Fredric March (1897 - 1975)

         Fredric March

Fredric March was an elegant, and talented stage and movie actor who appeared in many top movies, particularly in the 1930's and 1940's. He had a classically trained voice and extreme good looks which suited him to a wide range of roles from light comedy to serious contemporary drama. He won two Oscars for Best Actor, in 1932 for 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' and in 1946 for 'The Best Years of Our Lives'.

Fredric March was born Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel in Wisconsin in August, 1897. He served in the artillery in the First World War then entered the University of Wisconsin, obtaining a degree in economics. He started his business life as a bank teller, but after a stint as an extra in silent movies set in New York City he turned to acting and was appearing on Broadway by 1926. He used a shortened form of his mother's maiden name, Marcher as his stage name and after being signed by Paramount in 1929 he would shift between the stage and the screen for most of his life.

He first apeared in Hollywood movies in evening-suit roles such as in 'The Wild Party' in 1929. This was followed by a wicked John Barrymore impersonation in 'The Studio Murder Mystery' in 1929, in which March's second wife, Florence Eldridge, co-starred, and 'The Royal Family of Broadway' in 1930. He succeeded Barrymore in a remake of 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' in 1931, impossibly handsome as Henry Jekyll but showing range as the puckish brute Hyde, terrifying in intimate scenes with Miriam Hopkins. He won the first of two Acdemy Awards for Best Actor for this role.

This was a great success and the new Hollywood star then appeared in a series of classic films based on stage hits and classic novels like 'Design for Living' in 1933, 'Les Misérables' in 1935, 'Anthony Adverse' the following year, and as the first Normain Maine in 'A Star is Born' in 1937', for which he received his third Oscar nomination.

March became no stranger to plaudits from contemporaries. Altogether he received five Oscar nomintions, putting him alongside names such as Gary Cooper, Gregory Peck, and James Stewart. In 1946 he tied with Jose Ferrer for the very first Best Actor Tony Award for his role in 'Years Ago', becoming the only actor ever to win the highest honors of stage and screen in a single year. Established as a leading man, March could ably play the romantic as Robert Browning in 'The Barretts of Wimpole Street' in 1934, the swashbuckling adventurer in 'The Buccaneer' in 1938, or the drunken actor as in 'A Star Is Born' in 1937. He matured into an impressive character actor; the returning sergeant in 'The Best Years of Our Lives' in 1946, Willy Loman in the stage version of 'Death of a Salesman' in 1951, and the householder threatened by Humphrey Bogart in 'The Desperate Hours' in 1955.

March also ventured into the new medium of television, winning Emmy nominations for 'The Royal Family' in the series 'The Best of Broadway' and also for performances as Samuel Dodsworth and Ebenezer Scrooge. In 1954, March co-hosted with Donald O'Connor the 26th Annual Academy Awards ceremony.

Following surgery in 1970 for the prostate cancer that later killed killed him, March returned to film his swan song, a last great performance as the Irish bartender, Harry Hope in Eugene O'Neill's 'The Iceman Cometh' in 1973. Fredric March died on 14 April 1975, in Los Angeles.