Like fellow comedians Jim Carrey and Robin Williams, Bill Murray became famous with low-brow slapstick like 1979’s “Meatballs” before moving on to more serious roles. Murray, however, has always been the more deadpan of the bunch, exhibiting a subtlety and precision rare for a mainstream comic. The low-key actor is notoriously anti-Hollywood, and he doesn’t employ an agent or a manager.
Murray was born in Chicago on September 21, 1950, the fifth of nine children born to his Irish-American parents. After graduating from Loyola Academy, Murray briefly studied medicine at Regis College in Denver, but dropped out to pursue his comedy career. Along with famed comics Gilda Radner, John Belushi, and Dan Aykroyd, Murray joined the National Lampoon Radio Hour in 1973, and all four future stars joined “Saturday Night Live” during its infancy. Murray joined the cast in 1977, and these early years for the legendary sketch program are still considered the show’s greatest.
A career in feature film comedies naturally followed, with Ivan Reitman’s summer camp extravaganza “Meatballs” becoming a huge early success. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Murray had an impressive ability handling character parts as well, and his performance as Hunter S. Thompson in 1980’s “Where the Buffalo Roam” is now regarded as an early indication of Murray’s unexpected acting talent. Audiences nonetheless clamored for Murray in zanier roles, with 1980’s “Caddyshack” and the following year’s “Stripes” both becoming huge box office hits. A few years later Murray and co-stars Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, and Rick Moranis hit it big with “Ghostbusters”, a blockbuster success that spawned a smash sequel in 1989. His dramatic lead in 1984’s “The Razor’s Edge” was a departure for Murray, and when the film failed he took a long break from acting. He didn’t appear in a lead role until 1988’s “Scrooged”, which was a successful return to form for the versatile comic.
At first glance the next ten years of Murray’s career seem somewhat unimpressive, but a few of his films from the period are now regarded as classics. 1993’s “Groundhog Day” was moderately successful upon its release, but is now considered one of the best comedies of the 90s, with Murray’s performance making a surprise appearance in the top 50 of Premiere Magazine’s Greatest Screen Performances. Tim Burton’s 1994 box office dud “Ed Wood” now has a huge following, and Murray was fabulous as the eccentric Bunny Breckinridge.
Despite the quality of his work in the early to mid-90s, Murray still desperately needed a comeback, and he got it with Wes Anderson’s 1998 dramedy “Rushmore”, earning major critical praise for his hilarious and touching supporting role as a wealthy, dispossessed father. Murray has been red-hot ever since, earning an Oscar nomination for Sofia Coppola’s melodic “Lost in Translation” for his performance alongside Scarlett Johansson, and delighting audiences as an Anderson regular in “The Royal Tenenbaums” and the grossly underrated “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou”. Murray will appear in Andy Garcia’s long-awaited project “The Lost City”, and is currently taking a break from acting.