Top 82 Quotes & Sayings by Fred MacMurray

Explore popular quotes and sayings by Fred MacMurray.
Last updated on September 17, 2024.
Fred MacMurray

Frederick Martin MacMurray was an American actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films and a successful television series, in a career that spanned nearly a half-century. His career as a major film leading man began in 1935, but his most renowned role was in Billy Wilder's film noir Double Indemnity. In the 1960s, MacMurray appeared in numerous Disney films, including The Absent-Minded Professor, The Happiest Millionaire, and The Shaggy Dog. He played Steve Douglas in the television series My Three Sons. After his success in films, he became a highly successful businessman.

People look upon me primarily as a comedian. I'm trying to get away from that, though I do like comedy.
We have a jam session at home every so often. That's one reason I bought a house with lots of ground around it the neighbors can't hear us play!
I just don't care to work that hard. — © Fred MacMurray
I just don't care to work that hard.
I like to hunt and fish, read and paint and play golf. And I can have a good time doing nothing. And, of course: be with my family.
We're content to knock around the house.
You've got to admire my courage going into a picture where the dog is a star. It takes a brave man to play opposite one.
The Apartment' was fun, but I enjoy comedy much more, and I feel I do it better.
I'm not rich but I've made a little money in my time.
I'm not an actor. I'm a personality.
I never could understand why Leslie Fenton gave up a soft touch in front of the camera to move behind it.
I would never do comedy on TV.
I don't night-club, don't get into fights or scandals, don't own a yacht, don't play the horses, don't wear plaid overcoats, don't go to Hollywood parties, don't own a motorcycle, don't run back and forth to New York, don't go in for politics.
Look, I don't do anything that these glamour guys do. The front pages never heard of me. — © Fred MacMurray
Look, I don't do anything that these glamour guys do. The front pages never heard of me.
I walk all over Los Angeles and people seldom recognize me.
When I read some of the things other movie people say about their work, I think I'm in the wrong business. I don't have any of those deep thoughts. I'm just myself.
June cooks, I cook and we have a girl who comes in to clean three days a week. We like that way of living. I suppose a lot of people think we can afford more, but we like it simple.
I'm an actor. That proves how lazy I am. It's foolish to take on any other jobs.
It was surprising for me to get out of town and have little kids ask for my autograph.
Being Scottish, I'm probably a little tight, or as the Scots say, 'You're cautious with your money.' I don't think that 's the worst thing in the world to be.
I like hills and trees.
It's nice to have people tell you they leave a movie theater without any problems.
I never wanted to be an actor. I only came to Hollywood to drive my mother out to visit my grandmother.
I nrver make the front pages or the gossip columns.
Seriously, I do not think that a marriage can be successful in which either the husband or the wife is far more intelligent than the other.
Just because a woman is beautiful doesn't mean she can't be a good wife. If her beauty affects her personality, then it's her mentality that's at fault... not the tilt of her nose.
The only award I ever got was the Popscar.
I'm Scottish, so I took care of my money.
A lot of actors go crazy if they're not working, but I guess I'm a little lazy.
You can't go wrong with a Western. I made a string of them.
Cooking is our hobby. We find recipes we like and then try to turn them into good meals. Most of the time our experimenting turns out pretty well. But sometimes we create lousy dinners.
A man marries the most gorgeous girl he can find because It's human nature to want the best of anything. If other men admire her he likes that, too. We all work best under competition. After all, no one wants to face an egg beater across the breakfast table... or find a horror movie in his home when he doesn't even own a TV set.
If I spend a couple of hours practising on the driving range, my 10 handicap becomes a 12 by the time I get on the course.
I haven't the knack of being colorful.
Any woman can make herself beautiful. I see 'em do it every day in the studio... with make-up and hair styles and curves added, that is. Science can do anything.
I'm sure that Steve Douglas, the character I play, has been helpful to some parents who apply his reasoning and ideas to help raise their children.
I don't want the audience to tire of me too quickly. TV would be the fastest way to make them so sick of my face they'd never want to see it again.
You know, you can only play just so much golf or go fishing just so often. — © Fred MacMurray
You know, you can only play just so much golf or go fishing just so often.
We've talked about doing a reunion of 'My Three Sons,' but I have an aversion to actors doing reunions.
A man can get old pretty fast if he doesn't keep his mind active.
Why should I knock myself out as a producer when there's as much money In acting - and fewer headaches.
I've played a lot of cowboys.
I was fishing with director Frank Capra once and we talked about retirement.
I just don't want to work as hard as you have to for a TV series.
I'm really not that rich. I really don't know how I got the reputation of being so loaded. Maybe my business manager started it. But I always say that I'm just rich enough that I don't have to do a television series.
When we were doing 'My Three Sons,' I appeared in the movie 'The Apartment.' I played a married businessman who kept a mistress on the side and treated her rather poorly. It was a good movie and a good role, and I thought it would be fun. But you should have seen the letters of protest I got over that.
I wanted a good humored kind of show, a show without violence. I liked the idea behind 'My Three Sons,' and I liked the people involved.
Both Lily and I feel we have a responsibility to our kids and it's one we enjoy; we love being with them. — © Fred MacMurray
Both Lily and I feel we have a responsibility to our kids and it's one we enjoy; we love being with them.
I was a star before I got more than $250 a week. Carole Lombard advised me how to get a raise. She said: 'Go to Palm Springs and stay there until they raise the ante.' They were waiting to start a picture with me and I was scared they'd forget me for someone else, but they came after me.
Sometimes a writer writes scenes for people who just say 'Hi' to indicate they're in love. I play those scenes very well.
If we can show the good side of people, then why not?
I want intelligence in my wife, but not too much she might see through me.
It's nice to be in a picture that's doing business.
I saw a clown knock the head off another clown and I thought it was the real thing. It scared me so much, I made my mother take me home and I've dodged circuses ever since.
I'm just a former saxophone player who got lucky.
A beautiful woman is the best investment in marriage a man can make. And anybody who advises otherwise is talking sheer nonsense.
I never went to acting school; when someone expounds on motivation and all that stuff, I don't understand it. I was just lucky to be able to do what I did. When I started, people said I was very natural, which I guess is difficult for a lot of people to be.
There's enough misery in the world today without going out of the way to create more.
I keep up to scratch on the sax.
There's a lack of tremendous pressure in the Disney studios. It's a pleasant place to be.
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