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My Three Sons

My Three Sons opening titles.
Format Sitcom
Starring Fred MacMurray
William Demarest
Don Grady
Stanley Livingston
Barry Livingston
Tim Considine
William Frawley
Meredith MacRae
Tina Cole
Beverly Garland
Dawn Lyn
Ronne Troup
Daniel, Joseph, and Michael Todd
Country of origin Flag of the United States United States
No. Frederick Martin MacMurray ( August 30, 1908 &ndash November 5, 1991) was an American Actor who appeared in over one William Demarest ( February 27, 1892 – December 28, 1983) was an American Character actor. Don Agrati (born June 8 1944 in San Francisco California) better known as Don Grady, is an American Composer, Musician and Stanley Livingston is an American actor (born on November 24, 1950, in Los Angeles California) Barry Livingston (born December 17, 1953) is an American Television and Film actor Tim Considine (born December 31, 1940, in Los Angeles California) is a former American Child actor and young adult Actor William Clement Frawley ( February 26, 1887 – March 3, 1966) was an American stage Entertainer, screen Meredith MacRae (born May 30, 1944 in Houston Texas, died July 14, 2000 in Manhattan Beach California) was an American Tina Cole (born Christina Yvonne Cole is an American Actress and Singer who was born on August 4, 1943, in Hollywood California Beverly Garland (born October 17, 1926) is an American film and television Actress, businesswoman and hotel owner Dawn Lyn, born Dawn Lyn Nervik is an American actress born in Los Angeles California in January 1963 Ronne Troup (born circa 1945 is an American Actress best known for her 1970-72 role as "Polly Williams-Douglas" on the long running Sitcom The United States of America —commonly referred to as the  of episodes 380
Production
Running time 30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel ABC (1960-1965)
CBS (1965-1972)
Original run September 29, 1960 – August 24, 1972
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

My Three Sons is a situation comedy about a Scots/Irish-American family (Douglas/ O'Casey), that ran from September 29, 1960, to August 24, 1972. The American Broadcasting Company ( ABC) is an American Television network. CBS Broadcasting Inc ( CBS) is an American radio and Television network. Events 522 BC - Darius I of Persia kills the Magian usurper Gaumâta securing his hold as king of the Persian Empire. Year 1960 ( MCMLX) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 49 BC - Julius Caesar 's General Gaius Scribonius Curio is defeated in the Second Battle of the Bagradas River Year 1972 ( MCMLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 522 BC - Darius I of Persia kills the Magian usurper Gaumâta securing his hold as king of the Persian Empire. Year 1960 ( MCMLX) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 49 BC - Julius Caesar 's General Gaius Scribonius Curio is defeated in the Second Battle of the Bagradas River Year 1972 ( MCMLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. My Three Sons chronicles the life of an aeronautical engineer and widower Steve Douglas, played by Fred MacMurray, and his three sons. Frederick Martin MacMurray ( August 30, 1908 &ndash November 5, 1991) was an American Actor who appeared in over one This seemingly simple premise was a huge hit and a cornerstone of the CBS lineup in the 1960s. CBS Broadcasting Inc ( CBS) is an American radio and Television network. The 1960s decade refers to the years from the beginning of 1960 to the end of 1969 With 380 episodes produced, it is second only to The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet as television's longest running (live-action) family sitcom. The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet was a long-running American Television series, airing on ABC from October 3,

The show began on ABC in black-and-white. The American Broadcasting Company ( ABC) is an American Television network. The first season, consisting of thirty-six episodes, is particularly remarkable for having been directed in its entirety by Peter Tewksbury, who also produced and occasionally scripted the programs. Peter Tewksbury (1923 - 2003 was an American Film and Television director who directed several films including Sunday in New York These early episodes held to no specific generic type, so that any episode from one week to the next might be comedic or dramatic or, in one or two cases, surprisingly innovative. An early highlight is the fourth episode, "Countdown," written by David Duncan, which chronicles the Douglas family's attempts to wake up, prepare for the day, have breakfast and get out of the house by a common, agreed-upon time, all carefully synchronized to a televised rocket launch countdown -- to comical and often ironic effect. Tewksbury's episodes are also unusual for their fearless use of cross-talk in depicting the chaotic Douglas household, a full decade before Robert Altman was credited with innovating such aural realism in feature films such as M*A*S*H* (1970). Tewksbury returned to directing feature films after concluding the season.

The show moved to CBS for the 1965–66 season after ABC would not commit to the expense of producing the program in color. Year 1965 ( MCMLXV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the 1965 Gregorian calendar. Year 1966 ( MCMLXVI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. Along with the change in networks and the transition to color, other changes happened during 1965: William Frawley played "Bub" O'Casey, the boys' maternal grandfather, until he was declared too ill to work by Desilu Studios and the producers could no longer find insurance for him. William Clement Frawley ( February 26, 1887 – March 3, 1966) was an American stage Entertainer, screen Desilu Productions was a Los Angeles California based company jointly owned by American actors Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. They took a gamble on Frawley for half a season, until a suitable replacement could be found. He was replaced by William Demarest who played his brother Charley. William Demarest ( February 27, 1892 – December 28, 1983) was an American Character actor. According to the storyline, Bub fell in love with Ireland while the gang visited the Emerald Isle the previous season and went back to help his Aunt Kate celebrate her birthday. Shortly after Bub left, Charley dropped by unannounced to pay a visit and stayed on as housekeeper. According to Frawley's biography Meet the Mertzes, he was never pleased with being written out of the show. Frawley died a short while later in March 1966 at age 79.

Tim Considine, who had worked with MacMurray on The Shaggy Dog, played oldest son Mike and did not renew his contract after a falling-out with Executive Producer Don Fedderson over his wish to direct but not co-star in the series (he did direct one of the last black and white episodes). Tim Considine (born December 31, 1940, in Los Angeles California) is a former American Child actor and young adult Actor The Shaggy Dog is a Black and white 1959 Walt Disney movie about Wilby Daniels a teenager who is transformed into Considine was into car racing, which his contract forbade. The character was written out with Meredith MacRae who had played his fiancee and (in his last episode) new wife. Meredith MacRae (born May 30, 1944 in Houston Texas, died July 14, 2000 in Manhattan Beach California) was an American

To keep the show's title plausible, the show's head writer George Tibbles fashioned a three-part story arc where youngest brother Richard (better known as Chip - and played by Stanley Livingston) had an orphaned friend named Ernie Thompson (played by his real-life brother Barry Livingston) who was awaiting adoption because his foster parents were to be transferred to the Orient. Stanley Livingston is an American actor (born on November 24, 1950, in Los Angeles California) Barry Livingston (born December 17, 1953) is an American Television and Film actor When Steve offers to adopt Ernie, he faces antagonism from Uncle Charley who can foresee nothing but more work with another boy. Ultimately Charley comes to the rescue when the adoption agency's criterion that there must be a woman in the home causes a stall in negotiations. (In the storyline, the judge determined that the intent of the law is to make sure a full-time caregiver would be present; with Uncle Charley meeting that role, he assents to a legal fiction declaring him "housemother" to the Douglases. In the Common law tradition legal fictions are suppositions of fact taken to be true by the Courts of Law, but which are not necessarily )

While the three sons were always central to the storyline, several major changes happened by the late 1960s. In 1967, the family moved from the Midwest to California, settling in Los Angeles. Year 1967 ( MCMLXVII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. Robbie married his classmate/girlfriend Katie Miller (Tina Cole). Tina Cole (born Christina Yvonne Cole is an American Actress and Singer who was born on August 4, 1943, in Hollywood California Two years later, Steven re-married, taking widowed teacher Barbara Harper (Beverly Garland) as his wife; she had a 5-year-old daughter, Dorothy aka Dodie (Dawn Lyn), so Steven now had a stepdaughter. Beverly Garland (born October 17, 1926) is an American film and television Actress, businesswoman and hotel owner Dawn Lyn, born Dawn Lyn Nervik is an American actress born in Los Angeles California in January 1963 Also, the last 1 1/2 years of the series featured fewer appearances of both Don Grady and Stanley Livingston, Grady's character was written out of the show at the end of the eleventh season which allowed for his wife Katie and their triplet sons (named Charles, Steven, and Robert) to remain within the Douglas household the following season (with Robbie supposedly working on a bridge construction in Peru), while Chip and his teen wife Polly (who eloped after Polly's strict father initially refused to accept the marriage) had moved into their own apartment. With a large cast of regulars, storylines were centered around different family members from episode to episode. At this point the program's narrative focus was that of blended families.

The series' cast had an several music connections. MacMurray began his career as a sax player during the 1930s, and sometimes played it on the series, as well as clarinet. The 1930s were described as an abrupt shift to more radical and conservative lifestyles as countries were struggling to find a solution to the Great Depression. Actress Tina Cole (Katie) was born into the King Family, a popular 1950s-60s group. Tina Cole (born Christina Yvonne Cole is an American Actress and Singer who was born on August 4, 1943, in Hollywood California Ronne Troup (Polly) was the daughter of musician/ composer Bobby Troup (Emergency!), who wrote the song "Route 66," and Dawn Lyn is the younger sister of popular 1970s idol, Leif Garrett. Ronne Troup (born circa 1945 is an American Actress best known for her 1970-72 role as "Polly Williams-Douglas" on the long running Sitcom Bobby Troup ( October 18 1918 - February 7 1999) was an American Actor, Jazz Pianist and Songwriter Emergency! is a Medical drama Television series that was produced by Mark VII Limited ( Jack Webb 's company and distributed by " (Get Your Kicks On Route 66 " often rendered simply as " Route 66 " is a Popular song and Rhythm and blues standard Dawn Lyn, born Dawn Lyn Nervik is an American actress born in Los Angeles California in January 1963 Leif Garrett (born Leif Per Nervik on November 8, 1961) is an American Singer and Actor of Norwegian descent Bobby Troup was married to his Emergency! co-star singer Julie London. Don Grady (Robbie) composed and produced music, having created a successful Las Vegas venue for Phantom of the Opera star Michael Crawford. Michael Crawford, OBE (born 19 January 1942) is an English Actor and Singer.

Contents

Production schedule

Fred MacMurray was the only actor to appear in every episode of the series. Reportedly, MacMurray's contract stipulated that he work only 65 days per year. His scenes for each season were produced in two blocks of filming. He would report to the Desilu-Gower lot in late May and work thirty-five days (five days per week, weekends off), then take off for 10 weeks. He would then return to complete his remaining 30 days of shooting and was finished altogether around Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a traditional North American Holiday, which is a form of harvest festival. MacMurray's ten-week hiatus in the middle of each season's production schedule freed up the actor to follow other pursuits, while the filming of scenes with the other cast members continued. In short, all episodes were filmed out of sequence. This sometimes produced noticeable continuity problems onscreen, especially as the boys grew and changed styles. William Frawley, for one, never felt comfortable with this filming method, having grown accustomed to filming I Love Lucy in sequence. I Love Lucy is an American Situation comedy, starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance and William Frawley

Distribution

My Three Sons was created by George Tibbles and produced by Don Fedderson Productions throughout the show's run, with MCA Television co-distributing the series during its 1960-65 ABC run. George Tibbles ( June 7, 1913 - February 14, 1987) was a Screenwriter, contributing to TV series such as My Three NBC Universal is a media and Entertainment company formed in May 2004 by the combination of General Electric 's NBC with Vivendi Universal CBS Paramount Television presently owns distribution rights to the entire series (including the more widely seen 1965-72 CBS episodes). CBS Paramount Television (formerly Desilu Productions, Paramount Television, among other companies is an American Television production The color episodes were syndicated during the 1970s; the earlier black-and-white episodes were seen on Nick-at-Nite in the 1980s, as the color ones were during the 1990s. Nick at Nite is the evening programming block broadcast over Nickelodeon Sunday &ndash Thursdays from 900 p CBS DVD/Paramount Home Entertainment is planning a DVD release of the first portion of season one (release date to be announced). CBS Home Entertainment is the new Home video entertainment arm of CBS Corporation. Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American motion picture production and Distribution company, based in Hollywood California.

Main cast


Recurring cast

External links

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