March, Frederic [né Frederick McIntyre Bickel] (1897–1975), actor. Born in Racine, Wisconsin, and educated at the University of Wisconsin, he made his stage debut as the Prompter in
Deburau in 1920. Within a few seasons he had risen to leading man in several short‐lived dramas, then became a star in films. March did not return to Broadway until 1938, when he appeared opposite his wife, Florence
Eldridge, in the quick failure,
Yr. Obedient Husband. Further failures followed before he won praise as the allegorical Mr. Antrobus in
The Skin of Our Teeth (1942). He subsequently distinguished himself as Major Victor Joppolo in
A Bell for Adano (1944), the father Clinton Jones in
Years Ago (1946), the meddling, self‐important artist Nicholas Denery in
The Autumn Garden (1951), the bitter, tight‐fisted actor James Tyrone in
Long Day's Journey into Night (1956), and the Angel of God in
Gideon (1961). His performance as Tyrone, which won him numerous honors, was called by Brooks
Atkinson “masterful. . .a character portrait of grandeur.” It was made all the more believable because, like the figure he was playing, March had a touch of the ham in him and the aura of an earlier‐day matinee idol, handsome, but stern‐looking.
