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas
	The Presidency: A Splendid Mystery	Narrator	Television
	Pieta	Narrator	documentary
1967	Hombre	Dr. Alex Favor	With Paul Newman
1970	?tick?tick?tick?	Mayor Jeff Parks
1973	The Iceman Cometh	Harry Hope	With Lee Marvin and Robert Ryan