Actors - Bill Murray

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	Actors - Bill Murray

See also William Murray (disambiguation)

William James Murray (born September 21, 1950) is an American comedian, producer, film director, poet, and actor.

Early Life

Murray was born in Chicago, Illinois, the fifth of nine children of Edward J. Murray and Lucille Doyle, Irish American Catholics. Three of Murray's siblings are also actors: John Murray, Joel Murray, and Brian Doyle-Murray. All four Murray brothers appeared in the 1988 film Scrooged
. He was raised in Wilmette, Illinois and graduated from Loyola Academy.

Career

With an invitation from his older brother, Brian Doyle-Murray, Bill got his start with Second City Chicago whose cast roster at the time also included John Candy and David Rasche (later of Sledge Hammer! fame). The improvisational troupe was a perfect fit for Murray's clever dry wit and ad-libbing. Murray later revisited the troupe with the TV special Bill Murray Live From the Second City (1980).

Murray initially rose to prominence as a cast member of and a writer for NBC's Saturday Night Live
television series from 1977 to 1980, replacing Chevy Chase, with whom he reportedly got into a fist fight off camera when Chase did a guest host in the late 70s (Chase claims they've long since put the incident behind them). He had previously been a featured player on The National Lampoon Radio Hour, aired nationally on some 600 stations between 1973 and 1975. Other cast members included Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Gilda Radner, and his brother Brian Doyle-Murray. Former SNL writer Margaret Oberman has said Murray and Eddie Murphy are the two most talented people in the history of the show.

Most of his roles have been comedic, featuring Murray's dry wit. However, he has also played serious (or at least semi-serious) roles in films such as Mad Dog and Glory
, The Razor's Edge
, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums
, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
, and Broken Flowers
. His Groundhog Day
has become a cult classic. He also garnered considerable acclaim (an Academy Awards nomination, and Golden Globes and BAFTA awards) as the lead in the 2003 film Lost in Translation. One of Murray's most recognised roles is that of Peter Venkman from the Ghostbusters
movies, a role originally intended for John Belushi (though at the time of this intention, the script was radically different), who died before production began.

Most recently Murray starred in the critically acclaimed, Jim Jarmusch-directed drama Broken Flowers
. In 2005, he announced that he would take a break from acting, as he had not had the time since his new breakthrough in the late-1990s. At the height of his fame in the mid-1980s, following Ghostbusters, Murray, upset at the lower gross for his attempt at drama The Razor's Edge
(which he only agreed to star in Ghostbusters
for) took off four years to study French at the Sorbonne. During that period from 1985 until 1988, with the exception of a cameo in the 1986 movie Little Shop of Horrors, he did not make appearances in any films.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Bill Murray ]

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