Fred MacMurray is best known on-screen as epitomizing the sensitive side of comedy. He had a happy childhood in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, his growing up period which included short stints in a military academy and at college. He got a job in Los Angeles as a saxophone playing vocalist at Warner Hollywood Theater, where he was noticed by a group called the California Collegians who took him to Broadway and the start of his acting career. A Paramount Pictures screen test brought him back to Hollywood. He was cast in a diverse set of roles in the early years, but
True Confession (1937) marked his grand entrance into comedy. During his mid-career, he chose almost exclusively dramatic roles, but again entered the comedic realm starring in a number of Disney films in recent years.
—Huggo