Newsletter: Classic Hollywood: My favorite Ray Walston and the underrated Fred MacMurray

Jan. 1, 2016 12:05 AM PT

Happy New Year! This is Susan King, a 25-year veteran of the Los Angeles Times and guardian of the Golden Age of Hollywood galaxy. Every Friday in my Classic Hollywood newsletter, I share my passion for the all things vintage, including milestone dates in TV, movie and radio history; notable births and deaths; classic events around town; and memories of those I have interviewed over the years.

Like Ray Walston.

I have to admit I was terrified of Walston when I saw him when I was 4 in “Damn Yankees,” in which he played the role of the wily devil Mr. Applegate to perfection. But that fear went away when he starred as the lovable alien Uncle Martin in the CBS 1963-66 comedy series “My Favorite Martian.” And he acquired a whole new group of fans as the stern high school teacher Mr. Hand in Amy Heckerling’s 1982 comedy hit, “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.”

I got the opportunity to chat with him over lunch in 1994 in the commissary at 20th Century Fox where he filmed David E. Kelley’s Emmy Award-winning series “Picket Fences.” Walston earned two Emmys for his memorable turn as the compassionate, cantankerous and wise Judge Henry Bone.

“Isn’t it a good part?” asked Walston. “It’s a wonderful part. One of the best parts I’ve ever had. You know it’s interesting, the evolution of the character. I use that word with that character because when we started out, it was only a recurring role, coming in now and then.”

Bone wasn’t the most patient man in the early episodes. “But as we did several segments of it, I managed to get in compassion, some understanding. Kelley began to write it in that fashion, and when he began to write that way, he began to write some of the most beautiful stuff. Some of those summations at the end of the segments are just so gorgeous and beautiful, really.”

Walston died on Jan. 1, 2001, at age 86. Here is the L.A. Times obit as it ran in the paper on Jan. 3.

Don’t Touch That Dial

The first time I ever saw Fred MacMurray in a movie, I was sitting on my father’s lap watching the 1959 Walt Disney hit “The Shaggy Dog” in a crowded movie theater in Newark, N.J. For most of my childhood, he was the ultimate sitcom dad on the CBS comedy “My Three Sons” and an affable Disney leading man.

But as grew up, I realized MacMurray was so underrated. He was a terrific and handsome leading man in romantic comedies who also excelled at playing complicated, dark characters in such films as Billy Wilder’s “Double Indemnity” in 1944 and “The Apartment.”

So all of you MacMurray fans should get your DVRs warmed up. The actor is TCM’s “Star of the Month,” and every Wednesday the movie channel will air several of his classic films that illustrate the actor’s immense charm and versatility. The MacMurray tribute begins this Wednesday with the 1937 screwball comedy “True Confession” with Carole Lombard and John Barrymore; the crazy 1945 comedy “Murder, He Says”; the 1947 comedy “Suddenly It’s Spring”; George Stevens’ acclaimed 1935 romantic drama “Alice Adams,” starring Katharine Hepburn; the sophisticated 1940 comedy “Too Many Husbands,” with Jean Arthur and Melvyn Douglas; the 1937 romantic comedy “Swing High, Swing Low,” with Lombard; and the 1941 drama “Dive Bomber,” which also stars Errol Flynn and Alexis Smith.

DVD Vault

Dennis Morgan and Jack Carson were not only friends in real life, but they also appeared in 11 films together at Warner Bros. Warner Archive is releasing several films on DVD this Tuesday featuring the duo in the 1946 comedy “Two Guys From Milwaukee,” also starring Joan Leslie and Janis Paige; the 1946 comedy with music “The Time the Place and the Girl,” which also stars Paige and Martha Vickers; and the 1948 western musical comedy “Two Guys From Texas,” also starring Penny Edwards and Dorothy Malone.

Carson, sans Morgan, appears in the 1948 musical drama “April Showers,” with Ann Sothern and Robert Alda, who was Alan Alda’s father.

Around Town

The American Cinematheque’s Aero Theatre in Santa Monica is ringing in the new year with its annual “Screwball Comedy Classics 2016.” The fun begins Friday with a Marx Brothers double bill: 1933’s “Duck Soup,” the last film featuring the four Marx Brothers and the siblings’ final film with Paramount; and their very first film, 1929’s “The Cocoanuts.”

On tap for Saturday are two of my favorite Mitchell Leisen-directed films: 1939’s hilarious “Midnight,” starring Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche and a scene-stealing John Barrymore and penned by Wilder and Charles Brackett; and 1940’s “Remember the Night,” which is a lovely romantic comedy drama written by Preston Sturges and starring Barbara Stanwyck and MacMurray.

The laughs conclude Sunday with a William Powell-Myrna Loy double bill: the 1934 mystery comedy “The Thin Man,” which proved so popular they appeared in five more over the next 13 years; and the terrific 1936 “Libeled Lady,” which also stars Jean Harlow and Spencer Tracy.

From the Hollywood Star Walk

Notable births this week include Charles Bickford (Jan.1); Carole Landis (Jan. 1); Cuba Gooding Jr. (Jan. 2); Anna Lee (Jan. 2); Oscar Micheaux (Jan. 2); Dorothy Arzner (Jan. 3); Dabney Coleman (Jan. 3); Marion Davies (Jan. 3); Ray Milland (Jan. 3); Zasu Pitts (Jan. 3); Robert Duvall (Jan. 5); George Reeves (Jan. 5); Jane Wyman (Jan. 5); Arthur Kennedy (Jan. 5); Tom Mix (Jan. 6); Danny Thomas (Jan. 6); and Loretta Young (Jan. 6)