Fredric March

 Fredric March, August 31, 1897, Racine, WI-April 14, 1975, Los Angeles, CA. Married to Florence Eldridge 1927-1975, children Penelope March and Anthony March.

Stage actor who began making films in 1929 (not including being in four silent films as an extra in 1921). He made 88 screen appearances, and he won the Oscar twice, for "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" 1931, and "The Best Years of Our Lives" 1976, but when people mention the film actors of the Golden Age of Hollywood, March is never included. His output of films in the 30s and 40s was steady and the quality was equal to James Stewart, Gary Cooper, Spencer Tracy (who was also from Wisconsin), and Clark Gable. March took risks in his roles, doing established plays like "The Royal Family of Broadway", "Design for Living", "Death Takes a Holiday", "The Affairs of Cellini", and "The Barretts of Wimpole Street". He shared the screen three times with the great Charles Laughton in "The Sign of the Cross" 1932, "The Barretts of Wimpole Street" 1934, and Les Misérables" 1935.

He starred with Claudette Colbert four times, with Clara Bow twice, Norma Shearer twice, Nancy Carroll three times, Carole Lombard twice, Sylvia Sidney twice, Miriam Hopkins three times, and he also worked with Katharine Hepburn, Tallulah Bankhead, Janet Gaynor, Ruth Chatterton, Ann Harding, Mary Astor, Evelyn Venable, Rose Hobart, Fay Wray, Joan Crawford, Veronica Lake, Anna Sten, Merle Oberon, Frances Dee, Margaret Sullavan, Loretta Young, Myrna Loy, Barbara Stanwyck, Kim Novak, and several times with his wife, actress Florence Eldridge.

March took on the futility of war as early as 1933 with "The Eagle and the Hawk" with Cary Grant, he took on fascism with "Tomorrow, the World" and "So Ends Our Night", he portrayed famous men in "The Adventures of Mark Twain" and "Christopher Columbus", mercy-killing in "An Act of Muder", racism in "Tick, Tick, Tick", and evolution in "Inherit the Wind" with Spencer Tracy.