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Don Murray

 
Actor: Don Murray
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Actors
  • Born: Jul 31, 1929 in Hollywood, California
  • Occupation: Actor, Writer, Director
  • Active: '50s-'80s
  • Major Genres: Drama, Action
  • Career Highlights: Bus Stop, Advise and Consent, The Bachelor Party
  • First Major Screen Credit: Bus Stop (1956)

Biography

The son of show business people, he studied theater at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He worked in stock, then in 1951 he debuted on Broadway in The Rose Tattoo. In 1952 he was drafted to fight in the Korean War, but he was exempted as a conscientious objector; instead, he worked with refugees. Not until 1955 did he return to acting, appearing in Broadway's The Skin of Our Teeth; Joshua Logan spotted him in the play, and signed him to appear in Bus Stop (1956), his screen debut; for his portrayal of a cowboy who romances Marilyn Monroe he received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. While making the film he met actress Hope Lange, and the two of them were married that same year; they divorced in 1961. With a few exceptions, his later screen roles were unrewarding, though he remained fairly busy through the mid '60s; he has continued appearing on screen intermittently. He has occasionally produced, directed, and/or co-written films. He starred in the late '60s TV series The Outcasts, and later costarred in the series Knots Landing. He is known as a highly principled man of strong social and political convictions. ~ All Movie Guide
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For other persons named Don Murray, see Don Murray.
Don Murray

in Bus Stop (1956)
Born Donald Patrick Murray
July 31, 1929 (1929-07-31) (age 80)
Hollywood, California, U.S.
Occupation Actor
Years active 1950–present

Donald Patrick "Don" Murray (born July 31, 1929) is an American actor.

Murray was born in Hollywood, California. He attended East Rockaway High School (class of 1947) in East Rockaway, New York where he played football and track, was a member of the student government and glee club and joined the Alpha Phi Chapter of the Omega Gamma Delta Fraternity. From high school he went on to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Murray had a long and varied career in films and television, including his role as Sid Fairgate in the long-running prime-time soap opera Knots Landing from 1979 to 1981. He was nominated for an Academy Award as best supporting actor in Bus Stop (1956) in which he co-starred with Marilyn Monroe.

He starred as a blackmailed United States senator in 1961's Advise and Consent, a film version of a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Allen Drury that was directed by Otto Preminger and cast Murray opposite the likes of Henry Fonda and Charles Laughton. He also co-starred with Steve McQueen in the 1965 film Baby the Rain Must Fall and played the ape-hating Governor Breck in 1972's Conquest of the Planet of the Apes.

In addition to acting, Murray directed a film based on the book The Cross and the Switchblade starring Pat Boone and Erik Estrada in 1970, and he scripted two episodes of Knots Landing ("Hitchhike" parts 1 & 2) in 1980.

Murray starred with Otis Young in the ground breaking ABC western television series The Outcasts featuring an interracial bounty hunter team in the post-Civil War West (1968-69).

Murray decided to leave Knots Landing after two years to concentrate on other projects, although some sources say he left over a salary dispute. The character's death was notable at the time because it was considered rare to "kill off" a star character. The death came in the second episode of season three, following up on season two's cliffhanger in which Sid's car careered off a cliff. To make viewers off doubt the character would actually die, Murray was listed in the newly created credit sequence for season three; the character survived the plunge off the cliff (thus temporarily reassuring viewers), but died shortly afterwards in hospital.

Although he effectively distanced himself from the series after his exit in 1981, Murray later contributed an interview segment for Knots Landing: Together Again, a non-fiction reunion special made in 2005.

Murray was the first husband of actress Hope Lange. They had two children, including actor Christopher Murray.

Filmography

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Actor. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
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