The 1950s and 60s made family friendly television. Dad was the provider, while mom cooked and cleaned, and the children got into trouble, then learned lessons from the always wise parents. The houses were clean and audiences could practically smell apple pie baking in the spotless oven. Thank God My Three Sons had a little chaos.

Though still family entertainment, My Three Sons was a little more livable. With clutter around and boys trying to set their father up on dates, audiences fell in love with the charming, male-dominated cast. The show ran from 1960 until 1972, making it one of the longest running American sitcoms. After finishing the show, the cast continued to entertain.

Father of the rambunctious crew was Fred MacMurray. His acting career spanned over 50 years and 100 movies. While playing Steve Douglas, he was also the Absent Minded Professor, The Happiest Millionaire, and then Charley in Charley and the Angel. He played another father in The Chadwick Family and his last role was in the action horror movie The Swarm in 1978. MacMurray was married twice during his life and adopted two children during each marriage. He died in 1991 at age 83, after a long fight with leukemia. In September of 2007, the first full-length book about his life was published, written by Charles Tranberg, with an introduction by Don Grady.

Teen heartthrob Don Grady continued to act for a few years after playing middle son Robbie Douglas, before turning to his love of music. His last few acting appearances were on To Rome With Love, After the Honeymoon, Love, American Style, and his last role was in a few episodes of Simon & Simon in 1984. He studied orchestration and composition with Albert Harris, David Angel, big band writer Bill Fritz, and mentor Don Nemitz. Grady composed music for The Kitchen Casanova in 1996, Good Neighbor and Emperor’s New Groove in 2001, The Story Behind the Story, and the AFI Tribute to Meryl Streep in 2004. He did the score for The Wild, Wild, Wild West show for Universal Studios in Hollywood and Florida and recently almost an hour of his original composition is featured on the Beauty & The Beast 2-disc DVD set. Go to his website for more interesting information.

Little Chip Douglas, aka Stanley Livingston, grew up in front of and behind the camera. After My Three Sons he starred in cult hit Private Parts, a few episodes of The Roman Holidays, and most recently in Bikini Drive-Inm in 1995. He’s written, produced, and directed many commercials, educational programs, and music videos. He co-authored the screenplay for the film The Aftermath, wrote the musical Dorian, starring his real-life and television brother Barry Livingston, and produced Hey, Ma… a one-woman show presented at the Henry Fonda Theater in Los Angeles. Now Livingston is the head of First Team Productions and just finished working on The Actor’s Journey Project about children, teens, and young adults in entertainment. Check out his website for more about Stanley Livingston.

After playing adopted brother Ernie, Barry Livingston has acted consistently over the past 35 years. He has appeared on a multitude of popular TV shows including, Room 222, Simon & Simon, Doogie Howser, M.D., Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, The Nanny, Sliders, Ally McBeal, The West Wing, Will & Grace, Roswell, The Drew Carey Show, and Crossing Jordan, to name only a few. On film, he was in The Elevator, Easy Wheels, The Nutt House, The O.J. Simpson Story, Invisible Mom, Robbie’s Brother, First Daughter, Zodiac, and is currently filming You Don’t Mess with the Zohan.

Tim Considine, oldest and often absent brother Mike had a few more acting jobs while pursuing a career in writing and photography. He was in episodes of Bonanza, The Fugitive, Ironside, Gunsmoke, the 2000 movie The New Adventures of Spin and Marty: Suspect Behavior, and Ray of Sunshine earlier this year. He writes features for magazines, including The New York Times Magazine and newspapers and has exhibited his photographs in galleries and museums. Considine has authored three books: The Photographic Dictionary of Soccer, The Language of Sport, and American Grand Prix Racing: A Century of Drivers & Cars. Authorsandartists.com has more details on his books and photographs.

William Demarest, Uncle Charley to the Douglas family, had a long, illustrious acting career. He was in over 100 films from 1926 through 1978, and was nominated for an Academy Award for his supporting role in The Jolson Story. He was in the hilarious It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, the eerie TV movie Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, The Wild McCullochs in 1975, and his last movie was The Millionaire in 1978. Demarest died in 1983 at the age of 91.

My Three Sons came at the end of William Frawley’s acting career. Before playing the maternal grandfather, he was neighbor and friend Fred Mertz in I Love Lucy. He did an episode of My Living Doll in 1964 and his last appearance was on The Lucy Show in 1965. For his contribution to television, Frawley was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulelvard, the street on which he had a heart attack and died on in 1966.