Compared to My Three Sons, Fred MacMurray said being a father was harder at home
There is no doubt that Fred MacMurray was one of the most beloved fathers on classic television during his time as Steve Douglas on My Three Sons (1960).
After a total of 12 seasons on the air, MacMurray's character quickly rose to the ranks of other iconic dads such as Mike Brady (The Brady Bunch), Ward Cleaver (Leave It to Beaver) and Rob Petrie (The Dick Van Dyke Show).
He was everything anyone could want in a dad: patient, kind, encouraging and wise. And with three to four kids running around, he needed those traits to manage them all at once.
However, as great a father as MacMurray was on-screen, he wished he could have been a better father off-screen, too.
"If only a father's problems with his children could be solved as simply and as neatly as they are in family situation comedies on television," MacMurray said in a 1964 interview with The Atlanta Journal.
According to the interview, as a father of four himself, MacMurray said he was always contemplating the differences between his parenting style in the series and his own journey with fatherhood at home.
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Although he couldn't have a scriptwriter at home to help him parent, he said he did take a few of the lines from My Three Sons to use at home with his own children. In the world of screenwriting, it only takes a few edits to solve all the problems presented. However, it wasn't so easy in MacMurray's house.
"One of my sons [in the series] gets a problem and comes to me with it," MacMurray said. "I'm very sage and helpful, but of course I leave it up to him to find his own solution. And he does. All in the space of less than a half hour."
"At home, it's a different matter," MacMurray continued. "I'm not all that sage and thoughtful. In fact, I get mad a lot more easily. And I don't get anything solved in a half hour, believe me."
Not only was fatherhood easier for him when it was written out in My Three Sons, but being an actual father in Hollywood had many of its own special difficulties.
"It's not so much a problem in Hollywood, but the kids can find it bothersome on the outside to be known as the movie star's child," MacMurray said. "My son Robby felt it at school when a lot of other boys would say 'So, you're Fred's kid, huh?' It's tough to be known all the time as Fred's kid when he wants to have an identity of his own."