Fred MacMurray is not a great actor because today he is mostly remembered for being the father of My Three Sons on television, and although certain people have fond memories of that show, it's no one's idea of Great Acting.
Fred MacMurray is not a great actor because, unlike such well loved contemporaries as James Stewart, Humphrey Bogart, or James Cagney, he gave many of his best performances in romantic comedies, playing second fiddle to stars like Carole Lombard, Claudette Colbert, and Barbara Stanwyck.
Fred MacMurray is not a great actor because unlike that other romantic comedy star, Cary Grant, his appeal was not an unattainably glamorous sophisticate, but a charming, handsome boy next door, and when people seek out film stars of the past, they are typically drawn to the lost world of Hollywood glamour, not the guy who seems like he was probably born in your hometown.
Fred MacMurray is not a great actor because instead of working with Alfred Hitchcock or John Ford, he worked with "set dresser" Mitchell Leisen and king of the 50s melodramas, Douglas Sirk.
Fred MacMurray is not a great actor because one of his greatest, key performances, that of Walter Neff in Double Indemnity, is typically misinterpreted as a weak man who is led astray by a demon in female form, ignoring the fact that MacMurray and the screenplay carefully layer Neff's dark, smug restlessness long before he ever sees Barbara Stanwyck's anklet, making it not a tale of an innocent, weak man led astray, but of a callous schemer always looking to get a leg up meeting his seemingly perfect partner in crime.
Fred MacMurray is not a great actor because nobody took him seriously.
Fred MacMurray is not a great actor because it is very possible, if one really looked closely, if someone were to take even his lightest movies seriously and truly sit down and watch his performances, one just might find that he might be a great actor after all.
But, seriously, he's not a great actor. I mean, he played Rosalind Russell's secretary. What kind of great actor would play Rosalind Russell's secretary?
