Bill Murray

William James "Bill" Murray (Evanston, Illinois, September 21, 1950) is an American actor and comedian. He gained recognition on the comedy show Saturday Night Live, a performance that earned him an award. Emmy Awards, and later starred in comedy films such as Caddyshack (1980), Ghostbusters (1984) and Groundhog Day (1993). He earned critical acclaim for his performance in films such as Lost in Translation (2003), for which he was nominated for an Oscar, and in productions directed by Wes Anderson such as Rushmore (1998), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004).

He has been nominated for a Golden Globe for his roles in Ghostbusters, Rushmore (1998), Hyde Park on Hudson (2012), St. Vincent (2014) and in the HBO miniseries Olive Kitteridge (2014), for which he won his second Primetime Emmy Award. He also received the Mark Twain Prize in honor of his career as a comedian in 2016. His style of comedy is recognized as dry humor, presented without variation in emotion or body language.

Early Years

Murray was born William James Murray in Wilmette, Illinois. His parents were from a humble class and they had nine children. In order to pay for college, most of the brothers worked as caddies at a golf club. At school, Bill was the lead singer of a rock band called The Dutch Masters and was introduced to theater acting. He later enrolled in the University of Denver, but was soon expelled for possession of marijuana.

Career

Saturday Night Live

Murray then decided to try his hand at radio. He took part in a program that was not successful, and was withdrawn after a few months, but he then participated in another that was broadcast for a longer time. After working for a Chicago theater company, he joined the popular American television comedy show Saturday Night Live in 1977. He officially joined the show's cast in its second season, following its departure. by Chevy Chase. Murray was a member of the cast of SNL for three seasons between 1977 and 1980. During the show's early seasons, the actor was romantically involved with fellow cast member Gilda Radner.

Cinema

Murray at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2010.

He made his film debut in 1979 in the Canadian film Meatballs, by Ivan Reitman, in which Murray plays a youth summer camp monitor. He later played Hunter S. Thompson in the 1980 film Where the Buffalo Roam. In the early 1980s, the actor starred in a series of blockbuster films including Caddyshack, Stripes and Tootsie. Murray was the first guest on the talk show Late Night with David Letterman on February 1, 1982. He later appeared on the first episode of Late Show with David Letterman on August 30, 1993, when the show moved to CBS. On January 31, 2012 – 30 years after he first appeared on Letterman's show – Murray was a guest again on his talk show. He was Letterman's last guest when the show was pulled on May 20, 2015.

Murray began work on a film adaptation of the novel The Razor's Edge by William Somerset Maugham. The film, co-written by Murray himself, was Murray's first leading role in a dramatic film. He later starred in the film Ghostbusters—in a role originally written for John Belushi—in order to finance The Razor's Edge. Ghostbusters it became the highest-grossing film of 1984 and the most financially successful comedy of all time. The Razor's Edge, filmed before Ghostbusters but released later, it was a box office flop.

Upset by the failure of The Razor's Edge, Murray took four years away from filmmaking to study philosophy and history in Paris and spend time with his family. With the exception of a cameo appearance in the 1986 film Little Shop of Horrors, the actor did not appear in any film in that span of time, although he could be seen in an adaptation of the play. A Man's a Man by Bertolt Brecht.

Bill Murray in 2014.

Murray returned to the movies as part of the cast of Scrooged in 1988 and Ghostbusters II in 1989, a film that could not replicate the success of its predecessor. In 1990 she directed the film Quick Change with producer Howard Franklin, Murray's first and only directing venture. His next films, What About Bob? (1991) and Groundhog Day (1993) were box office hits. Following his appearance in Groundhog Day, the actor appeared in a variety of supporting roles in films including Ed Wood, Kingpin and Space Jam (playing himself). However, his leading roles in An Elephant Named Vera and The Man Who Knew Too Little did not have much impact on critics or audiences. His performance in the 1998 film Rushmore was critically acclaimed, winning best supporting actor awards from the New York Film Critics Circle, the National Society of Film Critics and the Film Critics Circle. Los Angeles Critics (tiing with Billy Bob Thornton). Murray decided to turn his career away from humor to play dramatic roles, something evident in films such as Wild Things, Cradle Will Rock, Hamlet and The Royal Tenenbaums. In 2003 he appeared in Sofia Coppola's film Lost in Translation, a performance that earned him a Golden Globe, a BAFTA Award and an Independent Spirit Award, among other awards. He was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Actor category for his role in Lost in Translation, but the award ultimately went to Sean Penn for his performance in Mystic River. In an interview included on the Lost in Translation DVD, Murray says it is his favorite movie.

Although the drama genre was offering Murray good returns, during this period he could be seen in comedic roles in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle and Osmosis Jones. In 2004 he provided the voice of Garfield the cat in Garfield: The Movie , reprising his role in 2006 in Garfield 2 . The actor stated that he took the role because he thought the script had been written by the Coen brothers when he learned that Joel Cohen was one of the collaborators in creating the story. In 2004 he made his third collaboration with director Wes Anderson in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and in 2005 his second collaboration with Jim Jarmusch on Broken Flowers. That same year, Bill announced that he would be temporarily stepping away from film after his hiatus in the late 1990s. He returned to the big screen to make small appearances in Journey to Darjeeling and Get Smart. . In 2008, he played an important role in the post-apocalyptic film City of Ember: In Search of the Light and in 2009 he made a cameo in the horror-comedy film Zombieland. The actor provided the voice for the character Mr. Badger in the 2009 animated film Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Murray, Greta Gerwig and Bryan Cranston at the press conference Dog island in 2018

Since 2010, Murray has been a part of two Wes Anderson films: Moonrise Kingdom (2012) and The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014). He was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance in the 2014 film St. . He played a record manager in Rock the Kasbah. In 2016, he provided the voice of Baloo in the Disney film The Jungle Book, a remake of the 1967 animated film of the same name. The film has a 95% approval rating. on the Rotten Tomatoes website.

Murray played Martin Heiss, a skeptic of the paranormal, in the 2016 reboot of the film Ghostbusters, released on July 15, 2016. The film did not pick up on the events of the first two films. productions, instead, created a new story loosely based on the 1984 and 1989 films, with the inclusion of female characters in the role of the Ghostbusters. There was some speculation about her return to the Ghostbusters for a third installment of it, but the same actor denied the rumors in an interview with GQ magazine. He was part of the cast of the 2018 animated film Isle of Dogs by Wes Anderson.

In 2018 a documentary based on him was released called The Bill Murray Stories: Life Lessons Learned From a Mythical Man where they tell anecdotes about his distinguished and charismatic personality. In 2019 he participated in the film The Dead Don't Die by his regular collaborator Jim Jarmusch alongside Adam Driver, Tilda Swinton and Iggy Pop. In 2020 On The Rocks premiered at the New York Film Festival, a tape for which he returned to shoot with Sofia Coppola after seventeen years and would later be distributed on Apple TV.

Personal life

Eric Clapton and Murray at the Crossroads Guitar Festival in 2007.

During the filming of Stripes, Murray married Margaret Kelly during Super Bowl Sunday in Las Vegas on January 25, 1981. They were later married again in Chicago in front of their families. Margaret gave birth to two sons, Homer (born 1982) and Luke (born 1985). Luke has worked as an assistant coach on the basketball team at the University of Louisville and Xavier University. Due to Murray's relationship with costume designer Jennifer Butler, the couple divorced in 1996. In 1997 Bill married Butler. Together they have four children: Caleb (born 1993), Jackson (born 1995), Cooper (born 1997), and Lincoln (born 2001). Butler filed for divorce in May 2008, accusing the actor of domestic violence, infidelity, and addictions to sex, marijuana, and alcohol. The divorce was signed on June 13, 2008.

Murray stated in a 1984 interview: "I'm definitely religious, but I don't have much to do with Catholicism."

The actor has properties in Los Angeles, California, Rancho Santa Fe (a suburb of San Diego), Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, Charleston, South Carolina, and the Palisades, a suburb of New York. During the 2000 US presidential election, the actor showed his support for candidate Ralph Nader.

Murray is a fan of Chicago sports teams, especially the Chicago Cubs, Chicago Bears, and Chicago Bulls. He was in the audience with other famous fans like John Cusack, Eddie Vedder, and Bonnie Hunt during the historic Cubs World Series victory in 2016. Appeared alongside musician Eric Clapton at the Crossroads Guitar Festival on July 28, 2007, donning several of Clapton's own outfits. In 2010 he again accompanied the musician on stage. He is a huge fan of golf, having a golf handicap of 7.2 and even wearing his own brand of clothing.

Filmography

Cinema

Television

Books

• How to be Bill Murray Blackie Books

Awards

Oscars

Golden Globes

BAFTA Awards

Screen Actors Guild Awards

Satellite Awards

Independent Spirit Awards