Trivia of Fredric March

 Trivia of Fredric March (31 August 1897 - 14 April 1975)

*Because he considered 12 his lucky number, he shortened Frederick to Fredric, shortened his mother's maiden name from Marcher to March, and as of New Year's Day, 1924, Fredric March was born.

*He began his career as a bank teller for First National City Bank. A serious health issue, however, made him re-evaluate his life choices. A ruptured appendix led to an emergency appendectomy which brought him near to death. He realized that life is short and decided to pursue his acting dreams after making his recovery.

*His performance in the satirical play 'The Royal Family' (1929) caught the attention of Paramount Pictures who recognized his potential and signed him to a five year contract. He appeared in the film adaptation of 'The Royal Family of Broadway' in 1930 for which he received his first Academy Award nomination.

*He was the first actor to receive an Academy Award for a horror film (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931). The next would not be until Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs (1991).

* Greta Garbo his co star in Anne Karenina (1935) reportedly wore garlic under her clothes and purposely had bad breath in order to stave off his advances to seduce.However Fredric March married actress Florence Eldridge in 1927. They appeared together in several films and plays, and adopted two children. They remained together until his death in 1975 at the age of 77.

*March made several spoken word recordings, including a version of Oscar Wilde's The Selfish Giant issued in 1945 in which he narrated and played the title role, and The Sounds of History, a twelve volume LP set accompanying the twelve volume set of books The Life History of the United States, published by Time-Life. The recordings were narrated by Charles Collingwood, with March and his wife Florence Eldridge performing dramatic readings from historical documents and literature.

*He loved to write letters, and kept up a massive correspondence. Enjoying his celebrity, he never allowed publicity men to ghostwrite articles for him, as he preferred to write and respond to newspapers and magazines on his own.