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Birth and Early Life
William James Murray was born on September 21, 1950, in Evanston, Illinois. He played baseball and played in a rock band, The Flying Dutch Masters, as a kid. He attended Loyola University where he did some acting and played sports. His family struggled financially when he was young, so he paid for his tuition by working as a caddy at a local golf course, where he formed his love of golf. -
Getting Arrested and Dropping Out of College
After high school, Bill Murray attended Regis University for pre-med, but he dropped out very quickly. He moved back to Chicago after that. On his 20th birthday, he was caught trying to with nearly 10 pounds of marijuana on a plane at O'Hare airport he was allegedly trying to sell, after making a joke to another passenger about smuggling drugs. He was sentenced to probation for it. -
Second City and The National Lampoon Radio Hour
After the arrest, Bill said he "lost his direction in life" (Charlie Rose Interview). His brother, Brian Doyle-Murphy, took him into his comedy troupe, Second City. This is when Bill started to take comedy seriously as a career. He studied under the comedy guru Del Close. After a few years at Second City, he was recruited to the National Lampoon Radio Hour by John Belushi, where he worked with him, Gilda Radner, and Dan Aykroyd. -
SNL
Bill Murray was invited to join Saturday Night Live in 1977. He came in to replace SNL legend Chevy Chase, which was a big role to fill. SNL is where he created his sleazy, ironic comedic style. He won his first Emmy on the show for Outstanding Writing. The show also put him on the national spotlight and is what launched his film career. -
Meatballs - Ghostbusters
After two years on SNL, Murray starred in his first major film, Meatballs (1979). His career took off, and he starred in four of his biggest movies in those next five years: Caddyshack (1980), Stripes (1981), Tootsie (1982), and Ghostbusters (1984). He agreed to do Ghostbusters so he could fund a personal project of his, a film adaptation of Somerset Maugham's novel The Razor's Edge. -
Razor's Edge and Paris
Razor's Edge was released 1984, and it flopped. This was a passion project for Bill and it was very important to him, so its failure affected him deeply. He went on hiatus for the next four years, and studied philosophy at the University of Paris. These studies influenced his later work and his comedic style. He almost decided to quit acting after this experience. -
Bill's Return
Bill returned with Scrooged in 1988. He then starred in Ghostbusters 2 (1989), and Groundhog Day (1993), and a few other films. In 1998 he starred in Wes Anderson's Rushmore, and he has been a part of all of his films since. His most critically acclaimed role was in Lost in Translation (2003), where he won a BAFTA award, a Golden Globe, and was nominated for an Oscar. HIs most recent film was the Ghostbusters remake in 2016. -
Personal Life
In 2008, Bill Murray finalized his divorce with Jennifer Butler. A bit about his personal life: Bill Murray was married to Margaret Kelly from 1981 to 1996. They had two sons together, Homer and Luke. He married Butler in 1997, and had four sons: Caleb, Jackson, Cooper, and Lincoln. He is currently not married. -
Up Until Now
Bill Murray is notorious for being hard to reach. He has no agent, and the only way people can reach him is through a 1-800 number he has and only checks a few times a year. He always comes out to support Chicago sports teams, and even sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" at one of the Cubs' world series games. Currently, his next film in production is Wes Anderson's Isle of Dogs, set to be released in 2018.
