FREDRIC MARCH BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Fredric March was born August 31st, 1897 in Racine, Wisconsin with the birth name Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel.  He was the son of Cora Brown, a school teacher and John Bickel a Presbyterian Church elder who also worked in the wholesale hardware business.  March attended Winslow Elementery and Racine High School.  As a child he had decided he wanted to grow up and pursue a career as a business man.  He attended the University of Wisconsin and earned a degree in Economics.  He then joined the military as an artillery lieutenant.  After completing his service, in 1920, he entered the banking business in New York working at First National City bank, known now as Citibank. 
 
When he suffered an attack of appendicitis, he decided to pursue a acting career on stage and give up banking.  He began in 1920 with doing extra work in movies made in New York City.  In 1926 he got his first role on Broadway on, "The Devil and the Cheese" and he  also met his future wife, Florence Eldridge while working on a stock company in Denver.  He ended his short two year marriage with Ellis Baker on Janaury 17th, 1927 and four short months later he married Eldridge on May 30th, 1927.  The couple joined the first national tour of the Theatre Guild and together they appeared on stage in numerous productions and later on in films as well.
 
In 1929, he did a stage production with Edna Ferber and George Kaufman in, "The Royal Family" and it was this production that got him  a signed contract with Paramount pictures.  The role was repeated on a screen adaption called, "The Royal Family of Broadway" (1930) which earned March his first Oscar nomination.  He followed with a performance on the screen in, "Dr. Jekyle and Mr. Hyde" (1931), in which became the first and only performer ever to win the Best Actor Academy Award for a portrayal of a monster in a horror film.
 
March was quite succesful in the 30's with roles on, "Design for Living" (1933), "The Sign of the Cross" (1932), "Death Takes a Holiday" (1934) and "The Barretts of Wimpole Street" (1934).  Due to such huge success with his films, as his contract ended with Paramount, March was never obligated to sign specifically with one studio, he was able to choose his roles and pictures that he worked on as he pleased.  Some of the films he did not under contract were, "Les Miserables" (1935), "Anna Karenina" (1935), "Anthony Adverse" (1936), "A Star is Born" (1937) and "Nothing Sacred" (1937), which he won an Oscar nomination for and won the New York Film Critics Circle Award.  
 
By 1937, March was listed as the fifth highest paid individual in America earning $500,000 per year.  He was an amazing actor in films as well as on the stage.  Since he was freelance he could do independent films as well as work with various studio's all with succesful results such as in, "Victory" (1940), "So Ends Our Night" (1941) and "Married a Witch" (1942).
 
By the age of fifty he was able to take on more challenging roles and films such as, "The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946) which he won his second Academy Award, followed by a role in, "An Act of Murder" (1948) and "Death of a Salesman" (1951).  This movie was well received by critics and March got an Oscar nomination as well as won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival, however it was not so profitable. 
 
March did not stop there, he was very successful in numerous films in the 50's following his Oscar nomination.  "Executive Suite" (1954), "The Bridges at Toko-Ri" (1955), "The Desperate Hours" (1955) and "The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit" (1956) to name a few. 
 
The 60's and 70's were good to him as well.  For his role on, "Inherit the Wind" (1960) he received an award at the Berlin film Festival and followed again with more prosperous films such as, "Hombre" (1967).  Soon after, March had to undergo surgery for prostate cancer and thought it was best he retire from acting, however, he was lurred to come out of retirement for one more film role, "The Iceman Cometh" (1973).  This film was another rewarding film to add to March's resume, and again he earned highly acclaimed reviews from critics and audiences.
 
During his career as an actor, he appeared in more then 60 films over a 40 year period.   He was a well distinguised actor who could portray a variety of roles.   He and his wife adopted two children and were also quite active supporters of the Democratic Party.  
 
Sadly, two years after completing that film, "The Iceman Cometh", Frederic March passed away April 14th, 1975 from Prostate Cancer and his buried at his estate in New Milfrod, Connecticut which he always considered his primary residence since the 1930's.
 
 
Filmography

1921  The Great Adventure
1921  Paying the Piper
1921  The Education of Elizabeth
1921  The Devil
1929  The Dummy
1929  The Wild Party
1929  The Studio Murder Mystery
1929  Jealousy
1929  Footlights and Fools
1929  The Marriage Playground Martin Boyne
1930  Sarah and Son
1930  Paramount on Parade
1930  Ladies Love Brutes
1930  True to the Navy
1930  Manslaughter
1930  Laughter
1930  The Royal Family of Broadway
1931  Honor Among Lovers
1931  Night Angel 
1931  My Sin Dick Grady
1931  Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
1932  Strangers in Love 
1932  Merrily We Go to Hell
1932  Make Me a Star
1932  Smilin' Through
1932  The Sign of the Cross
1932  Hollywood on Parade No. A-1
1933  Tonight Is Ours
1933  The Eagle and the Hawk
1933  Design for Living
1934  All of Me
1934  Death Takes a Holiday
1934  Good Dame 
1934  The Affairs of Cellini
1934  The Barretts of Wimpole Street
1934  We Live Again
1934  Hollywood on Parade No. B-61935
1934  Les Misérables
1935  Anna Karenina
1935  The Dark Angel
1935  Screen Snapshots Series 14, No. 11
1936  The Road to Glory
1936  Mary of Scotland
1936  Anthony Adverse
1936  Screen Snapshots Series 16, No. 3
1937  A Star Is Born
1937  Nothing Sacred
1937  Screen Snapshots Series 16, No. 5
1938  The Buccaneer
1938  There Goes My Heart
1938  Trade Winds
1940  Susan and God
1940  Victory Hendrik Heyst
1941  So Ends Our Night
1941  One Foot in Heaven
1941  Bedtime Story Lucius 'Luke' Drake
1942  I Married a Witch
1944  Valley of the Tennessee Narrator
1944  The Adventures of Mark Twain
1944  Tomorrow, the World!
1946  The Best Years of Our Lives
1948  Another Part of the Forest
1948  An Act of Murder
1949  Christopher Columbus
1951  It's a Big Country
1951  Death of a Salesman
1953  Man on a Tightrope 
1953  The Bridges at Toko-Ri
1954  Executive Suite
1954  The Best of Broadway
1954  What's My Line?
1955  The Desperate Hours
1956  Alexander the Great
1956  The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
1956  Island of Allah Narrator
1959  Middle of the Night
1960  Inherit the Wind
1961  The Young Doctors
1962  I Sequestrati di Altona
1964  Seven Days in May
1967  Hombre
1970  …tick…tick…tick…
1973  The Iceman Cometh