Editing Fredric March (section)

==Legacy==

=== Modern assessment ===
March is regarded as one of the most eminent Hollywood actors of the 1930s and 1940s.<ref name=":0" /> Critic and [[Turner Classic Movies]] host [[Ben Mankiewicz]] opined that "two actors from Hollywood’s golden age really stand in a tier above the rest ... Spencer Tracy and Fredric March".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Brookins |first=Laurie |date=August 28, 2022 |title=Supporters Attempt to Redeem Legacy of Hollywood Legend Fredric March, Canceled Over Racism Allegations: 'This Was a Rush to Judgment' |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/arts/fredric-march-kkk-cancel-culture-turner-classic-movies-tribute-1235206312/ |access-date=January 15, 2024 |work=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]}}</ref> [[The Boston Globe|Boston Globe]] writer Joan Wickersham described March as a Hollywood great who "rejected the Hollywood studio system" and "built a brilliant stage and film career" despite lacking the "instant name recognition" of contemporaries like Humphrey Bogart and [[Cary Grant]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wickersham |first=Joan |date=July 27, 2023 |title=Fredric March — Hollywood's great chameleon |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/27/opinion/joan-wickersham-frederic-march-hollywood/ |access-date=January 15, 2024 |work=[[The Boston Globe]]}}</ref> March is also remembered for his later character roles such as those in ''Inherit the Wind'', ''Seven Days in May'', and ''The Iceman Cometh'', roles he played during what was considered a downturn in his film career at the time.<ref>{{Cite web |date=November 30, 2023 |title=Fredric March |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Fredric-March |access-date=January 15, 2024 |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]}}</ref>

=== Controversy ===
March was briefly a member of an interfraternity society composed of leading students formed at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1919 and 1920 named the Ku Klux Klan which is not believed to have been affiliated with the notorious organization of that name.<ref name=badger>{{cite journal| url=https://www.uwalumni.com/askabe/1924-badger/|title=Ask Flamingle| date=July 5, 2008| website=Wisconsin Alumni Association}}</ref><ref name="McWhorter">{{cite news|last=McWhorter|first=John|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/17/opinion/wisconsin-Fredric-March.html|title=The University of Wisconsin Smears a Once-Treasured Alum|work=The New York Times|date=September 17, 2021|access-date=March 29, 2022}}</ref> In actuality, March was an outspoken proponent of the civil rights movement for five decades, and worked closely with the [[NAACP]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hollywood-monuments-to-john-wayne-d-w-griffith-and-more-are-under-scrutiny-a-status-report|title=Hollywood Monuments to John Wayne, D.W. Griffith and More Are Under Fire: A Status Report|date=December 18, 2020|website=The Hollywood Reporter|access-date=February 22, 2021}}</ref><ref name=bright>{{Cite web|last=Gonis|first=George|url=https://brightlightsfilm.com/a-star-is-shorn-thanks-to-woefully-underinformed-campus-activists-acting-legend-badger-alum-and-civil-rights-champion-fredric-march-is-suddenly-off-wisconsin/|title=A Star Is Shorn: Thanks to Woefully Underinformed Campus Activists, Acting Legend, Badger Alum, and Civil Rights Champion Fredric March Is Suddenly "Off Wisconsin"|date=November 25, 2020|website=Bright Lights Film Journal|access-date=February 22, 2021}}</ref> When the collegiate organization was named, the (later national) KKK was a small regional organization. As the national KKK became better known, the collegiate organization changed its name in 1922.<ref name="McWhorter" />

False rumors based on a misunderstanding of the organization of which March was a member were spread on social media and alleged that March was a [[white supremacist]].<ref name=bright /> The 500-seat [[theater]] at the [[University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh]] was formerly named after March.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.uwosh.edu/theatre/Theatre/ThFaci.html |title=UW Oshkosh: Theatre Facilities |access-date=August 2, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100619123303/http://www.uwosh.edu/theatre/Theatre/ThFaci.html |archive-date=June 19, 2010 |url-status=dead |website=University of Wisconsin—Oshkosh}}</ref> The [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]] had named the 168-seat at the [[Memorial Union (University of Wisconsin-Madison)|Memorial Union]] as the [[Wisconsin Union Theater|Fredric March Play Circle Theater]]; however, in 2018, his name was removed, after student protests following reports of March's membership in a student fraternal organization calling itself Ku Klux Klan.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.union.wisc.edu/playcircle.htm| title=Wisconsin Union Theater| website=Wisconsin Union| access-date=March 5, 2019| archive-date=July 4, 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150704113356/http://www.union.wisc.edu/playcircle.htm| url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| last=Widell| first=Sydney| url=http://www.dailycardinal.com/article/2018/05/union-to-remove-kkk-members-names-from-gallery-play-circle| title=Union to cover KKK fraternity members' names on gallery, play circle| newspaper=[[The Daily Cardinal]]| date=May 3, 2018| access-date=March 5, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite press release| first=Doug| last=Erickson| url=https://news.wisc.edu/uw-madison-releases-report-on-student-organizations-that-took-name-of-kkk-in-1920s/| title=UW–Madison releases report on student organizations that took name of KKK in 1920s| publisher=University of Wisconsin-Madison| date=April 19, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal| url=https://www.uwalumni.com/askabe/1924-badger/|title=1924 Badger| date=July 5, 2008| website=Wisconsin Alumni Association}}</ref> UW–Oshkosh pulled March's name from what is now the Theatre Arts Center shortly before the 2020–21 academic term.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.wearegreenbay.com/news/local-news/uw-oshkosh-renames-theatre-building-after-troubling-discovery/|title=UW-Oshkosh renames theatre building after troubling discovery|last=Ordonez|first=Brenda|date=August 18, 2020|publisher=[[WFRV-TV]]|access-date=August 18, 2020}}</ref> After new revelations about the nature of the KKK fraternity, as of autumn 2022, there were discussions for a return of March's name.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://eu.jsonline.com/story/news/education/2022/09/06/calls-return-fredric-marchs-name-uw-madison-campus-get-loud/7935291001/ | title=UW alum and Oscar winner Fredric March's name was removed from a campus theater in 2018. Calls for its return are getting louder }}</ref>