At least by 1960s television standards. I mean, he apparently liked the money he got from My Three Sons and was okay working with the adults, but he hated working with the kids. By most accounts, he really just wanted to play golf. He also insisted that he and the four who played his boys had to film as many of their scenes separately as possible.
shareYour post reminded me of something that I had read a while back. Apparently, MacMurray insisted that all of his scenes be shot in advance, though I don’t recall there ever being an explanation given for it.
At Fred MacMurray's insistence, all episodes were filmed out of sequence during the show's entire run using a technique now known as the MacMurray method. MacMurray would do all of his scenes in 65 nonconsecutive days. The cast regulars got haircuts once a week in order to maintain continuity. Guest stars would have to return months later to complete an episode. All kitchen scenes would be done together, then all scenes in the upstairs hallway would be filmed together, etc. This fact was well concealed until Dawn Lyn joined the cast as Dodie. Her upper front teeth grew in irregularly during the entire 1969-70 season, from being barely visible in scenes with MacMurray to being plainly visible in scenes without him.
I remember reading that too! I think MacMurray liked the money. He obviously had tremendous clout with the studio so he could insist on such a brief work schedule.
I also read that when the "sons" had their close-ups and were speaking to a (not present) Steve Douglas, a studio hand would hold up a mop so that they had something to look up at to get their line of sight correct. The actors used to call it "Fred MacMop".
Don't know if it's really true, but it's funny.
Haha! Yeah, that is kinda funny. Nice schedule that guy had huh :D If he in fact was not particularly fond of children, as the poster above stated, then it was probably also a nice schedule for them as well :D
Somebody over at SitcomsOnline lashed out at me for "slandering a dead man" like Fred MacMurray for daring to suggest that he had a decidedly lazy work ethic when it came to My Three Sons.
shareI would say he valued his free time and was able to get what he wanted.
sharehttps://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showpost.php?p=5625172&postcount=3
TMC is a gossipmonger of the worst kind. He/she made a post on the “My Three Sons” message board saying that Fred MacMurray didn’t like working with kids, as evidenced by the show’s production. In reality, MacMurray only agreed to the job if he had a shortened working schedule and by all accounts had good relationships with the boys who played his sons.
In the case of Lucille Ball, she increasingly relied on cue cards on “The Lucy Show” because she had another job: president of Desilu! She became president of the company during the company’s first season when she bought out ex-husband Desi Arnaz. She no longer had as much time to memorize her lines.
There’s a special place in hell for those who slander other people.
https://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showpost.php?p=5598695&postcount=2
MacMurray didn’t hate working with the boys, at least not according to the actors who played his sons. I think he was reserved with them and that was his nature, but either Stan or Barry said he showed some emotion when the series ended and realized he wouldn’t see them any more.
Fred wasn’t lazy; he was simply further on in his career, and didn’t want to commit to a show where he had to work 39 weeks per year. ABC wanted him for the show, so the production company devised the method where he filmed all of his scenes in two blocks during the season, and the rest of the cast filmed their individual scenes when Fred was off. The “MacMurray” method was later used for Brian Keith on “Family Affair”.
Fred didn’t “insist” on making the boys film their scenes separately. They had plenty of scenes together; but if the boys and Bill Frawley or Demarest had scenes or reaction shots without him, then those were done when Fred was off.
I don’t know why you’re trying to drum up controversy by slandering someone who is long dead. Go back to your dead birthday posts.
He was STILL a movie star at the time and he had pictures and other projects he was doing. In order for him to be able to shoot a movie, he needed large blocks of time away from the series. And he needed to be able to have that time free if a movie came up. At 30 you can do many things at once. Starting from your 50s on, you have to concentrate on what you’re doing. One project at a time. Today, that age is not considered old. Back then, though, people settled down at that age. Every account I have read about him from the kids who worked with him say he was like Steve Douglas in many ways and was a kind caring individual who helped them with their acting. I believe one of them said he considered him his second Dad. He was very much NOT lazy and to even cavalierly imply this is highly irresponsible. So TMC, WADR, SitcomsOnline was unfortunately correct in their assessment.
shareIt wasn't a matter of laziness. He was considered a big star at the time, and it was a real coup to get an actual movie star to do a TV show and have their name on it. He was in Disney movies at the time, but before that, he was a romantic lead.
When he signed up, they made a provision that he could do all his scenes at once, and come back at the end to do any clean-up work or scenes that had to be done with him. So everything was filmed out of order.
The sons said that it was good for their acting because when he was gone, they had to play their scenes to a script girl who was reading his lines.
I heard this in interviews with the actors who played Chip and Ernie the past few years. They didn't mention anything about Fred MacMurray liking or not liking them or having a hard time with them.
It is an old belief that Scottish people can pinch a penny till it’s so flat you can cut with it. I have never known that to be true, and it may be, but I’m sure that generalization had a big role in where that piece of gossip came from. Unless you do it to a fault, there is nothing wrong with that. I’m sure those who do are thinking about their spouse and children.
shareThe way I heard the story was after Easter he would come in with colored Easter eggs for months afterwards because he wouldn't allow them to be wasted.
shareI think Brian Keith in “Family Affair” had also required a similar very compressed work schedule to be able to accommodate his movie contract work.
shareAll of this just makes me admire MacMurray even more.
shareYou can't blame people for getting what they want if someone (in this case, the network) is willing to pay! Fred MacMurray had a long, successful movie career. He probably did want to just relax and play golf.
So the network got a famous movie actor to star in one of their shows and it was worth it to them to give him what he wanted. They made money, he made money and the audience tuned in for twelve seasons!
Also back in those days they made so many more episodes per season than they do today. In early seasons of MTS, there were 36-39 shows per season. It would be impossible to commit to any other projects without reasonable accommodations in the production schedule.
shareOh I remember those days fondly! The new TV line-up began when school started and with few exceptions, the episodes were new until summer vacation started. Then who cared if there were reruns? We didn't. We were outside playing!
I bought a DVD of the first two seasons of Bewitched and I was surprised that there were almost seventy episodes!
"We were outside playing!"
I remember those days fondly. Now, you could drive from one side of my town to the other and not know any children lived here.
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I tell my kid about the long television seasons back then. She doesn't believe me.
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most of his scenes are with his kids;
no he wasn't lazy; he was a huge star, and had many other commitments; he was smart; wanted to shoot all his scenes in one go and then get back to his life.