Bill Murray
William James Murray (born September 21, 1950)[2] is an American actor and comedian, known for his deadpan delivery in roles ranging from studio comedies to independent dramas.[3] In 2016, Murray was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.[4]
This article is about the American actor and comedian. For other people named Bill Murray, see William (Bill) Murray.
Bill Murray
- Actor
- comedian
1973–present
-
Margaret Kelly(m. 1981; div. 1996)
-
Jennifer Butler(m. 1997; div. 2008)
6, including Luke
- Brian Doyle-Murray (brother)
- Joel Murray (brother)
Murray became national presence on Saturday Night Live from 1977 to 1980, where he received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series. He then established his stardom acting in a string of successful comedy films such as Meatballs (1979), Caddyshack (1980), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Ghostbusters II (1989), What About Bob? (1991), and Groundhog Day (1993). He also portrayed supporting roles in Tootsie (1982), Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Ed Wood (1994), Kingpin (1996), and Osmosis Jones (2001).
He started his long-term collaboration with director Wes Anderson in 1998 with Rushmore, earning an Independent Spirit Award. He would continue to appear in many of his films including The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), Moonrise Kingdom (2012), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), and Isle of Dogs (2018). He also starred in Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation (2003), earning him Golden Globe and BAFTA Awards as well as a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Other notable roles include in Broken Flowers (2005), Get Low (2009), Hyde Park on Hudson (2012), St. Vincent (2014), The Jungle Book (2016), and On the Rocks (2020).
For his television role in HBO miniseries Olive Kitteridge (2014), he earned his second Primetime Emmy Award. Murray reprised his original Ghostbuster role of Peter Venkman in Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024).
Early life
Murray was born on September 21, 1950, in Evanston, Illinois, to Lucille Murray (née Collins; 1921–1988), a mail-room clerk, and Edward Joseph Murray II (1921–1967), a lumber salesman. He was raised in Wilmette, Illinois, a northern suburb of Chicago.[5]
Murray and his eight siblings grew up in an Irish Catholic family.[6] His paternal grandfather was from County Cork, while his maternal ancestors were from County Galway.[7][8] Three of his siblings, John Murray, Joel Murray, and Brian Doyle-Murray, are also actors. A sister, Nancy, is an Adrian Dominican nun in Michigan; she has traveled the United States in two one-woman programs, portraying Catherine of Siena and Dorothy Stang.[9][10] His brother Ed Murray died in 2020.[11] Their father died in 1967 at the age of 46 from complications of diabetes when Bill was 17.[12][13]
As a youth, Murray read children's biographies of American heroes like Kit Carson, Wild Bill Hickok, and Davy Crockett.[12] He attended St. Joseph's grade school and Loyola Academy. During his teen years, he worked as a golf caddy to fund his education at the Jesuit high school,[12][14] and was the lead singer of a rock band called the Dutch Masters and took part in high school and community theater.[15] One of his sisters had polio and his mother suffered several miscarriages.[12]
After graduating from Loyola Academy, Murray attended Regis University in Denver, Colorado, taking pre-medical courses, but quickly dropped out and returned to Illinois.[12] Decades later, in 2007, Regis awarded him an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree.[16] On September 21, 1970, his 20th birthday, the police arrested Murray at Chicago's O'Hare Airport for trying to smuggle 10 lb (4.5 kg) of cannabis, which he had allegedly intended to sell. It was discovered after Murray joked to the passenger next to him that he had packed a bomb in his luggage. Murray was convicted and sentenced to probation.[17]
Career
1970s: Early work
Second City, National Lampoon
With an invitation from his older brother, Brian, Murray got his start at The Second City in Chicago, an improvisational comedy troupe, studying under Del Close.[18] In 1974, he moved to New York City and was recruited by John Belushi[19] as a featured player on The National Lampoon Radio Hour.
Saturday Night Live (1977–1980)
In 1975, an Off-Broadway version of a Lampoon show led to his first television role as a cast member of the ABC variety show Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell. That same season, another variety show titled NBC's Saturday Night premiered. Cosell's show lasted just one season, canceled in early 1976. After working in Los Angeles with the "guerrilla video" commune TVTV on several projects, Murray rose to prominence in 1976. He officially joined the cast of NBC's Saturday Night Live for the show's second season, following the departure of Chevy Chase.[20] Murray was with SNL for three seasons from 1977 to 1980. A Rutland Weekend Television sketch Monty Python's Eric Idle brought for his appearance on SNL developed into the 1978 mockumentary All You Need Is Cash with Murray (alongside other SNL cast members) appearing as "Bill Murray the K", a send-up of New York radio host Murray the K, in a segment of the film that is a parody of the Maysles Brothers's documentary The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit. During the first few seasons of SNL, Murray was in a romantic relationship with fellow cast member Gilda Radner.[21]
Other work
Murray is a partner with his brothers in Murray Bros. Caddy Shack, a restaurant with two locations. In 2001, they opened a location at the World Golf Village near St. Augustine, Florida.[60] The second location opened in 2018, inside the Crowne Plaza Rosemont Hotel near the O'Hare International Airport.[61]
In 1978, Murray appeared in two at-bats[62] for the Grays Harbor Loggers Minor League Baseball team, credited with one hit and a lifetime batting average of .500.[63][64]
He founded and was part-owner of the St. Paul Saints, a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. Bill occasionally traveled to Saint Paul, Minnesota to watch the team's games.[65] Murray sold his interest in the Saints in 2023.[66] As part of The Goldklang Group, he owns part of the Charleston RiverDogs,[67] the Hudson Valley Renegades,[68] and the Brockton Rox.[69] He has invested in a number of other minor league teams in the past, including the Utica Blue Sox,[70] the Fort Myers Miracle, the Salt Lake Sting (APSL), the Catskill Cougars,[71] and the Salt Lake City Trappers.[72] In 2012 he was inducted into the South Atlantic League Hall of Fame for his ownership and investment activities in the league.[73]
On his birthday in 2016, Murray, along with his brother Joel, launched an apparel brand called William Murray Golf.[74]
In 2017, Murray recorded a studio album entitled New Worlds featuring singing and literary recitations with classical musicians.[75] The album was released on vinyl, CD and digital through Verve Records.
In 2022, Murray recited poetry and sang with the cellist Jan Vogler, in a recorded production of New Worlds: The Cradle of Civilization, which was released in cinemas.[76]
Public image
Murray's popularity has been such that he holds an iconic status in American popular culture. Murray's eccentric style of comedy, both on-screen and in his personal life, has caused him to be seen as a folk hero to many making him a significant meme in various media including books and the Internet.[77][78] In 2016 he was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor by the Kennedy Center.[4]
Feuds and allegations of misconduct
Murray has been known for his mood swings, leading Dan Aykroyd to refer to him as "The Murricane".[80][109][110] Murray has said of his reputation: "I remember a friend said to me a while back: 'You have a reputation.' And I said: 'What?' And he said: 'Yeah, you have a reputation of being difficult to work with.' But I only got that reputation from people I didn't like working with, or people who didn't know how to work, or what work is. Jim, Wes and Sofia, they know what it is to work, and they understand how you're supposed to treat people."[111][112][113]
In the book Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, as Told By Its Stars, Writers and Guests, Chevy Chase recalls being confronted by Murray shortly before an SNL broadcast in 1978, in which Chase had returned to guest host. The issue, likely to do with Chase's insistence on doing the "Weekend Update" segment that had been taken over by Jane Curtin, led to Murray and Chase trading insults, with Murray telling Chase to go have sex with Jacqueline Carlin, Chase's wife at the time, while Chase commented that Murray's face looked "like something Neil Armstrong had landed on". The argument eventually turned physical, with SNL cast members Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman, and Gilda Radner witnessing the altercation.[114][115] Murray later said of the incident, "It was an Oedipal thing, a rupture. Because we all felt mad he had left us, and somehow I was the anointed avenging angel, who had to speak for everyone. But Chevy and I are friends now. It's all fine."[116] The two went on to star together in Caddyshack, which was shot the following year.
According to Den of Geek, Murray did not get along well with Sean Young during the production of Stripes and has refused to work with her again.[117]
According to Robert Schnakenberg’s 2015 book The Big Bad Book of Bill Murray, Murray had a “disastrous meeting” with Nick Nolte that caused both of them to turn down About Last Night (1986).[118]
Murray has said in interviews that he and film director Richard Donner did not get along well while filming Scrooged, stating that they would disagree with each other.[119][120][121][122] Donner said of Murray: "He's superbly creative, but occasionally difficult – as difficult as any actor."[123]
Both Murray and Richard Dreyfuss have confirmed in separate interviews that they did not get along with each other during the making of What About Bob?[121][124] In addition, the film's producer Laura Ziskin recalled having a disagreement with Murray that led him to toss her into a lake.[109][125][126][127] Ziskin confirmed in 2003, "Bill also threatened to throw me across the parking lot and then broke my sunglasses and threw them across the parking lot. I was furious and outraged at the time, but having produced a dozen movies, I can safely say it is not common behavior."[125][126][128] Dreyfuss later alleged in 2019 that Murray screamed at him while he was intoxicated and told him, "Everyone hates you! You are tolerated!" and then threw an ashtray at him.[129] Although they have not crossed paths since the release of the film, Dreyfuss confirmed in a 2020 interview that he has forgiven Murray.[130]
Murray also had a falling out with film director and longtime collaborator Harold Ramis during the production of Groundhog Day. According to screenwriter Danny Rubin, "They were like two brothers who weren't getting along." Apparently, they had such intense creative differences that one day Ramis grabbed Murray by the shirt collar and threw him against a wall. As a result, Groundhog Day ultimately served as the final film collaboration between Murray and Ramis,[131] although they did take part in 2009's Ghostbusters: The Video Game. Murray eventually reconciled with Ramis just before Ramis' death in February 2014.[132][133][134][135]
During the making of Charlie's Angels, Lucy Liu allegedly threw punches at Murray after he told her that she could not act.[136] Murray claims, however, that he and Liu had only an argument rather than a feud and that they have "made peace" since then.[137] Film director McG, who directed Charlie's Angels, alleged in 2009 that Murray headbutted him.[138][139] Murray has denied ever doing so.[140][141]
Lost in Translation director Sofia Coppola said that the central scene of Scarlett Johansson and Murray lying on the bed together took multiple takes because the actors did not seem to be getting along. She eventually stopped for the day and started again the next morning. Despite this, Coppola stated that Murray was a lot of fun to work with on the production.[142]
Anjelica Huston recalled having a feud with Murray during the making of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.[143]
In April 2022, production of Being Mortal was suspended after Murray was accused of unspecified "inappropriate behavior".[144] It was later reported in October that Murray had allegedly straddled a female production assistant and kissed or rubbed her on the mouth while the pair were wearing flu masks as part of COVID-19 protocols.[145] The woman filed a complaint and received a settlement of $100,000 from Murray,[146][147][148][149][150][151] and signed a non-disclosure agreement.[152][153][154][155][156][157][158][159]
In October 2022, Geena Davis alleged in her memoir Dying of Politeness that Murray harassed and yelled at her during the filming of Quick Change and that, during their first meeting in a hotel suite, he had pressured her to let him use a massage machine on her back.[160] She also recalled a dual interview on The Arsenio Hall Show during which Murray repeatedly tried to pull down the spaghetti strap of her dress.[161] That same month, Seth Green alleged that when he was nine years old, backstage on the Saturday Night Live set, Murray picked him up from a chair by his ankles and dangled him over a garbage can, before Green fell in after accidentally striking Murray in the testicles.[162]
Murray has been defended by longtime collaborator Wes Anderson amid the misconduct claims.[163][164]