Fredric March

August 31, 1897 - April 14, 1975
Born Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel in Racine, Wisconsin, USA

Husband of actress Florence Eldridge

Two Best Actor Oscars: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) and The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

See Internet Movie Database Filmography

A Lot of Favorite Memories of Fredric March

• In his first "Best Actor" Oscar-winning performance, as both "Dr. Henry L. Jekyll" and "Mr. Edward Hyde," in Paramount's classic version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), based on Robert Louis Stevenson's novel, and directed by Rouben Mamoulian. With Miriam Hopkins, Rose Hobart, Holmes Herbert, Halliwell Hobbes, Edgar Norton, Tempe Pigott, Arnold Lucy, Murdock MacQuarrie, and Douglas Walton. Special makeup effects by Wally Westmore.
  
  
• As "Marcus Superbus" in the historical epic The Sign of the Cross (1932), directed by Cecil B. DeMille. With Charles Laughton (as Nero), Elissa Landi, Claudette Colbert, Ian Keith, Nat Pendleton, William V. Mong, Joyzelle, Richard Alexander, Charles Middleton, Mischa Auer, Lionel Belmore , Joe Bonomo, Henry Brandon, John Carradine, Dave O'Brien, Tom Ricketts, Stanley Ridges, Arthur Shields and Angelo Rossitto.
  
  
• As "Prince Sirki," "Death" masquerading in human form, in the fantasy-romance Death Takes a Holiday (1934), directed by Mitchell Leisen. With Evelyn Venable, Sir Guy Standing, Katharine Alexander, Gail Patrick, Helen Westley, Kathleen Howard, Kent Taylor, Henry Travers, G.P. Huntley, Otto Hoffman and Edward Van Sloan.
  
  
• As the poet "Robert Browning," trying to rescue his beloved Elizabeth Barrett from her cold, controlling father, in The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934), directed by Sidney Franklin. With Norma Shearer and Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Sullivan, Ralph Forbes, Ian Wolfe, Una O'Connor and Leo G. Carroll.
  
  
• As "Jean Valjean", aka "Mr. Madaleine," an upright man with a criminal past who is pursued by a relentless policeman, in Les Misérables (1935), directed by Richard Boleslawski, based on Victor Hugo's novel. Co-starring Charles Laughton as Javert the gendarme, with a fine cast including Cedric Hardwicke, Rochelle Hudson, Florence Eldridge (March's real-life wife), John Beal, Frances Drake, Eily Malyon, John Carradine, Sam Baker, Reginald Barlow, Harry Cording, Olaf Hytten, Murdock MacQuarrie and Leonard Mudie.
  
  
• As "Vronsky," a Russian Army officer who becomes the lover of a married woman, in MGM's tragic historical romance Anna Karenina (1935), based on Leo Tolstoy's novel, and directed by Clarence Brown. Starring Greta Garbo, Basil Rathbone as her prim, unloving husband, and Freddie Bartholomew as their son, with a large cast including Maureen O'Sullivan, May Robson, Reginald Owen, Reginald Denny, Ethel Griffies, Stanley Andrews, Barry Norton, Mischa Auer, Harry Cording, Gino Corrado, Olaf Hytten,Francis McDonald and Robert Warwick.
  
  
• As "James Hepburn," Earl of Bothwell, lover of the title character in the historical romantic drama Mary of Scotland (1936), based on Maxwell Anderson's play, and directed by John Ford. Starring Katharine Hepburn, with a large cast of familiar faces including John Carradine, March's real-life wife Florence Eldridge, Douglas Walton, Robert Barrat, Ian Keith, Alan Mowbray, Frieda Inescort, Donald Crisp, Molly Lamont, Mary Gordon , Monte Blue, Leonard Mudie, Brandon Hurst, D'Arcy Corrigan, Robert Warwick, Lawrence Grant, Nigel De Brulier, Lionel Belmore, Neil Fitzgerald and Halliwell Hobbes.
  
  
• As "Norman Maine," a once-great, washed-up actor who marries a rising star, in the first version of the tear-jerking Hollywood story A Star Is Born (1937), directed by William Wellman. Starring Janet Gaynor, with a stellar supporting cast including Adolphe Menjou, May Robson, Andy Devine, Lionel Stander, Edgar Kennedy, Guinn Williams, Rex Evans, Lana Turner, Vince Barnett, Francis Ford, Trixie Friganza, Jonathan Hale, Olin Howlin, I. Stanford Jolley, Carole Landis, Franklin Pangborn, Tom Ricketts and Luana Walters.
  
  
• As "Wally Cook," a hard-boiled New York newspaper reporter unintentially duped by a small town girl who believes she's dying, in the classic screwball comedy Nothing Sacred (1937), directed by William Wellman. Starring Carole Lombard (sadly soon to die herself), with Charles Winninger, Walter Connolly, Sig Ruman, Maxie Rosenbloom, Margaret Hamilton, Olin Howlin, Raymond Scott and His Quintet, Billy Barty, Ann Doran, Hattie McDaniel, John Qualen, Hans Steinke and Monty Woolley.
  
  
• As the French pirate "Jean Lafitte," supporting Andy Jackson's military efforts in the first version of The Buccaneer (1938) directed by Cecil DeMille. With Franciska Gaal, Akim Tamiroff, Margot Grahame, Walter Brennan, Ian Keith, Spring Byington, Douglass Dumbrille, Robert Barrat, Hugh Sothern, Beulah Bondi, Anthony Quinn, Montagu Love, Gilbert Emery, Holmes Herbert, Evelyn Keyes, Francis McDonald, Richard Denning, John Hart, Paul Fix, James Flavin, Leyland Hodgson, John Merton, Ottola Nesmith, Barry Norton, Hans Steinke, Charles Trowbridge, Foy Van Dolsen, Luana Walters and Harry Woods.
  
  
• As "Wallace Wooley" descended from the puritan persecutor of a 17th Century witch, and romantically involved with her rematerialized spirit, in the romantic comedy/fantasy I Married a Witch (1942), based on Thorne Smith's novel, and directed by René Clair. Starring Veronica Lake and Cecil Kellaway (as the witch and her warlock father), with Robert Benchley, Susan Hayward, Elizabeth Patterson, Robert Warwick, Reed Hadley, Billy Bevan, Billy Bletcher, Monte Blue, and Emma Dunn.
  
  
• As "Samuel Langhorne Clemens," pen name Mark Twain, in The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944), directed by Irving Rapper. With Alexis Smith, Donald Crisp, Alan Hale , C. Aubrey Smith, John Carradine (as writer Bret Harte), Robert Barrat, Walter Hampden, Thurston Hall, Brandon Hurst , Ernie Adams , Willie Best, Monte Blue, Lloyd Corrigan, Willie Fung, Olin Howlin, Victor Kilian, Bud Osborne, Frank Reicher, Harry Woods and Harry Worth.
  
  
• In his second "Best Actor" Oscar-winning performance, as demobilized WWII Army sergeant "Al Stephenson," in the stunning drama of post-war America, The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), directed by William Wyler, one of the finest American films ever made. With a matchless cast including Myrna Loy as Al's loving wife, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, Virginia Mayo, Cathy O'Donnell, Hoagy Carmichael, Harold Russell, Gladys George, Roman Bohnen, Ray Collins, Minna Gombell, Walter Baldwin, Ray Teal, Harry Cheshire and Pat Flaherty. The film swept the 1946 Academy Awards with additional awards for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Harold Russell), Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay (Robert E. Sherwood), Best Score (Hugo Friedhofer) and Best Film Editing.
  
  
• As "Judge Calvin Cooke" in a harrowing drama about mercy killing, An Act of Murder (1940), directed by Michael Gordon. With his real-life wife Florence Eldridge, Edmond O'Brien, Geraldine Brooks, Stanley Ridges, John McIntire, Francis McDonald, Don Beddoe, Clarence Muse and Ed Parker.
  
  
• As the world-weary "Willy Loman" in Death of a Salesman (1951), based on Arthur Miller's play, directed by László Benedek. With Mildred Dunnock, Kevin McCarthy, Cameron Mitchell, Beverly Aadland and Jeanne Bates.
  
  
• As "Dan C. Hilliard," trying to protect his family from desperate escaped convicts hiding out in his suburban home, in The Desperate Hours (1965), directed by William Wyler. With Humphrey Bogart, Arthur Kennedy, Martha Scott, Dewey Martin, Gig Young, Mary Murphy, Richard Eyer, Robert Middleton, Alan Reed, Bert Freed, Ray Collins, Whit Bissell, Ray Teal, Edmund Cobb, Ann Doran and Beverly Garland.
  
  
• As "Matthew Harrison Brady" (WIlliam Jennings Bryan) prosecuting the case against an teacher of Evolution who is defended by "Henry Drummond" (Clarence Darrow) in a drama about the famous Scopes Trial, Inherit the Wind (1960), directed by Stanley Kramer. With Spencer Tracy, Gene Kelly, Dick York, Harry Morgan, Claude Akins, Noah Beery Jr. and March's real-life wife Florence Eldridge.
  
  
• As "Albrecht von Gerlach" in The Condemned of Altona (1962; original Italian title: I Sequestrati di Altona). I (1962), based on a play by Jean-Paul Sartre, directed by Vittorio De Sica. With Sophia Loren, Maximilian Schell and Robert Wagner.
  
  
• As "President Jordan Lyman" in a frightening fantasy about a military plot to take over the U.S. government, Seven Days in May (1964), scripted by Rod Serling and directed by John Frankenheimer. With Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Ava Gardner, Edmond O'Brien, Martin Balsam, Andrew Duggan, Hugh Marlowe, Whit Bissell, George Macready, Richard Anderson, Malcolm Atterbury, Victor Buono, John Houseman and Leonard Nimoy.

Last revised May 9 2021 by George "E-gor" Chastain.

Maintained by George "E-gor" Chastain (e-mail: egorschamber@gmail.com)