His wife, actress Florence Eldridge, appeared with him in The Studio Murder Mystery (1929), Les Misérables (1935), Another Part of the Forest (1948), An Act of Murder (1948), Christopher Columbus (1949), and Inherit the Wind (1960). On TV, she appeared with him in the "Producers' Showcase" (1954) presentation of 'Dodsworth' on 30 April 1956.
In 1937, March was listed as the fifth highest paid individual in America, earning a half-million dollars.
In 1938, March came in second in an audience poll for the role of Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind.
In 1943, March made tours for the USO covering nearly 40,000 miles. His other contributions to the war effort included volunteering at the Stage Door Canteen and fund-raising activities.
In 1955 an informal poll of some thirty top stars, directors and producers was tabulated and announced. Fredric March was picked as Best Film Actor two to one, with runners-up Marlon Brando, William Holden, Ronald Colman, and Spencer Tracy.
In 1959, March was accorded the honor of reading the Gettysburg Address to a joint session of Congress on the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's birth.
In 1962, JFK called on him to do a dramatic reading at a White House dinner, and "at home" for 30 past Nobel Prize winners.
In 1965, both Marches' had been recruited by the State Department to tour 8 New Eastern countries presenting poetry and excerpts from plays in which they had appeared. They were to go abroad under the auspices of the State Department's division of cultural presentations. Given a choice of places to visit they selected Greece, Iran, Turkey, Italy, Egypt, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Syria. In setting up their tour, someone suggested that showings might be arranged along the way of some of March's film.
In 1975, Marjorie Main, Larry Parks and Richard Conte died within days of Fredric March.
It seems that nobody but Jesse L. Lasky wanted to make "The Adventures of Mark Twain". He fought for years to convince Warner Bros. to back a screen biography of the noted writer. Director Irving Rapper wasn't interested in making the film until he learned his friend, Fredric March, was first choice to star. March had been suggested by Twain's only living daughter, Clara Clemens Gabrilowitch, who informed Lasky that she would not help with the picture unless March played her father. But even with such a stirring endorsement, March had his doubts. He only accepted the role after the makeup department shot a test in which he played Twain at 65. When a picture of March in makeup was released to the papers Twain's daughter thought somebody had discovered another archival photo of her father.
March also appeared with his wife, Florence Eldridge, in Mary of Scotland (1936).
March and his second wife were both active supporters of the Democratic Party.
March kept in shape by swimming, playing tennis and horseback riding. His chief hobby was photography.
March was a moderate smoker, emptying a pack of cigarettes a day; allowed himself one cigar a day after dinner, and was a mild drinker. He was an avid letter writer, and he kept up a large correspondence. Whenever he was asked by a newspaper or magazine for an article, he did not allow any publicity man to ghost it for him, but wrote it himself.
March was of German, English and Scottish descent.
March's daughter, Penny, remembered her father during her growing up years as fun, charming and very kind, writing in 1990, "I remember very well how handsome he looked back in the days when people really dressed up in the evening, and he'd have on tails and an evening cape to go out and I got to pop up his beautiful top hat" (Letter, Penelope March Fantacci, 12 September 1990).
Proposed for possible blacklisting in 1949 by Californian branch of HUAC
Served in the First World War as an artillery lieutenant.
Shares the distinction with actors José Ferrer, Helen Hayes and Ingrid Bergman of being the first winners of acting Tony Awards when the annual event was established in 1947
The final Hyde make-up in "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" was so extreme that it almost permanently disfigured him. After filming was completed he was hospitalized for three weeks and as his co-star Rose Hobart said, "Fredric March was lucky he wasn't ruined for life".