Biography for
Bill Murray (I) More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

21 September 1950, Wilmette, Illinois, USA

Birth Name

William James Murray

Nickname

Billy

Height

6' 2" (1.88 m)

Mini Biography

Bill is the fifth of nine children born to Edward and Lucille Murray. He and most of his siblings worked as caddies, which paid his tuition to Loyola Academy, a Jesuit school. He played sports and did some acting while in that school, but in his words, mostly "screwed off". He enrolled at Regis College in Denver to study pre-med, but dropped out after being arrested for marijuana possession. He then joined the National Lampoon Radio Hour with fellow members Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, and John Belushi. However, while those three became the original members of "Saturday Night Live" (1975), he joined "Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell" (1975), which premiered that same year. After that show failed, he later got the opportunity to join SNL.

IMDb Mini Biography By: John Sacksteder

Spouse

Jennifer Butler	(4 July 1997 - 13 June 2008) (divorced) 4 children
Mickey Kelley	(25 January 1981 - 1994) (divorced) 2 children

Trade Mark

Deadpan Expression

During the later years of his career he frequently plays depressed characters (Lost in Translation, Broken Flowers, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums)

During the early years of his career, he frequently played loud, sarcastic, often rude and mean, anti-heroes (Stripes, Caddyshack, the two Ghostbusters movies, What about Bob? Groundhog Day)

Trivia

Accidentally broke Robert De Niro's nose during the filming of Mad Dog and Glory (1993).

Ranked #82 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]

1997 Recipient of the Sons of the Desert Annual Comedy Performer Award on April 19th, 1997.

Appeared in Scrooged (1988) with all three of his brothers.

Father, with Mickey Kelley, of sons Homer Murray (b. 1982) and Luke Murray (b. 1985).

Father, with Jennifer Butler, of sons Jackson (b. 1993), Cal (b. 1995) and Cooper (b. 1996) and Lincoln (b. 2001).

He owns a minor league baseball team in Charleston, SC, called the Riverdogs.

Related through marriage to guitar player, lyricist and singer Chris Luxem.

Set to become part-owner of his third minor league baseball team, the new Brockton Rox, in Mass., with friend Van Schley.

Has become the unofficial patron saint of the forums of the Football Manager website, home to one of the biggest selling PC games of all time.

He is part of The Goldklang Group that includes Van Schley, baseball marketing guru Mike Veeck, and "Saturday Night Live" (1975) comedian Jimmy Fallon. The group owns minor league baseball teams the St. Paul Saints and the Brockton Rox of the Northern League, the Charleston RiverDogs, the Fort Myers Miracle, the Hudson Valley Renegades, the Evansville Otters and they run the Portland Beavers.

Was bitten by the groundhog twice on the Groundhog Day (1993) set in 1992.

He is a diehard Chicago Cubs fan. During the Cubs playoff run in 2003, he was on location in Italy, but he had it written into his contract that he'd get a satellite feed of the playoffs.

His role in Ghost Busters (1984) was originally intended for fellow SNL star John Belushi.

Shares two characters with the late Lorenzo Music. He played Peter Venkman in the film Ghost Busters (1984), while Lorenzo played Venkman in the animated series, "The Real Ghost Busters" (1986). Lorenzo was also the voice of Garfield in numerous cartoons, while Bill provides Garfield's voice in Garfield (2004).

He was rated number 1 in Comedy Central's newest show 'Mouthing Off: 51 Greatest Smartasses.'

His home is in upstate New York, although he is more frequently working elsewhere during the year.

Performed the vocals for the song "The Best Thing" in the John Waters film Polyester (1981).

His father Edward was a lumber salesman. He died in 1967.

Siblings include Brian Doyle-Murray, Nancy, Edward, Andy, John Murray, Joel Murray, Peggy, and Laura.

Attended Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois.

Attended Regis College in Denver. He dropped out his sophomore year.

His mother died in 1988.

Doesn't have a publicist.

His sister Nancy is a Dominican nun.

In 2001, he starred with Sigourney Weaver in an Off-Off-Broadway play called "The Guys," in which he played a fire captain who lost eight of his men on 9/11. In the movie version, Murray's role was played by Anthony LaPaglia.

Is an avid golfer and has appeared at many pro-am golf tournaments.

Co-owner, with brothers Brian, Joel and John, of the Murray Brothers Caddyshack restaurant in Jacksonville, Florida (actually, in St. Augustine, Florida, inside the 'World Golf Village' complex).

He often works with the directors Harold Ramis, Ivan Reitman, Wes Anderson, and Jim Jarmusch.

Sofia Coppola wrote the lead role of Bob Harris in Lost in Translation (2003), with Murray specifically in mind. She did not know the actor and even enlisted the help of her famous father, Francis Ford Coppola, to track down the sometimes quite elusive Murray. Once he finally read the script, though, he agreed to do it on the spot. Murray and Sofia Coppola are now good friends.

He has rubbed some collaborators the wrong way because he has a tendency to re-write and improvise his way through scripts until many of his scenes barely resembles the original versions. Most collaborators ultimately find, though, it's to the improvement of the films.

Is a fan of the Illini men's basketball team.

Captivated by the story of "Press Your Luck" (1983) contestant Michael Larson who memorized the sequence of the game show's big board and racked up over $110,000 in winnings, Murray commissioned a screenplay for a biopic about Larson. Several studios expressed an interest but didn't follow through. The Game Show Network's 2003 TV documentary Big Bucks: The Press Your Luck Scandal (2003) (TV) told the same story with interviews, dramatic recreations and archival video, and may have diminished interest in the film even more.

The part of Boon in National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) was originally written with him in mind, but due to a scheduling conflict, he had to turn it down.

Announced that after his next three productions, he will be taking a break from acting to relax. He cites the productions of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) and Broken Flowers (2005) as having exhausted him. [2005]

Has said that "Oklahoma!" is his favorite musical.

Has no agent, no business manager, no lawyer, or favorite hair and make-up artist. He travels without an entourage.

He was considered for the role of Detective John Kimble in Kindergarten Cop (1990). The part eventually went to Arnold Schwarzenegger.

With The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) and Broken Flowers (2005), Murray did two films back-to-back in which he plays a long-childless man who discovers that someone who may be his grown son has been searching for him.

His performance as Phil Connors in Groundhog Day (1993) is ranked #48 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).

Was considered for the role of Batman/Bruce Wayne in the 1989 Batman (1989) film when it was set to be identical to the 1960s TV Series before Tim Burton came along.

Was considered for the role of Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005).

His performance as Carl Spackler in Caddyshack (1980) is ranked #18 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.

Was considered for the role of Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story (1995).

Murray is one of only three American actors that were nominated for an Oscar for a movie that is set on the territory of Japan. The other two are Marlon Brando and Red Buttons for Sayonara (1957).

Turned down Steve Carell's role in Little Miss Sunshine (2006), which became one of the few choices in his career that he regretted.

Voiced Johnny Storm/The Human Torch in an early Fantastic Four radio show.

Murray is a huge fan of Chicago pro sports teams, especially the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago Bears.

Was a guest on the very first episode of "Late Night with David Letterman" (1982).

Was considered and tested for the voice role of Sulley in Monsters, Inc. (2001), but the director, Pete Docter, said that when the filmmakers decided to offer it to Murray, they were unable to make contact with him and took that to mean "no".

Has appeared with both Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie (1982) and Dustin's brother Todd Hoffman in Meatballs (1979).

An early promotional reel for "The Real Ghost Busters" (1986) featured a different character design for the animated version of Murray's character Peter Venkman, a design that bore more of a resemblance to Murray himself as opposed to the final character design, which gave Venkman a slimmer, sleeker, more chiseled "pretty boy" look.

Was considered for the role of Han Solo in Star Wars (1977).

Murray and Dan Aykroyd reprised their Ghost Busters (1984) characters to visit a terminally ill child who was a fan of the film and wanted to meet them.

Was a frequent collaborator with Harold Ramis throughout the 1980s, but their working relationship ended during the filming of Groundhog Day (1993) due to differing views on what the film should be: Ramis claims that Murray wanted the film to be more philosophical, while Ramis himself simply meant for it to be a comedy. Ramis also cites that Murray's personal problems at the time (namely the ending of his first marriage) had a negative effect on his work ethic, causing him to be uncharacteristically harsh during filming, as another reason for the end of their working relationship.

Is portrayed by Mather Zickel in Gilda Radner: It's Always Something (2002) (TV).

Married his first wife, Mickey Kelley in Las Vegas on Super Bowl Sunday of 1981. They had a second ceremony at a church on March 25, 1981.

Dan Aykroyd nicknamed him "The Murricane" for his notorious mood swings.

His pockmarked face is due to acne problems he experienced as a teenager.

Was considered for the role of Eddie Valiant in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). The part eventually went to Bob Hoskins.

Irish-American.

Personal Quotes

I'm a nut, but not just a nut.

If you walk up to some random person on the street, grab them by the shoulder, and say 'Did you just see what I saw?!'....you'll find that no one wants to talk to you.

The truth is, anybody that becomes famous is an ass for a year and a half. You've got to give them a year and a half, two years. They are getting so much smoke blown, and their whole world gets so turned upside down, their responses become distorted. I give everybody a year or two to pull it together because, when it first happens, I know how it is.

There aren't many downsides to being rich, other than paying taxes and having relatives asking for money. But being famous, that's a 24 hour job right there.

I'm over the Oscar thing. I feel that if you really want an Oscar, you're in trouble. It's like wanting to be married - you'll take anybody. If you want the Oscar really badly, it becomes a naked desire and ambition. It becomes very unattractive. I've seen it. The nice thing is that I'm over here in Europe making a movie and so I don't need to worry about it.

I know how to be sour. I know that taste.

"Many people say, 'Do you think this is offensive to the Japanese?' Well, I know the Japanese are laughing more at the Americanisms than we are laughing at the Japanese-isms... they love watching the stupidity of the foreigner in Tokyo. They're not offended at all. They know that the bowing is funny and that their language is impenetrable to the rest of the world." [on Lost in Translation (2003)]

You know the theory of cell irritability?. If you take an amoeba cell and poke it a thousand times, it will change and then re-form into its original shape. And then, the thousandth time you poke this amoeba, the cell will completely collapse and become nothing. That's kind of what it's like being famous. People say hi, how are you doing, and after the thousandth time, you just get angry; you really pop.

There's definitely a lot of trash that comes with the prize of being famous. It's a nice gift, but there's a lot of wrapping and paper and junk to cut through. Back then, when a movie came out and people saw you on the street, their reaction was so supercharged that it was scary. It would frighten other people. It used to really rattle me. I mean, everybody would love to have their clothes torn off by a mob of girls, but being screamed at is different.

It was cool that an Oscar nomination never happened for a long time, and then it was cool that it did happen. But I don't want to always be feeling this thing in my chest like, 'Am I good enough? Am I gonna be rejected?'

Why would you get up there and bore people? I never have figured that out. These people are supposedly in the entertainment industry, and they finally get up there to that podium and they become the most boring people in the world. [on award acceptance speeches]

I think midlife crisis is just a point where people's careers have reached some plateau and they have to reflect on their personal relationships.

One of the things I like about acting is that, in a funny way, I come back to myself.

We used to joke about it: 'Give me an affliction and I'll give you an Oscar!' They're not giving an award for acting. It's, 'Thanks for making me feel something. Here's a prize.' Somehow people don't put comedy in their emotional bank the same way. It relieves a tension, it unties a knot, but it's not something where people want to give you a prize. They just want to say, 'Thanks for making me laugh,' which I genuinely treasure. That makes me feel good.

You are always away from home, as a film actor. Look at me now. You can be stuck in a hotel, several thousand miles away in a whole different time zone, and it is never glamorous. You can't sleep, you put on the television in the middle of the night when you can't understand a word, and you make phone calls back home which don't really give you the comfort they should.

I know what it's like to be that stranger's voice calling in," he admits. "It happens in acting and it happens in business. Those who are living together all the time and can guarantee seeing each other every night or weekend probably don't know what I am talking about. There is also that little-discussed subject - loneliness. That is a great taboo, isn't it? No one really wants to admit they are lonely, and it is never really addressed very much between friends and family. But I have felt lonely many times in my life.

Whenever I think of the high salaries we are paid as film actors, I think it is for the travel, the time away, and any trouble you get into through being well known. It's not for the acting, that's for sure.

Movie acting suits me because I only need to be good for ninety seconds at a time.

I've had some success in movies, so I really don't think about success. You like to have it, but I'm not desperate for it.

I remember being in Japan 10 years ago for a golf tournament. I turned over a Kirin beer coaster, and there was Harrison Ford's picture. He's a guy who would never be caught dead doing a commercial here. He had a bottle in his hand and the most uncomfortable look on his face, like, "I can't believe I'm shilling." When Sofia Coppola, the director of Lost in Translation, sent me the script, she included a photo and said, 'This is what I have in mind.', It was Brad Pitt in an ad for espresso in a can, and he had the same grimace: 'I can't believe I'm selling this can of coffee.', That influenced me when I had to do my own shtick. - 2003 quote on his role in Lost In Translation.

{Before jumping from a plane at 13,500 feet] Is there some frequent flyer program?

Salary

Groundhog Day (1993)

$9,000,000

Where Are They Now

(July 2002) Lives in a suburb of New York City, Rockland County.

(August 2004) Appeared in a reading of Arthur Miller's newest play (and first comedy), Resurrection Blues, in New York.

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