Bill Murray
Date of birth
21st September, 1950
Occupation
Actor
Sex
Male
Height
1.88
Bill Murray (born 21.9.1950) is an American actor who rose to fame after his appearances on Saturday Night Live and went on to win Oscar, Emmy, BAFTA and Golden Globe awards.
Childhood: Bill Murray was born to Lucille and Edward J. Murray, in Wilmette, Illinois. His mother was a mail room clerk and his father was a lumber salesman. One of nine children, Bill also has three brothers who also act John, Joel and Brian)
Murray worked as a caddy to pay for his Roman Catholic High School fees and in his teenage years he sang in a band called the Dutch Masters. He dropped out of Regis University in Denver, Colorado when he was caught in possession of marijuana.
Early Career: Murray started out with Second City Chicago, an improvisational comedy troupe. In 1975, John Belushi recruited him for The National Lampoon Radio Hour. He then got the much-coveted role of cast member on Saturday Night Live with Howard Cossell.
Bill's first starring film role was in Meatballs, in 1979, followed by his portrayal of Hunter S. Thompson in Where the Buffalo Roam. He went on to star in a number of box office successes such as Caddyshack, Stripes and Tootsie.
Mainstream Success: Murray starred in Ghostbusters as part of a deal with Columbia Pictures, to gain finance for a film that he had written, an adaptation of The Razor's Edge. Ghostbusters was the highest grossing film of 1984. The Razor's Edge failed to make an impact on the box office at all.
After a four-year hiatus, Murray starred in the Ghostbusters sequel, Ghostbusters II and Scrooged. These were followed by the equally successful What About Bob? and Groundhog Day.
There was a dip in critical acclaim in Murray's career, yet he saw a return to form in Wes Anderson's Rushmore, for which he won a number of awards. This sparked a newly revitalised career as a dramatic - rather than a comic - actor. He went on to perform a number of serious roles, in Wild Things, Hamlet and Cradle Will Rock.
He went on to perform alongside Ben Stiller in The Royal Tenenbaums and 2003's Lost In Translation (in which he starred alongside Scarlett Johansson) won him a Golden Globe and a BAFTA award as well as an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.
Murray's third film with Wes Anderson came with 2004's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and continuing his stream of quirky independent-style films, his role in Broken Flowers, a Jim Jarmusch film, was another critical success.
In 2005, he took an acting hiatus, but returned to major roles in 2008 with the movie 'City of Ember'. The following year he had a significant cameo in the comedy zombie flick 'Zombieland' which starred Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin.
2009 also saw him portray the voice of Mr. Badger in the animated children's film 'Fantastic Mr. Fox'.
He was nominated for a Golden Globe award for his role as Franklin D. Roosevelt in 2012 film 'Hyde Park on Hudson', and in 2014 appeared in war movie 'The Monuments Men' alongside George Clooney and Matt Damon.
Personal Life: In 1981, Bill Murray married Margaret Kelly on Las Vegas' Super Bowl. They then had a second ceremony in church for their families. Before they divorced in 1994, they had two sons. Homer was born in 1982 and Luke was born in 1985.
Murray went on to marry Jennifer Butler in 1997. They have had four sons together: Jackson William (b.1993), Caleb James (b. 1995), Cooper Jones (b.1997) and Lincoln Darius (b. 2001). In May 2008, Butler filed for divorce, stating that the cause for divorce was alcohol addiction (on Murray's part) and spousal abuse. The divorce was finalised in June 2008.
Murray is a golf enthusiast, sometimes taking part in celebrity tournaments.
Bill Murray is well-known as a sociable and fun-loving kind of person and has been the subject of many unusual, fan related moments in recent years. Examples include attending student parties, singing karaoke in New York and taking up bar-tending for a night at the Shangri-La bar in Austin where he was hanging out with rappers Wu-Tang Clan.
Isle Of Dogs Trailer
Imagine a world without dogs. It hardly bears thinking about, but in this dystopian look at Japan twenty years into the future, all canines have been banned from society after a bout of a dangerous illness called canine flu. Rather than being euthanised, the pooches are being quarantined and moved to Trash Island where they are left to fend for themselves. One group of four-legged friends includes Chief (Bryan Cranston), Rex (Edward Norton), Boss (Bill Murray), Duke (Jeff Goldblum) and King (Bob Balaban), and they are seriously missing life amongst humankind - not to mention food that isn't mouldy and maggot-infested.
Then one day, a young boy named Atari Kobayashi (Koyu Rankin) shows up on the island with a stolen Junior-Turbo Prop XJ750 aircraft searching for his own long lost pet, Spots. It doesn't take him long to win the trust of the island's residents, who agree to help him search for the dog. Of course, back home, he is noticeably missing and his family inform the authorities. Soon they arrive at the island preparing to take him home, but Atari doesn't want to leave without Spots - and his newfound friends won't let him either. As Atari's search takes them further afield, it becomes clear that there is a much darker conspiracy happening in the nation - and that his dog may be being held prisoner somewhere.
The Oscar nominated Wes Anderson ('The Grand Budapest Hotel', 'Fantastic Mr. Fox', 'The Darjeeling Limited') returns as the director and writer of a new stop-motion animation 'Isle of Dogs'. His previous collaborators Kunichi Nomura, and Roman Coppola and Jason Schwartzman ('Mozart in the Jungle') also helped write the story. The film, which features an all-star cast, was originally teased by the filmmaker back in December 2016 when he unveiled the briefest of clips from the movie showing Edward Norton's character Rex.
Continue: Isle Of Dogs Trailer
Bill Murray Just Saw 'Groundhog Day: The Musical'... Twice
By Holly Williams in Movies / TV / Theatre on 10 August 2017
The actor was so stunned by the Broadway show that he just had to see it again.
Bill Murray went to see the musical version of his 1993 movie 'Goundhog Day' this week at the August Wilson Theater in New York City, and he was left so impressed that he returned to see it a second time the following day - much to the thrill of the audience and cast.
The 66-year-old was quite the crowd-pleaser at the show too, visibly enjoying himself during each night of the show and taking the time to pose for selfies with fans before and after the Broadway performances on Monday (August 7th 2017) and Tuesday night.
Continue reading: Bill Murray Just Saw 'Groundhog Day: The Musical'... Twice
Bill Murray at the 2016 GQ Men of the year award ceremony held at Komische Oper in Mitte, Berlin, Germany - Thursday 10th November 2016
Ghostbusters Review
Excellent
It's been more than 30 years since the Ghostbusters first hit the big screen with a then-original mix of comedy and supernatural action. Intriguingly, this new film is neither a sequel nor a remake; it's a reboot of the franchise, which loosely adapts the original 1984 premise to all-new characters. Thankfully, the screenplay is smart and funny, and the cast is flat-out hilarious.
It opens as university professor Erin (Kristen Wiig) sees her hopes for tenure evaporate when a book she wrote years ago with her childhood pal Abby (Melissa McCarthy) resurfaces, affirming their belief in ghosts. So Erin seeks out Abby, and discovers that she's still researching the supernatural, now with the sharp-witted gadget maker Jillian (Kate McKinnon). With spirit sightings on the rise in New York, the three decide to launch a ghost-busting business, joined by city expert Patty (Leslie Jones) and bimbo receptionist Kevin (Chris Hemsworth). But the apparitions popping up around the city are getting increasingly malevolent, and it's clear that an apocalypse is brewing.
The basic plot is lifted from the original movie, which is referenced in virtually every scene. Most of this is rather distracting, because a more original storyline would have been a lot more involving and the in-jokes will be lost on younger audiences. But it's fun to see the original cast members turn up here and there in random cameos.
Continue reading: Ghostbusters Review
Rock The Kasbah Gets Bill Murray Talking
By Rich Cline in Movies / TV / Theatre on 23 October 2015
Bill Murray Returns for AMA Round 2
This week, the notoriously reclusive Bill Murray spoke out in an "ask me anything" session for his new movie Rock the Kasbah, in which he plays a has-been music manager who discovers a talented teenaged girl in Afghanistan and signs her up for the local X Factor-style talent show Afghan Star.
But of course the fans wanted to know what the best and worst things were about being Bill Murray. "They're one in the same," he replied. "You wish you could walk down the street and look at things and watch things uninterrupted. The shock of being recognised brings you out of this place where you're just trying to take it in. It's an obligation and you're reminded you have to show up. It's a coin with two sides. As much as I don't like the one side, the other side is what might save me."
Continue reading: Rock The Kasbah Gets Bill Murray Talking
Rock The Kasbah - The Man And The Music Featurette
'Rock The Kasbah' screenwriter Mitch Glazer introduces himself as a reporter for Crawdaddy! magazine (which he ran in the late 1970s) as he prepares to interview Bill Murray in character on the movie's set in Kabul, Afghanistan. Murray hilariously embodies the spirit of the music industry's fictional top manager; an unstable character who finds himself going off the rails despite making some of music's most iconic decisions from Slash's top hat to Madonna's stage moniker.
Continue: Rock The Kasbah - The Man And The Music Featurette
The Jungle Book - First Look Trailer
Mowgli is a human boy known as a man-cub to his peers, among which are an array of jungle beasts. Left in the jungle as a baby, he was taken in by a family of wolves who raised him as their own. However, the older he grows, the more of a threat he becomes to a formidable villain named Shere Khan; a Bengal tiger with a deep fear of fire and loathing of man. Led by an impatient black panther named Bagheera, he is sent away from his jungle home to the safety of a nearby man village, though the journey becomes less straight-forward the further they stray. Mowgli befriends a fun-loving bear named Baloo, but finds Khan is not the only jungle menace as he is set upon by a gang of monkeys led by the orangutan King Louie, and hypnotised by a vicious snake named Kaa.
Continue: The Jungle Book - First Look Trailer
Disney Are Making A New ‘Mary Poppins’ Film, Set 20 Years After The Original
By Elinor Cosgrave in Movies / TV / Theatre on 15 September 2015
Purists may need ‘A Spoonful of Sugar’ to help this news go down…
Disney are planning to make a new Mary Poppins film. The upcoming film will not be a remake of the much beloved original but will take place 20 years later when the magical nanny has a new set of children to take care of. Like the original, the film will be set in London.
Read More: Disney Announces Mulan Live Action Remake.
Continue reading: Disney Are Making A New ‘Mary Poppins’ Film, Set 20 Years After The Original
Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story Of National Lampoon Trailer
In the 1970s came the most controversial and accessible comedy ever seen. The National Lampoon was a magazine featuring some of the most socially terrifying taboos and became a groundbreaking publication in the world of American humour. Unafraid were the editors to approach subjects regarding politics, war, sex, drugs and culture, and nothing was allowed to stay censored; it was, indeed, best known for the highly outrageous cover art that ranged from parodic images of Van Gogh and Hitler to a gun threat against a dog. From pages full of laughs came a multimedia comedic world with radio shows, music and television all spawning from that one paper. The most memorable incarnations of the Lampoon were the 'Animal House', 'Class Reunion' and 'Vacation' movies which took the whole franchise to a new level of fame.
Continue: Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story Of National Lampoon Trailer
Bill Murray Confirmed As Making Appearance In 'Ghostbusters' Reboot
By Stephanie Chase in Movies / TV / Theatre on 10 August 2015
Murray joins fellow original cast-member Dan Akryod will also feature in the film.
Original Ghostbuster Bill Murray has been confirmed as making an appearance in Paul Feig’s upcoming all female reboot of the franchise, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The 64 year old actor played Dr. Peter Venkman in the original 1984 film, as well as reprising the role in 1989 sequel Ghostbusters II.
In a now deleted tweet Aykroyd wrote, "On GB set shooting my scene with funny beautiful Kristen Wiig lady GB'S are adorable, hilarious and badass Exhilarating! #ghostbusters.” The actor’s cameo has since been confirmed by his reps to Entertainment Weekly, with no other details on the been provided.
Continue reading: Dan Aykroyd Confirms He Will Make A Cameo In New 'Ghostbusters' Movie
Bill Murray, John Goodman, George Clooney, Jean Dujardin and Matt Damon - Photo call for The Monuments Men, 64th Berlin International Film Festival, (Berlinale), at the Hyatt Potsdamer Platz - Berlin, Germany - Saturday 8th February 2014
Bill Murray Wednesday 27th June 2012 Pro-am for the 2012 Irish Open held on the Dunluce Links at at Royal Portrush Golf Club
Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, Wes Anderson and Cannes Film Festival - Jason Schwartzman, Bruce Willis, Wes Anderson, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton and Bill Murray Wednesday 16th May 2012 'Moonrise Kingdom' photocall - during the 65th Cannes Film Festival
Bill Murray and David Letterman - Bill Murray diving into a makeshift pool New York City, USA - while filming a segment outside The Ed Sullivan Theater for the 'Late Show with David Letterman' Wednesday 21st July 2010