8. Fred MacMurray - Double Indemnity
Fred who? Double what? Isn't that the dad from My Three Sons? Why yes it is, and believe it or not, before he spent twelve years as Steve Douglas on the former Nick at Nite staple, Fred MacMurray was...HOLY CRAP, TWELVE YEARS? Whew, some actors don't even have whole careers that long, yet MacMurray had already been acting for over thirty years before he signed up for three-hundred and eighty episodes as America's father figure; not that much of a reach for the man since he'd been playing nice guys since he began acting back in 1929. However yeah, I'm getting to it there was a time when Freddy-Boy enjoyed a little villainous mustache twirling and let the world see him in a different light. The year was 1944 when director Billy Wilder cast MacMurray for the role of sleazy insurance agent Walter Neff in the film Double Indemnity. MacMurray actually tried to talk Wilder out of the deal at first, saying that the director was making a mistake. The actor felt that since his career up to that point had been all about playing happy-go-lucky nice guys in comedies, he might not have had the chops to pull off such a complex and decidedly dickish character as Neff. Well, he was wrong. MacMurray was a terrific piece of crap, and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible. He was so totally believable as a womanising, murdering scumbag that the film was nominated for seven Academy Awards. None of the nominations were for MacMurray, but let's not quibble. Wilder tapped MacMurray to be a b*stard again sixteen years later when he cast him as womanising insurance executive Jeff Sheldrake in The Apartment. Hmmm, playing the sleazy insurance game again? Give Wilder credit, because sometimes you just gotta go with what works. It worked so well the second time around that The Apartment won ten Academy Awards including Best Picture. Again, no nominations for MacMurray, but what'd I say before about quibbling?