In addition to being known as one of the nicest guys in Hollywood, MacMurray was also well known for being frugal with the stacks of money he had accumulated during his career. MACMURRAY WAS ALWAYS LOOKING FOR WAYS TO SAVE A FEW DOLLARS. When she was doing a scene, he’d get us kids on the show to sneak in and knock over a stack of empty film cans or throw them like a Frisbee to make a big racket and ruin her scene so she’d have to do it again.” 5. He got me to participate in a couple of his pranks. When Bill saw Vivian, he’d yell some sort of obscenity at her. “She probably picked that stage knowing Bill and Vivian would have to pass each other. “On the third season of our show, lo and behold, Lucy decided to do The Lucy Show and they were on the next stage over from ours,” Stanley Livingston recalled. Vivian Vance absolutely refused, however, and Frawley never forgave her for denying him a steady paycheck. That there was no love lost between former I Love Lucy co-stars William Frawley and Vivian Vance was certainly no secret in Hollywood, but Frawley had been willing to set aside any personal differences when Desilu proposed a spin-off series starring Fred and Ethel Mertz. BILL FRAWLEY CARRIED A GRUDGE … TO GREAT LENGTHS. Former Mouseketeer Don Grady, who was cast as Robbie, not only passed muster as being well-behaved, he also had a cleft in his chin that resembled MacMurray’s. MacMurray instead recommended Tim Considine for the role, having recently worked with him on The Shaggy Dog. Ryan O’Neal was a contender for the role of Mike, the eldest son, but MacMurray felt that he wasn’t really suited to comedy. Stan was hired to play “Chip,” who was the youngest of the Douglas boys when the series premiered. Just nine years old at the time, he was already a show biz veteran, having worked regularly on The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet from 1958 to 1960. Stanley Livingston was the first of the “Sons” to be cast. THE “SONS” HAD TO BE MACMURRAY-APPROVED BEFORE BEING HIRED. Years later, Stanley reported-with pride-that Frawley “taught me every four-letter word I know!” 3. A long-time bachelor with no children of his own, he became something of a surrogate grandfather to Stanley and Barry Livingston, who played Chip and Ernie, respectively. Bub served as chief cook and bottle-washer, as well as the disciplinarian for the boys when their dad wasn’t home.įrawley nabbed the role shortly after his tenure on I Love Lucy, and was quite pleased to have another steady job. Enter William Frawley ( I Love Lucy’s Fred Mertz) as Michael Francis “Bub” O’Casey, Steve’s father-in-law. Since Steve’s job required long hours, some household help was required. The premise of My Three Sons was to showcase the trials and tribulations of Steven Douglas (MacMurray), an aeronautical engineer and widower, and his three boys-Mike, Robbie, and Chip. WILLIAM FRAWLEY WAS A BELOVED BUT NAUGHTY ROLE MODEL TO THE CHILD ACTORS. Years later, several other actors caught on to this concept and agreed to star in a project only if it was filmed in “ the MacMurray Method.” 2. MacMurray’s “three month” stipulation meant that the writers had to have each season’s scripts ready in advance so that MacMurray could film all of his scenes in one fell swoop and have them edited into the various episodes of the series after the fact. But the money Fedderson offered him was too tempting to pass up-and would secure his children’s future-so he signed on to play the widowed patriarch on My Three Sons. In reality, MacMurray was a dedicated family man, and after years of being away on movie sets had planned to retire early and spend the majority of his time at home with his wife and four-year-old twin daughters. MacMurray agreed with two conditions: one, that he would own a percentage of the show, and two, that he only would be required to work three months of each year. THE STAR MANAGED TO NEGOTIATE A SWEET SET OF WORKING HOURS FOR HIS SCHEDULE.įred MacMurray was a well-established film star when he was approached by executive producer Don Fedderson about starring in a TV series. Here are a few fun facts (or “neat junk,” as Ernie might say) about the Douglas family. The house wasn’t always spotless, the boys were rambunctious and noisy, and chaos was often the order of the day. When My Three Sons premiered in 1960, it wasn’t the first TV series to feature an all-male household- Bachelor Father and Bonanza were both lacking mother figures-but it was the first to show a more realistic version of such a family.
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