Top 44 Fred MacMurray Quotes

It’s nice to be in a picture that’s doing business.

I would never do comedy on TV.

I’ve had offers to do series on both radio and TV, but it s so much work and I’m lazy. I’d rather go fishing.

Both Lily and I feel we have a responsibility to our kids and it’s one we enjoy; we love being with them.

It’s nice to have people tell you they leave a movie theater without any problems.

I was born in Illinois, but I call Beaver Dam my home town. That’s where I graduated from high school and started what I thought was going to be a musical career.

I never could understand why Leslie Fenton gave up a soft touch in front of the camera to move behind it.

I was fishing with director Frank Capra once and we talked about retirement.

Years ago my fans consisted almost strictly of adults.

I want intelligence in my wife, but not too much she might see through me.

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.

I just don’t want to work as hard as you have to for a TV series.

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.

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.

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.

I like hills and trees.

The government has confiscated over 360 acres of my choicest pastureland to build a radar intercepting station.

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 do enough pictures so I ran play golf and go up to my ranch once in awhile. This is what I worked towards when I began in this business in 1934.

A beautiful woman is the best investment in marriage a man can make. And anybody who advises otherwise is talking sheer nonsense.

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.

I remember in the movies we used to do two pages a day. One in the morning and one in the afternoon.

I’m an actor. That proves how lazy I am. It’s foolish to take on any other jobs.

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.

We spend a lot of time at the ranch. And June and I spend as much time as w can with the kids. I learned with my first two how fast they grow up.

I’m Scottish, so I took care of my money.

I’m not good on talk shows.

I can remember various stages when I wanted to be an artist, a football coach, and a musician but never an actor. However, I’ll have to admit that now that I’m in this business I like it and would hate to have to give it up.

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.

You can’t go wrong with a Western. I made a string of them.

I keep up to scratch on the sax.

I’m just a former saxophone player who got lucky.

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.

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.

There’s a lack of tremendous pressure in the Disney studios. It’s a pleasant place to be.

They sent me the first ‘Untouchables’ script, for instance, and I’m glad I didn’t do it. For one thing, it was practically a feature film, and for very little money. If I’d taken it, I’d have been faced with the job of turning them down on the series later.

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.

People look upon me primarily as a comedian. I’m trying to get away from that, though I do like comedy.

When television first came on, it had all the comedy.

Sometimes a writer writes scenes for people who just say ‘Hi’ to indicate they’re in love. I play those scenes very well.

I walk all over Los Angeles and people seldom recognize me.

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.

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.