On this day in 1908, Hollywood legend Fred MacMurray was born in Kankakee, Illinois. As a saxophone-playing musician, Fred first came to Hollywood in the 1920s, which led to a career that spanned more than 50 years and 50 films, including Double Indemnity and The Apartment. Fans of 1960s television best remember Fred as Steven Douglas, the father on My Three Sons. In 1959, Fred began an association with Disney when he starred in The Shaggy Dog and continued to appear in an additional half dozen Disney films including The Absent-Minded Professor, Follow Me, Boys!, and The Happiest Millionaire. In 1987, a television movie, The Return of the Shaggy Dog, was about to be released, so to help promote the film, Disney paid tribute to the star of the original version of the film, naming Fred a Disney Legend at a ceremony at the Disney studios in Burbank. When then Disney President and CEO Michael Eisner learned of the proposed publicity stunt, he felt the ceremony should have more meaning, and the Disney Legends award program was born.
