Fred MacMurray in The Chadwick Family

While celebrating Fred MacMurray's birthday last month--hey, didn't everyone--we came across this 1974 ABC Movie of the Week: The Chadwick Family, an unsold pilot:




Also in the cast: Kathleen Maguire, BOTNS favorite Alan Fudge, Barry Bostwick, Bruce Boxleitner, and Darleen Carr among others.

According to IMDB, in this dramatic story, A father finds himself taking care of a "family" that in addition to his son and three daughters, also consists of two sons-in-law and his youngest daughter's Chinese boyfriend.

The movie premiered April 17, 1974 against a supersized (sorry) Cannon rerun on CBS and part 2 of a broadcast of Judgment at Nuremburg on NBC. It started at 9:30, an odd time for a movie, because it followed the pilot of Robert Forster's short-lived Nakia:




Anyone remember either of these 1974 projects?

Happy birthday, Fred MacMurray!

One of our favorites, the star of movies like Double Indemnity and later the anchor of My Three Sons, was born August 30, 1908. There is no truth to the rumor that Fred celebrated all his birthdays at once so he would have more time to golf.

Frederick Martin MacMurray starred on Sons through its end in 1972. Let's enjoy the Douglas Family Quintent with special guest vocalist Katie: