Bill Murray Age, Height, Partner, Net Worth & Biography

Bill Murray is an American actor and comedian best known as Peter Venkman in Ghostbusters, as Phil Connors in Groundhog Day and as Bob Harris in Lost in Translation. Born on September 21, 1950, in Wilmette, Illinois, Murray, 76, began his career on Saturday Night Live and became one of the most beloved comedy stars of his generation, before reinventing himself as a dramatic actor in the films of Wes Anderson and Sofia Coppola.

Quick Facts

Who Is Bill Murray?

Bill Murray is an actor and comedian whose deadpan delivery and offscreen unpredictability have made him a cultural icon. As Peter Venkman, the wisecracking parapsychologist, in Ghostbusters (1984) and its sequels, Murray played a man who is skeptical, funny and, in the end, heroic, and the film became one of the most successful comedies of all time. He is also known as Phil Connors, a weatherman who is forced to relive the same day over and over again, in Groundhog Day (1993), a film that has become a classic of American comedy, and as Bob Harris, a fading movie star who forms an unlikely friendship in Tokyo, in Lost in Translation (2003), a performance that earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.

Beyond those roles, Murray has shown a wide range. He played Carl Spackler, a groundskeeper who is obsessed with a gopher, in Caddyshack (1980), and he played John Winger, a soldier who joins the army on a whim, in Stripes (1981). He starred in Scrooged (1988), in What About Bob? (1991), and in Rushmore (1998), the first of many collaborations with director Wes Anderson, in which he played Herman Blume, a wealthy industrialist who falls in love with a schoolteacher. He has also played in The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), in Broken Flowers (2005), and in The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014).

Early Life & Background

William James Murray was born in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, the son of Lucille, a mailroom clerk, and Edward Joseph Murray II, a lumber salesman. He was the fifth of nine children in a large Irish Catholic family, and he grew up in Wilmette, where he attended Loyola Academy and St. Joseph High School. He went on to study pre-medical courses at Regis University in Denver, Colorado, but he dropped out after a year, and he returned to Chicago, where he joined the improv comedy troupe The Second City.

He made his acting debut on television, playing in The National Lampoon Radio Hour (1973-1974), and he appeared in Saturday Night Live (1977-1980), where he replaced Chevy Chase as a cast member and became known for his deadpan style and for characters such as Nick the Lounge Singer. He appeared in the film Meatballs (1979), in which he played Tripper Harrison, a camp counselor, and he went on to work in Caddyshack, in Stripes, and in Tootsie (1982), in which he played Jeff Slater, a playwright. He has four brothers who are also actors, including Brian Doyle-Murray and Joel Murray.

Career

Murray’s career in film includes Meatballs, Caddyshack, Stripes, Tootsie, Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters II (1989), Scrooged, What About Bob?, Groundhog Day, Kingpin (1996), Rushmore, Lost in Translation, Broken Flowers, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), The Grand Budapest Hotel, St. Vincent (2014), and Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021). He earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for Lost in Translation, and he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for the same role, and a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

On television, Murray has played in Saturday Night Live, in which he was a cast member from 1977 to 1980, and he has made guest appearances in Parks and Recreation and in Angie Tribeca. He was married to Margaret Kelly from 1981 to 1996, and they have two sons together: Homer and Luke. He was married to Jennifer Butler from 1997 to 2008, and they have four sons together: Caleb, Jackson, Cooper and Lincoln. Like Morgan Freeman, Murray is a veteran actor whose career has spanned more than five decades, and he is known for his work as a comedian, as a dramatic actor, and for a public persona that is famously unpredictable, including his habit of turning up unannounced at events and parties.

Facts About Bill Murray

• He played Peter Venkman in Ghostbusters (1984) and Phil Connors in Groundhog Day (1993).
• He earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for Lost in Translation (2003).
• He was a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1977 to 1980.
• He has collaborated with director Wes Anderson on many films, including Rushmore and The Grand Budapest Hotel.
• He has six sons from his two marriages, to Margaret Kelly and Jennifer Butler.

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