Fred MacMurray: Disney's Best Dad

When we think classic television dads there are many “dads” who fit that bill: Ricky Ricardo from I Love Lucy (1951-1957), Andy Taylor from The Andy Griffith Show (1960-1968), Rob Petrie from The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-1966), Herman Munster from The Munsters (1964-1966), Mike Brady from The Brady Bunch (1969-1974), and the list goes on and on. Steve Douglas, the father from My Three Sons (1960-1972), is another character who would be included on that list, portrayed for twelve seasons by Fred MacMurray on both the ABC and CBS Networks. While appearing on the show, MacMurray simultaneously began a contract at Walt Disney Studios, and became a close of friend of Walt Disney in real life. In honor of Father’s Day, I thought we could reminisce MacMurray’s Disney legacy, which includes portrayals of fatherly figures. 

Fred MacMurray made his Disney debut as Wilson Daniels in The Shaggy Dog (1959). This film co-starred Tim Considine as Buzz Miller, who coincidentally would go on to star with MacMurray as Mike Douglas in the first seasons of “My Three Sons.” “Shaggy Dog,” was a beloved hit for Disney, being Disney’s first live-action comedy to produce as well as second-highest grossing film of 1959, just under Ben-Hur (1959). His second Disney film, The Absent-Minded Professor (1961), proved an even bigger hit, becoming the very first live-action Disney film to spawn a sequel, Son of Flubber (1963). Fred MacMurray enjoyed shooting the party scene in “Son of Flubber,” because he actually plays the saxophone in the scene and MacMurray had considered a career as a saxophone player before becoming an actor. In between the “Flubber,” films MacMurray made another film for Disney entitled Bon Voyage! (1962), during which Walt Disney himself taught him how to hypnotize chickens. Whoever would have thought that was a thing?

In the first four films he made for Disney, MacMurray acted with Tommy Kirk, who played his older son in “Shaggy Dog,” and “Bon Voyage,” and the son of his main enemy in the “Flubber” films. Kevin Corcoran portrayed his younger son in “Shaggy Dog,” and “Bon Voyage.” Fred MacMurray starred in Follow Me, Boys! in 1966 and The Happiest Millionaire in 1967. These two films would be the Disney/feature film debuts of Kurt Russell and Lesley Ann Warren, respectively. Fred MacMurray later cited “Follow Me, Boys,” as his favorite of all his Disney films, having grown up a boy scout himself. 

“Follow Me, Boys,” also reunited him with Elliot Reid, who portrayed his competitor for the affection of Vera Miles in the film. Ironically, Reid had also portrayed MacMurray’s competitor for Nancy Olson’s affection in “The Absent-Minded Professor,” and in both films the ladies ultimately chose MacMurray’s character. Charles Ruggles, who also appeared in “Son of Flubber,” appeared in “Follow Me, Boys” as well. MacMurray was also sad to bid farewell to his friend Walt Disney, whose December 15th, 1966 death occurred while both “Follow Me, Boys,” and “The Happiest Millionaire,” were still in production. He made his final Disney film Charley and the Angel in 1973, once again reuniting him with Kurt Russell.

Fred MacMurray was somewhat typecast as a chivalrous gentlemanly husband/father throughout most of his career, but he did, on occasion, have roles that weren’t so gentlemanly. He was often quoted as having said his best roles ever were whenever he cast against type. His portrayals of Walter Neff, the insurance salesman who plots with Barbara Stanwyck on how to murder her husband in Double Indemnity (1944) and as Jeff Sheldrake, the womanizing corporate executive executive having an affair with Shirley MacLaine in The Apartment (1960), are two great examples of that. Another example was with Humphrey Bogart and Jose Ferrer in The Caine Mutiny (1954), where he played deceitful Lieutenant Thomas Keefer. These three films were all nominated for the Best Picture Oscar and “The Apartment,” won, but sadly MacMurray never received an Oscar or any major award nomination throughout his entire career.

Fred MacMurray will forever be remembered for his “nice guy” roles, though one can definitely argue that he proved his versatility throughout his career and certainly was underrated as an actor. He retired from acting in 1978 after working for nearly 50 years, due to throat cancer and he passed away at the age of 83 on November 5th, 1991, having suffered from both leukemia and pneumonia. His adopted daughter, Kate MacMurray remembers her father being interviewed a few years before he passed away and the interviewer asked him how he’d like to be remembered and MacMurray replied “Fondly.” Taking into consideration the films he made for Disney, we certainly will remember him fondly.              

Review: "Cruella"

The character of Cruella DeVil was first introduced to the world in Dodie Smith’s novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians which was published in 1956. Five years later, Walt Disney adapted the character in his animated movie version of the novel, 101 Dalmatians, released in January of 1961. 35 years after that, Glenn Close portrayed the treacherous villainess in live-action form when Disney remade 101 Dalmatians in 1996. And on May 28th, Disney released the prequel live-action film Cruella (2021) starring Emma Stone as the character. Here’s my review:

The film introduces a young girl named Estella born with hair half black and half white. Estella immediately takes an interest in fashion, but apparently has a “cruel,” side, so her adopted mother, Catherine decides to call her “Cruella.” When mean-hearted Dalmatians chase Catherine off a cliff, to her death, young Estella is devastated and relocates to London where she meets two other orphans, Horace and Jasper, who take her in as part of their family. As Estella grows into a woman, she takes a job as a cleaning lady at the Liberty Department store, and one night while drunk she remakes a window design. Her design catches the attention of Baroness von Hellman, who employs Estella at her fashion house, and the baroness’s cruel, strict, and abusive mentorship inspires young Estella to give into her cruel side and ultimately adopt the “Cruella” name full-time.

“Cruella,” has a very depressing plot: a woman who values hatred and power rather than kindness and generosity and what precisely lead her to believe that. Taking that into consideration makes it hard to decipher what is inspiring about it, however we might at least feel compassion for her as she experiences tragic misfortune in her life, and we might also feel empathy for Horace and Jasper as Cruella bosses them around and takes away their dignity and/or self-esteem as a result. This story barely acknowledges the romance of Roger and Anita, nor Pongo and Perdita, which was disappointing, for me. However artistically, it is very well-made!    

“Cruella,” features unbelievably well-designed costumes, which were designed by Jenny Beavan who won two Oscars for her designs in A Room With a View (1985) and Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). The film was directed by Craig Gillespie who directed 2017’s Oscar-winning I, Tonya as well as Million Dollar Arm (2014) and The Finest Hours (2016), both of which were released by Disney. The film includes Production Design by Fiona Crumbie and Alice Felton and was co-written by Tony McNamara, all of whom received Oscar nominations for contributing the same skills to The Favourite (2018), which coincidentally starred Emma Stone!  

Emma Stone gives a brilliant performance in this film. One could maybe argue that it is an even stronger performance than her Oscar-winning turn in La La Land (2016), and she might have another Oscar nod in her future for this film. Emma Thompson is also quite brilliant as the cold-hearted Baroness. It probably won’t be long before Thompson earns the Disney Legend Award (an award an artist can earn for making legendary and/or iconic contributions to Disney), since “Cruella” is the fifth film Thompson has made released under the Disney label. (Prior to this, Thompson voiced Captain Amelia in Treasure Planet (2002), Queen Elinor in Disney/Pixar’s Brave (2012), and she portrayed P.L. Travers in Saving Mr. Banks (2013) (another vile character!) as well as Mrs. Potts in Disney’s live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast (2017)).

The supporting cast includes: “Cobra Kai’s,” Paul Walter Hauser as Horace, Joel Fry as Jasper, Mark Strong as John the Valet, Kayvan Novak as Roger, Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Anita, Emily Beecham as Catherine, and Tipper Siefert-Cleveland as Young Estella. They each give exceptional performances as well. 

Overall, there are some things to like about “Cruella,” but also some disappointments. I wouldn’t rank it as an all-time favorite or as one of Disney’s best. The film might either help you hate the character of Cruella DeVil more than you already did, or you might still dislike her but at the same time feel compassion for the rough life that she had. On the whole, I’d say that the more superior films would either be the original cartoon “101 Dalmatians,” or the live-action version with Glenn Close (who was an executive producer on this film.)   

Samuel E. Wright Tribute

When Disney produced The Little Mermaid (1989), released on November 17th, 1989, they assembled an unbelievably talented voice cast. The star lineup included Jodi Benson as the voice of Ariel, Christopher Daniel Barnes as Prince Eric, Pat Carroll as Ursula the Sea Witch, Paddi Edwards in the dual role of the eels Floatsam and Jetsam, Kenneth Mars as King Triton, and Buddy Hackett as Scuttle. Disney was also fortunate enough to cast Samuel E. Wright as the voice of Sebastian the crab. Sadly, we recently lost Sam, so I thought today’s blog could be a tribute to his interesting legacy at Disney.

Although a native of Camden, South Carolina, Wright adapted a Trinidadian accent when he was cast as Sebastian. Today people continue to mistake it for Jamaican, but Wright himself verified that it was, in fact, Trinidadian. He mastered the accent beautifully when singing the songs “Under the Sea,” and “Kiss the Girl,” both of which received the Academy Award Nomination for Best Original Song (“Under the Sea” won). He reprised the role of Sebastian for the direct-to-video sequels, The Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea (2000) and The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning (2008) as well as the Disney Channel Television Series, The Little Mermaid (1992-1994) and Disney’s House of Mouse (2001-2002).

Although Sebastian will forever be Wright’s best-known role at Disney, in 1997, Wright was cast in the Original Broadway Production of The Lion King in the role of Mufasa, the role made popular James Earl Jones in the movie. Although Jones’s Mufasa didn’t sing, a song that Sir Elton John and Sir Tim Rice had originally written for the film called “The Morning Report,” was included in the Broadway show for Mufasa to sing, along with Zazu and Young Simba. Mark Mancina and Jay Rifkin also collaborated with Lebo M on new music for the Broadway version and they wrote a new Mufasa song titled “They Live in You.” Wright scored the second Tony Nomination of his career for his performance as Mufasa.

After his run as “Mufasa,” Wright later returned to the Disney Studios to voice Kron the Iguanadon in the CGI film Dinosaur (2000). Max Casella, who co-starred with Wright in the Original Broadway Company of “Lion King,” originating the role of Timon, voiced Zini the lemur. The role of Kron was a villain, different from the good-natured Sebastian, and it didn’t require Wright to adapt an accent, but to make the character seem more threatening, he deepened his own natural voice.

Samuel E. Wright passed away due to prostate cancer on May 24th, 2021, at the age of 74. His legacy at Disney is as remarkable as it is legendary knowing that few actors get to portray iconic Disney characters both in film and on Broadway. “The Little Mermaid,” was adapted for Broadway in 2008 with Titus Burgess portraying Sebastian, and Disney is currently filming the live-action version of The Little Mermaid in which the role of Sebastian will be assumed by Tony Award Winner, Daveed Diggs, who won his Tony for doubling in the roles of Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in the Original Broadway Company of Hamilton. Samuel E. Wright will live on, however, as the voice that made Sebastian such a beloved character.