Brooks on Books: Fred MacMurray by Charles Tranberg

Fred MacMurray doesn't get a lot of pub these days, and I'd wager that when he does, it's a gentle mocking of his family-friendly affable-yet-detached persona from "My Three Sons" and the Flubber movies and such. But Freddie Mac is about so much more than that. The guy was a big movie star for years and years before he became a sitcom/Disney flick dad. After establishing himself in many romantic comedies, he took some chances and turned in some stellar heel performances in "Double Indemnity," "The Caine Mutiny," and "The Apartment."

Just consider it: Fred MacMurray, the jovial, golf-playing Steve Douglas, played jerks in 3 certified classics. I think Freddie Mac is underappreciated today, possibly because his Dad image is so strong, possibly because many of his early hits are out of circulation, and probably because many people just fail to connect the dots and realize how good he was as a cad...and in more than one outing.

At any rate, the man deserves at least a solid biography, and Charles Tranberg delivers it in this book, apparently the first ever real MacMurray bio, from Bear Manor. He doesn't unearth new revelations about the star's personal life, nor his career, but just by laying out his work and putting it all in context, he makes a convincing case for Freddie Mac's relevance in the screen world, both big and small.

Tranberg dispenses early on with any notion that his bio will include gossip or salacious details. There just isn't that much to report on Freddie Mac, except maybe his reputation for being a tightwad. There's a brief mention of toupee use. Maybe a few co-stars found him distant. Other than that, there ain't much scandal here, folks. Does that make the man boring? No, not at all, nor is the book uninteresting. I enjoyed reading about a well-liked good citizen who kept his nose clean while entertaining millions.

You do get a good sense of the man, even though the author is working with a shy subject who didn't go around making a lot of waves in public. However, the book focuses on MacMurray's career, providing a fine account of his work, mostly in films and TV. Tranberg covers a lot of ground and offers some critical context without getting carried away. One useful feature is the appendix, which not only runs down all Fred's movies, but also provides sample review excerpts for each one, as well as trivia not included in the main text. Plus there's a "My Three Sons" episode guide.

Speaking of "Sons," I watched plenty of it when Family Net picked up the Uncle Charley years recently. I think the "MacMurray method" has hurt the star's reputation. Notoriously, he got a sweet deal in which he knocked off all his scenes right off the bat, got to go home early, and the rest of the cast worked around him, with everything assembled later through the magic of editing. I know that when I found out about this, I chuckled and made jokes about what a slacker he was, etc. But as Tranberg shows, Freddie Mac didn't want to do series TV at that point in his life, preferring to spend as much time at home and with his family as possible. He set the terms he got not to be a jerk, but because it was the only possible way he would do the show. All things considered, it worked out pretty well, and who can blame the guy for raking in the cash while keeping his hours down? He was professional and hard-working when he was on the set, after all.

"Fred MacMurray" is an enjoyable read and a must for fans. The only quibble I have with Tranberg's writing is that he tends to combine phrases with commas when he should either use semicolons or separate sentences. This leads to some awkward sentences every now and then. Overall, though, the author's organization and research are outstanding, and he provides an engaging look at one of Hollywood's lesser-discussed stars.